The Wall Street Journal Europe is setting up a UK marketing team,
strengthening its sales department and running a multi-million dollar
pan-European ad campaign through Ogilvy & Mather.
Media for the campaign will be bought by MindShare, which was appointed
with O&M last month. The drive begins in the first quarter of 2000 and
will be overseen by Douglas Baxter, who has joined the paper in the new
role of senior director, marketing and communications.
Marketing was previously run from the WSJE’s Brussels office. Baxter is
the former chief executive of Smurfit Media UK and publisher of the Irish
Post.
At the same time, Anne Hogarth becomes marketing and promotions director,
UK. She was previously group promotions manager at The Daily
Telegraph.
Four new recruits have joined the sales team. Marie-Pierre Lehmann, Kerry
Tarrant and Suzanna Kantor join as sales executives in London, while
Claudio Piosevan becomes a sales executive in the Paris office.
The WSJE aims to improve its standing across the Continent. It will spend
pounds 40 million over the next five years to double its circulation, add
printing plants and increase its visibility among consumers and
advertisers.
It hopes to have a circulation of 140,000 by 2004.
Baxter denied the drive suggested the paper’s performance had been
sluggish.
’Circulation has increased by 15 per cent this year, evenly spread across
newsstand and subscriptions. We have achieved consistent growth over the
past five years, but next year marks a departure in terms of the level of
spend on marketing.’
The WSJE has recently faced competition from the Financial Times, which
has tried to chip away at the US market while establishing a German
version in a venture with Gruner & Jahr. The WSJE hit back in June by
taking equity in its long-term German ally, business paper
Handelsblatt.
O&M’s campaign will break in February and run across ten European
cities, with an emphasis on the UK and Germany. It includes posters,
print and TV spots on CNBC.