Well almost. LexisNexis unit Martindale-Hubbell this week formed an alliance with Spot Runner, an Internet-based ad agency, to provide Martindale-Hubbell law firm customers the ability to buy cost-effective local television advertising campaigns to promote their offerings in their specific regions.

Spot Runner touts the ability to offer advertising on major networks, such as CBS, CNN, ESPN and Fox News, as a lower cost than traditional ad agencies. Law firms will be able to select their ads from a collection of pre-produced ones that cover a wide range of practice areas. Spot Runner will personalize the ads with a firm's information, logos and images. With budget and market information from the firm, Martindale-Hubbell will work with Spot Runner's media planning platform to create an effective media plan for the firm--one that will enable it to target clients by demographics, networks and neighborhoods.

Martindale-Hubbell's overarching goal has been to provide a way in which to help customers promote their services to potential clients. Perhaps sensing customer demand for a multi-media approach, Martindale-Hubbell formed this alliance with Spot Runner. Overall, this is another good example of an information provider becoming a complete service provider for its customers. In a sense, Martindale-Hubbell has added "ad agency" to its list of credentials. It's a great way for the publisher to further engage its customers and it will be interesting to see how many of those customers actually participate.