WSJE to raise European profile

The Wall Street Journal Europe is setting up a UK marketing team,

strengthening its sales department and running a multi-million dollar

pan-European ad campaign through Ogilvy & Mather.

Media for the campaign will be bought by MindShare, which was appointed

with O&M last month. The drive begins in the first quarter of 2000 and

will be overseen by Douglas Baxter, who has joined the paper in the new

role of senior director, marketing and communications.

Marketing was previously run from the WSJE’s Brussels office. Baxter is

the former chief executive of Smurfit Media UK and publisher of the Irish

Post.

At the same time, Anne Hogarth becomes marketing and promotions director,

UK. She was previously group promotions manager at The Daily

Telegraph.

Four new recruits have joined the sales team. Marie-Pierre Lehmann, Kerry

Tarrant and Suzanna Kantor join as sales executives in London, while

Claudio Piosevan becomes a sales executive in the Paris office.

The WSJE aims to improve its standing across the Continent. It will spend

pounds 40 million over the next five years to double its circulation, add

printing plants and increase its visibility among consumers and

advertisers.

It hopes to have a circulation of 140,000 by 2004.

Baxter denied the drive suggested the paper’s performance had been

sluggish.

’Circulation has increased by 15 per cent this year, evenly spread across

newsstand and subscriptions. We have achieved consistent growth over the

past five years, but next year marks a departure in terms of the level of

spend on marketing.’

The WSJE has recently faced competition from the Financial Times, which

has tried to chip away at the US market while establishing a German

version in a venture with Gruner & Jahr. The WSJE hit back in June by

taking equity in its long-term German ally, business paper

Handelsblatt.

O&M’s campaign will break in February and run across ten European

cities, with an emphasis on the UK and Germany. It includes posters,

print and TV spots on CNBC.

This article was first published on Campaign