Video Disk Committee appoints consultant prior to agency search

The Digital Video Disk Committee has appointed David King, former sales and marketing director for Polygram-owned video label Astrian, to advise on the hiring of advertising agencies to promote the new video format in the UK.

He joins the committee as marketing consultant, replacing Simon Heller who left the group in December to become the marketing director for Warner Vision, the video arm of Warner Music (MW December 3 1998).

DVD is the digital replacement for VHS technology. The committee, made up of leading consumer electronics companies, is considering the launch of a joint advertising campaign to create a mass market for the product.

King says: “The first phase of the campaign will involve a below-the-line agency, and there will be an advertising campaign in the autumn. We are recruiting new members to the committee to help increase funding. “

The DVD committee comprises ten of the world’s most powerful consumer electronics and entertainment companies. These include Hollywood studios Warner Vision, Buena Vista, Columbia Tristar, MGM and Polygram, plus hardware companies Sony, Philips, Panasonic and Toshiba.

Manufacturers and studios are hoping to repeat the format’s success story in the US, where DVD is close to becoming a mass market product.