Freeloader.com hires global marketing head

Turco was sales director at Citikey UK, which develops city guides and location services for WAP phones and other hand-held devices. In his new role he will oversee the entire marketing strategy for Freeloader in Europe and the US. His responsibilities include building partnerships with other portals and driving traffic to the website.

He will head a team of ten and report to Pure Entertainment Games chief executive Bob Dewar.

Freeloader provides free access to video games in return for information about users’ lifestyles, shopping habits and opinions. The data are then used to help online advertisers target their relevant market.

“Our main activity this year will be creating affiliate partnerships with portals, looking for a games channel and attracting more casual gamers to the site,” says Turco.

Freeloader has over 400,000 registered users and operates localised sites. It offers 45 games sites in the UK, Germany, France and the US.

Mustoe Merriman Herring Levy, which handles Freeloader’s creative advertising account, devised a controversial launch poster campaign for the site, featuring the strapline “Don’t Work – Play Games”.