WCRS wins CNN.com Europe task

WCRS has picked up the European launch task for CNN.com following a

three-way creative pitch.

WCRS beat D’Arcy and Euro RSCG Wnek Gosper to the business and will now

create a distinctive European positioning for the site.

CNN is keen that consumers understand that the European version of

CNN.com will not have an American bias and will be aimed squarely at a

European audience.

A potential endline that is under consideration is ’Take a new

look’.

’It is important that consumers understand that this is not a site about

Europe,’ Paul Maglione, commercial director at CNN, said.

’The content will be world news and the effects those stories have on a

European audience. It’s a matter of emphasis.’

The advertising account will be headed by Chris Herd, the group director

of the E Brands division at WCRS.

An advertising campaign will be timed to coincide with the launch of the

European website in October. It will have a heavy online presence as

well as extensive TV coverage and will fully exploit its AOL/Time Warner

ownership.

Advertising will also appear on CNN TV in an attempt to target people

across different platforms within the same brand.

Content for the website will originate in London. A team of 30

journalists has already been recruited, including the former BBC

political editor Robin Oakley, and several others from BBC Online.

Conquest London handles the advertising for the main CNN brand.

Last autumn it created a pounds 4 million campaign that ran across

Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific, Latin and North America

on posters, in cinema and in print.

This article was first published on Campaign