MEDIA-I: 24/7 Media rebrands as web woes worsen

HONG KONG: Online advertising network 24/7 Media Asia will rebrand and change its name in an effort to distance the company from the online advertising slump and expand its offerings to agencies and advertisers. The company, which has been hit hard by the withering online ad sector and the dotcom decline, is preparing to launch its new brand identity in the coming weeks, according to 24/7 Media Asia chief operating officer Stuart Spiteri. While Spiteri declined to reveal the new name, sources said the company is considering several names, including Mezzo Marketing. "If you look at 24/7, it was 100 per cent owned by Chinadotcom about two-and-a-half years ago when we started. In 2000, we moved towards 80 per cent ownership by Chinadotcom. Since then there have been some changes along the way," Spiteri said. One change has been the introduction of its expresso email-marketing suite, which was launched in June, in an effort to accelerate the business' move into the online direct marketing space. "Actually we've been doing this quietly for some time. Late last year, we acquired an offline database for agencies and advertisers. We'll be rolling out a suite of services with expresso," said Spiteri. He explained that the company would continue offering its present services, but would re-position itself as a solutions provider, offering email and database marketing tools, as well as application technology. "We will continue with the business we have been doing, but embark on initiatives and execute different strategies, such as developing email marketing and data mining, technology serving campaigns and data with our own technology." In recent weeks the 24/7 overseas operation slashed its work force, sold off assets and closed its European division to cut costs and narrow its focus. In the US, the company faces delisting from the Nasdaq Stock Market. "As you know the announcement coming out of New York's 24/7 Media office is that they want to focus on domestic operations. We believe and can see that the market opportunities are still here in Asia-Pacific and remain untapped. We found, along the way, that what fit in the US organisation didn't necessarily fit here. They were rolling out their business models and technologies and it was evident that this was restrictive for the Asia operation. "We are majority owned by Chinadotcom and so we feel we have a lot more opportunities than the current name would let us reflect. We wanted to illustrate our broader strategy of what we want to do."

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