OneDigital launches full-service NZ digital agency

MEDIA RELEASE
24 March 2005

OneDigital launches full-service digital agency in New Zealand

Independent media agency Carat New Zealand is launching the services of Australia’s leading full-service digital communications agency OneDigital in New Zealand. Backing the launch is a strategic alliance with New Zealand’s most recognised and enduring interactive software design company – Terabyte.

OneDigital is part of a giant international network of digital agencies (branded ‘Isobar’) comprising 780 people in 51 offices in 27 countries worldwide. The move to launch OneDigital in New Zealand is part of media agency Carat’s global strategy to respond to the rapid increase in the consumption of digital media expected over the next 15 years.

“By ‘digital media’ we mean such things as digital rather than analogue TV, digital radio, the internet, gaming, mobile platforms, wireless devices, even outdoor and retail environments,” says OneDigital Strategic Business Director Keith Pinney.

“Think of digital as a channel in its own right rather than merely what the web currently provides. Our research from the late 90’s predicts that digital channels such as these will make up 50 percent of all media by 2007 rising to 80 percent by 2020.

“This trend is already visible in the increasing uptake of broadband services worldwide, the increasing consumption of online media, and the emergence and growth in so-called ‘3G’ mobile services.

“Online and interactive advertising spend is still relatively small in New Zealand but we see this as a great opportunity to become the champion of digital in this market. Our aim is to make it easy for our clients to catch this wave and help their businesses and customers move into the digital sphere.

“We want to take our clients beyond traditionally delivered brand campaigns into a more measurable and accountable space where we help them to acquire customers, enhance relationships, and deliver services. With many of our clients, we charge them on the basis of how well we actually achieve this.

“And because we’re part of Isobar, we can bring the advantages of the world’s first genuinely global full service digital agency network to the table. That means we can quickly deploy proven technologies and services offered by our partners in other territories and tailor these for local market conditions. In many cases this will also be campaign-based, offering us greater agility and broader access to assets created within the network.”

By “full service” OneDigital means a suite of products encompassing digital advertising services (including broadband video, mobile, digital experiential, and online planning and buying), online services (such as website design and development, online content creation, sourcing and adaptation, information architecture, e-commerce, application development, and games), and direct (including CRM, email marketing and deployment, search marketing, and affiliate marketing).

Carat New Zealand Managing Director Robert Roydhouse says he is tremendously excited about the possibilities opened up by the launch.

“The prospect of having the best digital and interactive media expertise working with us will be hugely significant for our business,” says Mr Roydhouse.

“It will take our offering to the next level by helping our clients to better understand and exploit the opportunities provided by the new digital era we are now working in.”

Both Carat and OneDigital are part of communications colossus Aegis Media, making the companies natural partners. OneDigital’s strategic alliance with Terabyte allows both companies to share clients and split project responsibilities along competencies while playing to their individual strengths.

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OneDigital is one of Australia’s largest and most successful digital agencies. Since inception in 1992, OneDigital has consistently delivered unique, adaptable and award-winning digital solutions for some of the world’s largest businesses – including Microsoft, HSBC, eBay and Nestle. Using digital technology, OneDigital helps clients keep pace with consumer demand for faster, cheaper and more convenient delivery of products and services. For more information on OneDigital, visit www.onedigital.com.au.

Carat, the only independent media agency network in the world, has evolved from a European media planning and buying network into the world’s largest independent media communications agency network with 4800 staff in 109 offices in 63 countries worldwide.

Aegis Media, owned by holding company Aegis Group plc, comprises Carat, Vizeum, Posterscope, and Synovate, its market research business. These two operating groups provide clients with a range of offerings across media communication services, marketing consultancy, and market research. Listed on the London Stock Exchange, it operates in over 60 countries.

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