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| PRESS RELEASE SEPTEMBER 2002/ DG01/cp/rs/SPS |
New Marketing Services Group Launched
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Clients looking for a more integrated approach
to marketing
services will find a fresh alternative in a new marketing service
called
DirectionGroup.
DirectionGroup aims to significantly improve the way clients select
and engage the increasingly wide selection of specialist marketing
services needed to achieve their marketing objectives.
The DirectionGroup provides a single point of client contact to a
wide alliance of 'best of breed' independent marketing specialist
companies.
The many services provided, range from Project Management,
Research, Marketing Consultancy, Creative Services and specialist
marketing disciplines such as Advertising, PR, Print, Direct Marketing,
Digital Media, Logistics, Merchandising, Sales Promotion,
Exhibitions/Events and Conferences.
There are already 10 independent UK and European Partner Companies
within the Group with a combined turnover of over £50M. And further
specialist service providers are now under review, covering Staff
Training, Loyalty Programmes, Delegate Management, Film/Video
Production, Radio Production, Sponsorship, Licensing,
Premiums/Merchandise, Handling House, and Contract Publishing.
DirectionGroup was formed by Chris Parry former Chairman and
Managing Director of FCA! and Richard Stephens Founder and Managing
Director of Creative Direction Consultants which was the first
DirectionGroup Partner.
Parry, who was at the helm of FCA! during its meteoric rise in the
nineties to become the leading integrated agency on the back of its
unique approach, says: " Since I left FCA! 2 years ago I have been
amazed at the lack of advance within the agency world in providing
a truly integrated offering. Richard and I totally share the view
that
Clients who search for the most effective ways to market their products
and services deserve to find the best solution".
Both of them realised that this was the perfect time to launch, Stephens
says "Today Clients are looking even closer for increased efficiency
and better value from their marketing budgets - DirectionGroup is
a 'single door' to many great marketing service companies and
provides Clients with an impartial and powerful management proposition.
Ad Agencies all too often fail to provide cost-effectiveness when
managing
mixed marketing services and so clients have gone out to purchase
direct.
But this can be difficult and they still want to be sure they're being
offered
the best marketing solution in each and every supplier's case. Only
a
truly media-neutral group of well managed, independent service providers
can do this for them".
Parry who leads the launch programme added "At DirectionGroup we
do not regard advertising or any other marketing discipline as the
lynch
pin of a campaign nor indeed that the lead agency be an advertising
agency. Instead, we believe in ascertaining the solution to the brief
and then deciding how best to reach our Target Market to deliver the
most effective message using the marketing specialists in the group.
If you knock on the door of an advertising agency they will tell you
the
solution is advertising, likewise with any other single specialist
company
they will offer up their skill as the solution. At the DirectionGroup
we
have absolutely NO bias towards any one marketing discipline, because
we represent all of the marketing disciplines provided by Companies
who are independent of each other but brought together under the single
Direction Group umbrella. So, for example, if we identify that the
Client needs to create an internal communications programme before
any other activity, then that's what we will recommend."
DirectionGroup acts as the hub for all Client marketing activity and
then with the Client appoints a lead agency from within the Group,
which in turn utilises the Group's range of different specialist skills
to
best meet the objectives and deliver the results the Client is looking
to achieve. Start to finish Project Management ensures a single,
smooth and efficient process is maintained.
Parry says "At FCA! we were expounding the virtues and benefits
of
an integrated and media neutral approach to marketing for years.
Now many agencies claim to offer it, but most favour one medium
over another or their Creatives and Account Handlers simply do
not know how to work across different disciplines, DirectionGroup,
however, is able to bridge that gap on clients' behalf".
DirectionGroup Partners effectively pool their knowledge and
experience and share a like-minded approach to centrally managed
marketing. So when combined together they can offer a range of
co-ordinated expert services to cover the entire marketing spectrum.
DirectionGroup is based in the Thames Valley - UK's fastest growing
business region- near Reading, Berkshire. The Group will concentrate
on the medium-sized budgets for the short-term. Parry says:
"We are targeting those companies seeking maximum leverage from
cost-effective mixed-media marketing solutions through one point of
contact. In particular, those companies that have a small marketing
team with total marketing budget of around £1-3m and therefore
have neither the time nor the resources to be dealing with a plethora
of different marketing suppliers, as well as those Clients that are
looking to outsource the management of their marketing activities".
For further information, please contact:
Richard Stephens
DirectionGroup
Tel: 0118 989 8104
Mob: 07836 587096
Email: richards@directiongroup.co.uk
www.directiongroup.co.uk
Simon Parker, SPS PR
Tel: 01403 253335
Email: SPSMARKETING@aol.com
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