Advertising.com loses Euro chief

Advertising.com European managing director Will Becker has left the AOL-owned interactive marketing services group after a reorganisation. It is understood that Becker does not have a job to go to, and is to go travelling.

Advertising.com – bought by AOL last August for $435m (&£240m at the time) – has no plans to replace Becker, and the managing directors for individual European countries and regions who previously reported to him will now report to head office in the US. Michael Peralta, previously vice-president for the mid-Atlantic region, has been brought over from the US to take on Becker’s duties as UK managing director.

Peralta says that under the previous corporate structure, Advertising.com’s European operations were “almost treated as a separate company. But now we have a more integrated global approach.”

Meanwhile, Advertising.com has launched a UK version of its opt-in consumer marketing website, Offerzoo.

Offerzoo.co.uk offers consumers prizes and promotional offers in return for filling in simple questionnaires about themselves and their buying habits. It has a double opt-in registration system, to address concerns about invasive electronic direct marketing. Consumers have to register on Offerzoo.co.uk and will then be sent an e-mail, to which they must reply in order to validate their membership.

The site already has 140,000 members, who have indicated their willingness to receive marketing messages via e-mail, post, telephone or SMS. Offerzoo product manager Kate Toon says: “More than 60 per cent of our members are women, who are often harder to reach online.”

Offerzoo recently launched in Denmark, Norway and Sweden and there are plans for a US launch early this year.