SMG dissolves cross-platform team
Scottish Media Group (SMG) is dissolving its cross-platform sales team, SMG Access, after three years. The move will see the cross-selling function devolved back to SMG’s four individual sales teams – Virgin Radio, Pearl & Dean, Primesight and STV.
The individual sales teams will now work closely with key media partnerships developed under SMG Access to continue to offer cross-platform packages.
Virgin Radio will work with News Group because they have similar target audiences, while Pearl & Dean and Primesight have teamed up with Metro to offer deals targeting major conurbations.
SMG also has a number of partnerships with magazine publishers including Dennis Publishing, Hachette and independent music magazine publisher Hell Development.
SMG Access managing director Mike Hope Milne will move into a senior role at Pearl & Dean as a result of the changes. He will be covering for sales director Claire Turner while she is on maternity leave but is expected to stay on when she returns.
The restructure follows SMG’s division to devolve the Out of Home department, which included Pearl & Dean and Primesight, into standalone divisions at the start of the year.
SMG Access, which was launched in 2003 (MW September 4, 2003), had been criticised for failing to make big deals that worked across all of its platforms despite securing a &£2m deal with Unilever in 2004.Transport for London (TfL) is moving its road safety campaign online, targeting teenagers as they download music and games.
TfL has signed up with Lycos to automatically stream its “Don’t Die Before You’ve Lived” ads on the portal while content is being downloaded. Users will be redirected to a website built for the campaign.
Banner ads will also be shown on other sites aimed at young adults, including MyKindaPlace, MonkeySlum, Faceparty and Girland.com.
The ads will only be shown to internet users based in London, and are due to run for one month.
The online planning and buying for the campaign is by MEC Interaction. The creative work was originally developed by M&C Saatchi for a cinema campaign.
A TfL spokesman says: “We’re moving our advertising to where the market is.”
TfL claims that two teenagers are killed or seriously injured in road incidents every day in London, with 11- to 14-year-old boys being the group that is most at risk.
