Digital One appoints Clarke Hooper for partnership drive

National commercial digital radio consortium Digital One has rejected traditional advertising in favour of a marketing strategy aimed at getting hundreds of other companies to jointly promote its new technology.

Digital One has appointed marketing services agency Clarke Hooper, which will create a partner marketing programme. The idea is to persuade manufacturers, broadcasters, and retailers to co-fund digital radio promotions to the consumer.

The consortium, jointly owned by radio group GWR and UK cable operator NTL, has also appointed Jeff Astle, formerly with GWR, as head of marketing. He will work alongside chief executive Quentin Howard and consultant Jonathan Obermeister on the launch of the service. Digital One has pledged 27m to marketing over the next 12 years.

Howard says: “We want to build productive commercial relationships with a range of other companies. This will expand the marketing budget exponentially. Simple advertising is not the solution here.”

Digital One was given a licence to operate last October and is scheduled to launch this autumn.

Clarke Hooper, a division of Abbott Mead Vickers.BDDO, has worked on partner marketing projects before. The company was responsible for a Department of Trade & Industry IT promotion called IT For All. Over 18 months Clarke Hooper enlisted 150 companies to co-promote the project, including BT, Dixons and Microsoft.

Digital One expects to launch campaigns this summer. They will include some advertising, but also promotions, PR, and live events.