Blackserve Aims For Blue Chip Advertisers With Black Interest Website
Paul Castro believes that blue chip advertisers have been lacking a means to reach an economy worth up to £12 billion. This is what he hopes to redress as managing director of Blackserve.com, a black news and entertainment portal which launches on Friday.
“About 18 months ago, when I was at DoubleClick, BA came to us wanting to advertise to ethnic minorities for recruitment.” he explains. “I realised that there weren’t any areas online for this to occur, and saw a gap in the market.”
With fifteen years of media experience behind him, including being at Kiss FM for its launch, followed by Turner and Ziff Davies then as advertising director for Doubleclick, Castro has a clear idea for the remit of the site.
“Blue chip companies like to advertise in an environment which is conducive to their brand and product. So we went overboard on the design and navigation of the site, especially for advertiser content, to ensure we had the best technology for everything from rich media to banners.” he says.
When the self-funded site launches on Friday it will carry two channels, news and entertainment. Susy Pote, whose background is in BBC Radio, will be news editor. The site aims to carry more than 40 black interest stories per day, gathered from the UK and the main areas of origin for black people in the UK: the Caribbean, US and Africa. “The depth of the bespoke online news service we are creating at Blackserve is unrivalled in the UK.” says Castro.
The entertainment section will include an e-commerce capability, with records, CDs and DVD on sale. Eventually Castro, along with co-founder Simeon Quarrie, former COO of myISP want to build this aspect into a black shopping mall, selling everything from music to African artefacts
Castro insists that Blackserve.com is not aimed at a particular age or demographic range: “The common denominator is black.” But will advertisers be concerned that such a site will be too political? Its managing director thinks not. “The example I give is holidays. If I was to read a holiday review of visiting the Grand Canyon on any popular web channel it would tell me a different story to the reality I would face if I went there. Having been, I know that the experience of being a six foot tall black man in Colorado does not match up to what those holiday reviews would say. Blackserve would give that different perspective.”
Eventually the site is set to have fourteen channels, including travel, along with sport, education and business. The education channel is likely to be the next to launch, as teachers experienced in working at multicultural schools are already being consulted to help with content. The site may also provide the opportunity to study the level of internet usage by ethnic minorities, an area currently under-researched.
If a success can be made of Blackserve in this country, Castro is keen to look at offline opportunities as well as the possibility of rolling out local services in other European countries. “We want the black communities to have a place where they can find information that is of direct relevance to them whilst not excluding anyone from the site.”
Blackserve: 020 7821 8980