E-market entrant tips $15m in earnings

By DITA DE BONI

The internet's growing success as a sales medium is creating a plethora of one-stop-shop e-marketing companies.

In the latest addition, one of the country's biggest design groups has joined forces with digital media strategies firm WebMasters Network to create a full suite of media, design and marketing services under the brand Brave New World.

Dave Clark Design and WebMasters will retain their separate operating names under the new arrangement.

Webmasters is part of the e-commerce division of Advantage Group. The company works on driving traffic to the sites of clients, including ASB Bank, CLEARNet, Farmers and NZ Post.

Dave Clark Design does branding and design work for companies such as Air New Zealand, Bluebird and the Dairy Board.

Brave New World says it will target leading corporates in New Zealand and is looking for a similar client base in Australia.

It says it has projected earnings of between $12 million and $15 million by next year.

A combined staff of 60 will be eligible to take part in a share-option scheme in the new venture.

Brave New World follows several other full-service digital marketing companies into the burgeoning e-commerce marketplace.

Recent entrants include The Radio Network's bluechilli, Parnell-based The Internet Bureau and global import Engage Media.

Integrated e-marketing companies, via the web and digital media, provide "end-to-end" advertising and marketing solutions for companies that have incorporated digital communications into their marketing mix. The ability to measure the success of on-line marketing, where companies can learn how many web-waders click on ads and build a picture of online surfing behaviour, is an increasingly vital service these agencies must offer clients.

Brave New World will use measuring instruments such as ACNielsen's Internet Measurement Services, a panel-based system for tracking online behaviour, as well as the WebMaster system ofanalysing click-through and registry rates on banner and other online advertisements.

While measurability systems are in place across the online market segment - and new ways of measuring the success of online campaigns are proliferating - Brave New World says its point of difference is that it will emphasis "one-to-one customer relationship building," including e-mail marketing.

Chief executive Frank van der Velden says that as the next wave of digital marketing moves towards interactive TV, WAP-enabled cellphones and internet-enabled palm tops, practitioners will need to focus on highly targeted marketing communications.