Maiden adds £1.5m Bluewater

Outdoor advertising company Maiden has been awarded the right to build advertising sites around Europe’s largest shopping centre, Bluewater.

According to Maiden managing director David Pugh the new contract will account for an extra £1.5m of advertising revenue next year.

The company beat off competition from rival JC Decaux to build 130 six-sheets around the shopping mall, and six back-illuminated 48-sheets on approach roads. The panels have been designed by Fitch.

Banners will also be hung from balconies inside the malls and there will be projections onto the chalk cliffs surrounding Bluewater.

The deal means Maiden now controls the advertising at eight out of the top ten UK shopping centres, and controls advertising 83 shopping centres nationwide.

Last week Maiden reported a 30 per cent increase in sales in the first six months of 2000 and a £5.4m increase in pre-tax profits.

First-half sales of £38m contrasted with £29m for the same period last year, while pre-tax profits were up to £5.2m, compared with a loss of £200,000 in the first half of 1999. Maiden says this turnaround in the group’s fortunes has been spurred by advertisers’ disillusionment with the high cost of TV advertising and fragmentation within the media market.