Guardian plans own-label goods

Guardian Newspapers is planning to launch a wine club and own-label gardening, music and travel products, through a new commercial division which launches in the autumn.

The division, called Enterprise, will generate extra income from the entertainment sections of The Guardian and The Observer.

It will be run by head of classified Susanne Francis, while board-level responsibility will go to newly promoted commercial director Carolyn McCall.

McCall says Enterprise will combine the databases of The Guardian and The Observer, and will include off-the-page promotion of reader offers which carry the newspaper’s brands.

Enterprise will also generate income from additional services, such as personalised voicemail for Space, the Guardian property section, scheduled for launch on September 12.

She says the offers will include anything from gardening tools to videos and travel offers. They will be promoted in a systematic way, rather than on an ad hoc basis.

It will offer added-value prod ucts such as an opera weekend in Verona with The Guardian’s opera correspondent.

But she rules out moving into branded financial services. Last year the Telegraph had to pull out of selling Telegraph branded financial products after complaints from its financial advertisers (MW May 31 1996).

Enterprise will have seven dedicated staff.