ABOUT

We are an established, full-service boutique ad agency with over 30 years in business specializing in strategic media buying and planning. We pride ourselves on offering very competitive pricing, amazing customer service and a highly skilled team with decades of experience. We plan and buy across all media platforms: Airports, Billboards, Buses, Digital, Experiential, Geo-fencing, In-Flight, Magazines, Mobile, Newspapers, Radio and Podcasts, Sports Arenas and Stadiums, Subway Metro and more. We plan and buy local, national, and international media. The Media Buying Company™ was founded in 1994 by Lou Manso, an advertising executive and entrepreneur.

You Are in Good Company

In over our 30 years in business, we have planned and placed media for major ad agencies and performed work directly or through intermediaries for some of the best known brands in the world, including; AACR®, Accountemps®, Alitalia® Airlines, AMD, Bluebeam® Software, BMC Software, DataJunction, Dell®, Dolce & Gabbana, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention® (The CDC), CheckPoint® Software, Eggplant® Software, Fellowes®, Goodwill Industries®, Ixia®, Johnson & Johnson®, Keysight Technologies®, KONG®, Linksys®, LiquidPaper®, Maxwell Technologies®, Orchid-Cellmark®, PaperMate®, Parker®, Pfizer®, Plastwood®, SailPoint® Technologies, and Sharpie® to mention a few.

How We Work

We work on a simple, all-inclusive, one-price business model that includes space/airtime costs, production if any, and any applicable taxes along with our compensation in the way of a commission. We typically do not charge fees or retainers. We also do not require exclusive long-term contracts and we can work as your agency of record or as an agency conducting project work on your behalf. For new clients we offer an initial complimentary consultation along with ball-park pricing. We offer free and unconditional quotes. We provide media plans on a contingency fee basis based on the scope of the plan. Our contingency fees start at $1,500 and the entire contingency fee is waved if the client moves forward with a minimum $25,000 media placement within six months of commencing the project (6 months from the date of the signed agreement).

Lou Manso

About our Founder, President & CEO

Lou Manso is a San Diego based Advertising Executive and Entrepreneur with an impressive résumé. In his professional capacity, Lou has worked on campaigns for some of the best known brands in the world that include; AMD, Alitalia Airlines, CheckPoint Software, Dell, Dolce & Gabbana, Liquid Paper, PaperMate, and Sharpie to mention a few. Lou has decades of creative and strategic media placement experience. Lou has written, produced, and directed dozens of Radio and TV commercials and print ads. He has planned and placed countless of b2c and b2b media buys. Lou has founded and operated half-a-dozen businesses. Lou's most notable accomplishment aside from this ad agency, is the creation and founding of his own spirits brand, Manso & Contreras™ Brandy de Jerez, Solera Gran Reserva. While no longer in production, this small batch Spanish brandy won a Silver Medal at the 2011, San Francisco World Spirits Competition.

Prior to founding The Media Buying Company™, Lou held sales, marketing, and advertising positions at various companies, including working several years at KSDO AM 1130, in San Diego, a Gannett owned and operated radio station at the time. Lou lives in San Diego, California with his wife of over thirty years. Lou has four children and three grandchildren. Lou is also "passionate about photography". Early in his professional career, Lou was a freelance photographer in New York City and his photographs have been published by The New York Times, The Associated Press, The New York Daily News and UPI among other news outlets. Lou still shoots weddings and portraits on occasion. You can see his photography work on LouManso.com