Publicis Groupe has established an ad network that depends on the four largest American-based Internet companies that are defining online advertising: Microsoft, Google/DoubleClick, Yahoo and AOL

Although most agencies already work with these systems, Publicis wants to “formally identify the relationships it has with these companies and how it plans to tightly coordinate its campaigns across these platforms,” paidContent reported Wednesday.

The Paris-based advertising firm announced the features of the network as well as its goals, which include:

1. A new “open source ad network” dubbed VivaKi which combines Publicis' Interactive wing, Digitas, with it's traditional advertising divisions.

2. To boost the firm's digital income to 25 percent of total revenues by 2010. After the 2006 purchase of Digitas, Publicis increased the digital portion of its revenue to 15 percent. The firm hopes that through targeted online advertising it can achieve a 10 percent increase.

3. PG's deal with Yahoo involves a mobile element. The group's mobile marketing agency, Phonevalley, will be one of the first to use Yahoo's mobile developer platform, Blueprint, which will help Publicis “scale brand messages globally, and more easily, while lowering costs to marketers who have previously held back from mobile ads,” according to paidContent.

Publicis' move signals a different approach to working with Internet companies than those of it's competitors, especially the second-largest advertising company, WPP, whose CEO, Sir Martin Sorrell, recently lashed out against Google and its dominance over online advertising, paidContent reported.

Contrary to WPP's stance, one of Publicis' managing partners, David Kenny, who will co-direct VivaKi commented, ”We don't believe that digital media companies are aiming to disintermediate, we believe they are providing the industry with the technology to help us plan and execute campaigns more efficiently.”