Publicitas to launch key account unit for classified advertising
New competence center for classified intermedia advertising in newspapers and on-line media
Publicitas, the most important advertising company of PubliGroupe (PubliPresse Division), announces the creation of a new unit that will be active in classified advertising in the print and on-line media. Starting from the summer of 2005, the new unit will offer professional customers in employment, real estate and automotive advertising at the national and supra-regional levels new targeted services designed to satisfy their communication requirements concerning the traditional press, the Internet or both. The investments planned during the first year of implementation of this new service are estimated at around CHF 7 million.
About 40 employees specialized in classified advertising and on-line technologies and drawn from various PubliGroupe companies will contribute their knowledge and skills to the new competence center based in Zurich and Lausanne. In a fast growing on-line communication market, the new unit will offer the targeted business advertisers the same level of service which Publicitas provides its clientele in the printed press. "My Publicitas", the existing on-line order scheduling and transmission tool, will be enhanced. This new service, and the potential it offers, will enable the group to extend and strengthen its cooperation with its partners in publishing, especially in the new "Print to Online" and "Online to Print" areas.
The new unit will generate about one third of the classified advertising sales currently achieved by PubliPresse companies in the national and supra-regional employment, real-estate and automotive segments of the classified advertising market, with the objective of consistent development over the next few years. In 2004, Publicitas reported classified advertising sales in these markets of more than CHF 350 million.
Andreas Göldi has been appointed project manager and will be responsible for starting up the new unit. He is a member of the PubliPresse management team. Andreas Göldi was formerly CEO of namics SA, a company owned by PubliGroupe offering leading-edge services in the Internet sector. He will thus bring to his new unit the expertise he acquired in an e-business pioneer venture.
For Otto Meier, the general manager of PubliPresse, "this reorganization represents a decisive step towards meeting the high expectations of our business partners in this market and ensuring optimal satisfaction of the novel communication needs and new advertising behavior that will emerge in the classified advertising market. At the same time, the new company will strengthen the position of Publicitas as leader in its role as seller and intermediary in the printed press market by providing specific offers and new expertise in the on-line advertising sector".
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Press Conference
Today, Wednesday, 19 January 2005, a press conference will be held
starting from 11:00 AM (until about 11:45 AM) in the “Au Premier” restaurant, room “Nora”,
at Zurich Central Station, Bahnhofplatz 15.
For more information, please contact:
Otto Meier, General Manager of PubliPresse,
Tel. +41 21 317 78 10
omeier@publicitas.ch
Andreas Göldi, Project Manager
Tel. +41 1 250 34 35
agoeldi@publicitas.ch
French part of Switzerland:
Urs Donatsch, Regional Director
Tél. +41 21 317 85 03
udonatsch@publicitas.ch
Publicitas S.A.
Avenue Mon-Repos 22
CH – 1002 Lausanne
www.publicitas.ch
A PubliGroupe company