Novus Media Inc.

Last Modified: 02-24-2025

http://www.novusmediainc.com
Ownership: Privately Held
Size: 101-200

Overview

Company Summary

NOVUS is an award-winning, independent media agency specializing in planning, buying and providing analytics on media performance. Three key benefits set us apart from most agencies: 1. We maximize your dollars and minimize waste. Our conviction is that since business situations and business needs differ greatly by geography, “cookie cutter” plans don’t cut it. We minimize waste by 15-25% on average by focusing media exactly where you need it. 2. We drive traffic. At the core, we get people to take action. Our proprietary approach to ZIP Code prioritization and dynamic digital optimization has proven to drive ROI / ROAS increases quarter after quarter. 3. We deliver results, not reach. Unlike most agencies, we don’t plan nor optimize to traditional media metrics like reach. Rather, we developed proprietary tools like “FullSail” to optimize to the best media channel mix across the full funnel, both awareness and sales. And our optimizations are inclusive of all media – display, video, search, social, TV, radio, OOH, and print – all at a DMA or sub-DMA level --based on modeled sales response.

Contact

7900 Xerxes Avenue
Bloomington, MN 55431
P: 612-758-8600
F: --

Bridgit Wallace
VP, Business Development
[email protected]
612.385.4806

Offices

NOVUS
333 N. Michigan Avenue
Chicago, IL 60601
612-758-8600

NOVUS
7900 Xerxes Avenue
Bloomington, MN 55431
612-758-8600

Global Service Capabilities

Staff

Total Number of Employees

Office Employees: 101-200
Total US: 101-200
Total Worldwide: 101-200

Melony Rios
Chief Executive Officer
A media veteran of 25 years and with NOVUS for over 20, Melony leads NOVUS as Chief Executive Officer. As CEO, Melony is responsible for the strategic direction and operations of NOVUS while simultaneously challenging industry status quos and driving better business outcomes for clients. Her ability to craft advantageous strategies for the future not only uniquely positions NOVUS as a competitive advantage to our clients, but ensures we are aggressively innovating in a constantly changing marketplace. In her time at NOVUS, Melony oversaw the design and implementation of first to market strategic approaches for clients including Walgreens, Dell Computers and Staples generating record-setting results and new competitive advantages.

Rob Davis
President & Chief Marketing Officer
Rob is a 30+ year veteran of the agency world, making the leap from Starcom to NOVUS in 2018 to accelerate NOVUS’ multimedia capabilities. He is known as an agent of change, helping reshape the agency as well as individual accounts and positioning for the future.

In his years at Starcom, Rob led such iconic brands as McDonald’s, Kellogg, Disney Themeparks, Airbnb and Allstate, and he won Gold Lions and Effies for media effectiveness. He also became a local/ regional media expert planning and buying local media for P&G, and later highly localized media for Anthem Blue Cross and Airbnb.

Since joining NOVUS, Rob has focused on helping evolve the agency with new service models, tools, and approaches. In his role, Rob is focusing on growing geospatial, multichannel media planning and buying and in his first three years helped take NOVUS from relative unknown to a Silver for Media Agency of the Year in Ad Age’s independent media awards.

Dawn Lamm
Chief Financial Officer
As Chief Financial Officer, Dawn plays a key role in the strategic direction of NOVUS, leading the Finance and Human Resources. In addition to Operational leadership, she has extensive history working in the marketing and advertising industry.

Candi Atteberry
VP, Integrated Client Strategy
Candi is a 25+ year industry veteran working on client businesses spanning local, regional, and national brands. Candi’s innate curiosity and drive for business results have delivered innovative media strategies designed to deliver results for leading US retail brands including Walmart, Family Dollar, Dollar Tree, and Kohl’s.

In addition to working directly with clients, Candi has worked with many of the top independent media buying agencies and global holding companies facilitating strategic partnerships in support of local marketing efforts.   

Alison LaRocque
VP, Integrated Client Strategy
Alison joined NOVUS in early 2025 and brings a unique perspective to our business, having both brand and agency side experience. She joins us most recently from Upwork, where she built and lead the brand media function and oversaw the overall media strategy.

Prior to Upwork, she was part of the global media team at Indeed, overseeing integrated media plans for the US & CA and has also worked for CB2, leading their digital marketing efforts with a specific emphasis on paid social. Alison built her foundational media expertise at Mindshare, Starcom and Initiative.

Paul DeJarnatt
VP, Head of Digital
Prior to joining NOVUS in September 2022, Paul was an 18-year veteran of Publicis, starting in Pubicis’ first digital practice, Starcom IP. During his time at Publicis, Paul worked on and led clients like Lenovo, Victoria's Secret, General Motors, Novartis, Kraft, and Mattel. Paul helped clients with everything from highly focused performance marketing campaigns to helping clients navigate the media and technology landscape to deliver full omnichannel marketing campaigns that reached consumers throughout their customer journey. Paul has managed campaigns big and small – from meeting with local dealer groups for General Motors to overseeing the entire global media program for Lenovo. Beyond client-specific work, Paul led the biddable media capability at Starcom and Performance Solutions at Performics, where he was responsible for developing, scaling, and distributing innovative new products for clients. Based in Chicago, Paul loves to spend time with his wife and two daughters, travel, and game on his PC.

Mari Doctor
SVP, Data Strategy & Innovation
Mari joined NOVUS in July of 2024 from WPP where she served in various data, technology and analytics roles on Coca-Cola, Discover and Walgreens. On Coca-Cola, Mari oversaw Data Strategy and Analytics, responsible for the deployment of Coca-Cola's AdTech stack that met the needs of the media planning process, from creative brief development, planning, execution and analysis. On Discover, Mari led the technology transformation, strategy and change management/adoption of Discover's bespoke tech stack built on WPP's Choreograph solution. Mari also served as Managing Director – Data and Innovation at The Pharm, a bespoke WPP agency servicing Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA), where she oversaw Consumer Insights that fed creative, communications, and POE media investment strategies for omnichannel audience-first activations. Responsible for designing and integrating a private ID Graph for Walgreens to power insights, activation, and measurement, Mari and her team won a Gold Effie for Data Driven Media Plan for her work on the Walgreens COVID Vaccine campaign in 2022.
Prior to WPP, Mari was at Publicis Groupe, leading data strategy and analytics for Bank of America’s credit card, deposits, auto and home loans, and the Whirlpool legacy business.

Bridgit Wallace
Vice President, Business Development
Bridgit is a 20+ year media veteran who leads NOVUS’ business development efforts. In this role, Bridgit is responsible for driving incremental revenue growth for the agency and supporting marketing efforts. Bridgit’s 25-year history with NOVUS spans multiple departments and roles including Client Services, Media Investment, Strategic Pricing, and Operations providing Bridgit with a unique perspective to our agency services.

Clients and Brands

Client & Brands	Start Date
Walgreens Walgreens	01-01-2013
Dollar Tree Dollar Tree	04-01-2020
Mayo Clinic Mayo Clinic	06-01-2021
Family Dollar Family Dollar	04-01-2020
Thrivent Thrivent	11-01-2021
Valvoline Instant Oil Change	09-01-2023
The Cleaning Authority The Cleaning Authority	09-01-2024
Fidium Fiber	11-01-2024
Fever-Tree	04-01-2024
DePaul University	05-15-2024
Grocery Outlet	07-01-2024

Billings & Revenue

Billing / Revenue Ranges Number of Clients
Billing < $1M and/or Agency Revenue < $200K 20
Billing > $1M and < $3M 10
Billing > $3M and < $5M 10
Billing > $5M and < $10M 10
Billing < $10M and < $25M 10
Billing < $25M and < $50M 3
Billing > $25M 3

Billing / Revenue Ranges	Number of Clients
Billing < $1M and/or Agency Revenue < $200K	20
Billing > $1M and < $3M	10
Billing > $3M and < $5M	10
Billing > $5M and < $10M	10
Billing < $10M and < $25M	10
Billing < $25M and < $50M	3
Billing > $25M	3

Total Gross Media Placed by this Office
$301-500 Million

Allocation Percent of Media Placed by this Office
Local Broadcast: 20%
Digital: 32%
Print: 45%
Out of Home: 3%

Types of Services

Service Offering Revenue
Advertising - General Market/ Traditional 0
Media Buying 0
Digital/Interactive | Search Engine Marketing 0
Data & Analytics 0
Media Planning 0
Social Media 0
Digital/Interactive | Mobile and Wireless 0

Service Offering	Revenue
Advertising - General Market/ Traditional	0
Media Buying	0
Digital/Interactive \| Search Engine Marketing	0
Data & Analytics	0
Media Planning	0
Social Media	0
Digital/Interactive \| Mobile and Wireless	0

Industry Experience

Agency Profile