Viacom Launches Integrated Sales Service
Viacom Brand Solutions and Viacom Outdoor have combined their retail and outdoor advertising offerings with the creation of a new service called Viacom Plus.
The initiative will provide an “one stop agency approach” to marketing packages, which will be offered across Viacom’s portfolio of products.
Viacom Plus will offer clients creative, media and retail planning, effectively cutting out the need for a middle man in the guise of strategic agencies. The new service has pledged to offer an alternative to separate creative and media points.
The new service has also assured advertisers it will work alongside traditional media agencies to offer marketing packages across non-group partners such as radio and print.
Viacom claims the initiative will fill a gap in the market for a cost-effective single point of contact for advertisers wising to reach out across its portfolio of products, whilst maintaining a tightly targeted message.
Commenting on the launch, Paul Curtis, managing director of Viacom Brand Solutions, said: “Viacom Plus builds on our strong relationships with all Viacom UK properties. We have pooled our expertise and can sit in front of a client with one person driving the whole deal.”
Clive Punter, joint managing director of Viacom Outdoor, added: “We have a proven model for creating multi-platform opportunities for clients from Viacom in the US. By leveraging the extensive assets across the Viacom portfolio in the UK, we are able to offer multidimensional communication solutions that go beyond just advertising, and start to create a commercial partnership between clients and the Viacom audience.”
He continued: “We will look to create a number of small but well formed relationships that harness the touch points of the Viacom brands and their consumers through above-the-line, programming, retail, events and other communication channels.”
Viacom will be offering packages across its portfolio of media properties, which incorporates 14 TV channels; book publisher Simon and Shuster; retail outlets including Blockbuster, UCI and Showcase cinemas, alongside Viacom Outdoors’ network of poster sites.
The launch of Viacom Plus is an important development for the industry as it represents the first time that a full cross-media service has been offered by a media owner. Although media owners have been actively engaging with advertisers in an attempt to drive revenues, highlighted by Sky’s recent initiative to produce low-cost TV ads in house for smaller clients.
Viacom Brand Solutions recently cemented its position as a sales powerhouse expanding into third party sales, taking on the recently launched E! Entertainment channel (see Viacom Makes First Move In To Third Party Sales).
Viacom Outdoor: 020 7482 3000 www.viacom.com
Recent Outdoor Stories from NewsLine Maiden Secures £20m Outdoor Contract For Manchester Viacom Outdoor To Capitalise On International Sales Alban Launches UK’s Second Largest Outdoor Buying Point
Subscribers can access ten years of NewsLine articles by clicking the Search button to the left