Zenith Media is setting up its own interactive media division and
has signed up the former marketing director of Amazon.com to run it.
Chris Ketley is in the process of setting up Zenith Interactive
Solutions, which will formally open its doors for business on 4 January.
Damien Blackden, Zenith’s head of press, is moving across to be managing
partner of ZIS.
He said he wanted it to be the most ’pre-eminent new media marketing
services company’ in the UK.
Zenith is working out how best to restructure its press department in
order to replace him. For the past 18 months Blackden has taken on an
increasing amount of new-media work.
He said: ’The more involved you get in it, the more interesting it is
and the more mind-expanding it becomes. Most other media don’t re-invent
themselves every six months.’
The new-media team will initially comprise six people. Most of these
already work at Zenith, but a couple are being recruited from
outside.
The full list of staff should be announced within a fortnight. Clients
on board include Halifax, Lloyds TSB, BT, the Association of Investment
Trust Companies, Viglen and EDS.
ZIS’s activities will go beyond planning and buying on-line, according
to Ketley. His aim is to try to understand the full needs of clients -
or ’customers’ as he calls them - and work around that. If the relevant
expertise is not available within Zenith, he will outsource certain
tasks.
’We need to get very close to digital television and telephone companies
to understand what they have to offer and how they can be of use to our
customers,’ he said.
Perhaps because some of ZIS’s income comes from consultancy, Ketley
refused to say what the division’s launch billings would be.
Ketley spent four months with Amazon.com last year. Before that he
worked for the Automobile Association, Courage, Grand Metropolitan
Brewers and Spillers.
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