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The International Herald Tribune is looking to form an advertising

alliance with a UK national paper, having signed a similar pact with

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

IHT ad director Stephen Dunbar-Johnson revealed discussions were taking

place with a UK newspaper and was hopeful of announcing an agreement

soon.

As well as joint advertising deals, the agreement is likely to include a

joint publishing arrangement in which parts of the unnamed London paper

would be included in the overseas copies of the IHT.

However, Dunbar-Johnson said constructing a non-competitive alliance

with another English language newspaper was more difficult. ’We need to

think out of the box but we can get a breakthrough,’ he said.

Alliances are also being sought in Asia, Spain and France - thought to

be with Le Figaro.

Advertisers in the IHT and the FAZ are being offered a joint sales

package with an opportunity to go into both titles at a 12.5 per cent

discount off ratecard, with additional discounts for volume. The

discount in the FAZ is particularly attractive as German publishers are

notoriously reluctant to cut rates.

The two newspapers have also formed a sales house, Leadermedia

Deutschland, into which the IHT has folded its Frankfurt-based team of

four. Thomas Schlueter, former general manager of the IHT in Germany,

becomes joint managing director of the sales house, which will target

the recruitment, pharmaceuticals, energy and financial sectors.

Reciprocally, the IHT has agreed to represent the FAZ in core markets

outside Germany through its 45 ad sales staff in nine cities. The

Paris-based international newspaper, which is owned by the Washington

Post and the New York Times, is printed in 19 cities around the

world.

The paper already has associations with Italy’s Corriere della Sera,

Greece’s Kathimerini and Israel’s Ha’aretz. These newspapers, along with

the FAZ, produce English-language sections for inclusion in the local

editions of the IHT.

Separately, the IHT revealed it is to relaunch its website in three

months.

The revamped IHT.com, which Dunbar-Johnson claimed is already making

money, will aim to attract advertising from offshore companies and fund

managers.