MediaTel In 2001- A Review Of The Year

2001 was MediaTel’s twentieth year in the media business, but there are no signs that we have stopped growing yet. The year began with the industry getting to know online accounts database NewBizMoves, which launched at the end of 2000 and has gathered strength and subscribers as this year has progressed.

Springtime saw another product added to the MediaTel portfolio, as MediaTel Insight launched. This new site provides analysis, news reports and commentary on future trends for UK and international media and has also grown throughout the year, both in the volume of subscribers and the volume of information on offer. There were also several “new looks” launched this year. MediaTel Interactive, which designs and develop web-based systems for clients including, this year, JCDecaux, Viacom Outdoor and the IPA, launched a new corporate website, while NewsLine also unveiled a new look, complete with new fonts, logos and layouts, new features such as the weekly column and the New Media Round-Up, and improved navigability.

This year also saw the introduction of the MediaTel Group brand. The addition of the “group” element was made in order to emphasise the complete range of solutions offered by the various brands under the MediaTel umbrella. A new website providing comprehensive information on all our products launched at the end of the summer, and many of our clients helped to celebrate the launch of the new brand, along with our 20th birthday, with a party at our Regent Street offices at the end of November.

The new launches have not got in the way of our ongoing development, and work has continued on Phase 2 of agency campaign management system MediaTrader. This year saw the launch of EasyBrief, an online briefing system, but next year promises even more exciting developments as the new product reaches its test period.

MediaTel.co.uk continues to grow, with two new sections added to our data services- Expenditure and Ambient. Users have also seen developments to the mapping system.

Media Question Time returned in February, looking set to become a regular feature of the media year. This year the then Culture Secretary, Chris Smith, recorded an exclusive interview with managing director Derek Jones, while Channel 5’s marketing director Jim Hytner made some unkind remarks about suitable uses for the Daily Mail, which led to stories that a fish supper, wrapped in the aforementioned newspaper, was delivered to his office the following dayďż˝

In between all this, staff at MediaTel also managed to clock up some success in the sporting and entertainment arena. The boys put together a five-a-side football team for the NABS tournament earlier on in the year, only to be sadly beaten at an embarrassingly early stage. However, thanks to some hard work and motivational management, the team came back stronger for the autumn Mad.co.uk tournament and managed to win the competition, ensuring automatic entry to the Superleague next year!

And to prove we don’t only sing when we’re winning, October also saw MediaTel’s rockabilly band Trash Alley make it to the final of the NABS Battle of the Bands at the Hippodrome, Leicester Square. Pure rock’n’roll and some sequin-clad backing singers managed to win us third place, but we’re all so stage-struck that we’re determined to go back next year and win!

So what’s ahead in the New Year? More from MediaTrader – the system will undergo a rebrand to encompass, I-Gen the sponsorship and advertising opportunities platform and easyBRIEF the online five-step briefing system, as well as its new product. The new agency campaign management system will be launched promising significant developments to the future of online media trading. MediaTel will also be going back to the roots of the industry, launching an information site for students studying the media at universities. Working with course tutors, we aim to make sure that all those future agency employees can get to grips with media facts and figures, as used by the professionals, as early as possible, as well as providing careers advice and information