AVG plans 4m marketing push

AVG Technologies, the internet security and anti-virus company, is planning to appoint its first advertising and media agencies as part of wider plans to boost its marketing budget to £4m.

The marketing push is being led by newly appointed marketing director John Bernard, who moved from Sony Ericsson where he was global marketing manager (MW December 18, 2008).

Bernard, who stepped into the newly created role at the beginning of this month, will be building a marketing team of five or six and will boost the company’s annual marketing budget from £1m to £4m.

Currently, its only retained agency is Curious, which handles below-the-line work. Bernard says it is looking to hire an advertising agency for the first time to create radio, print and outdoor ads and to appoint agencies to handle sponsorship and media planning and buying.

“We’ll be starting the pitch in the UK in the next two to three months,” he says.

AVG, which is based in Amsterdam, is a global internet security company protecting more than 80 million consumers and small business computer users in 167 countries. Its main competitors are Norton Anti-Virus and McAfee Anti-Virus software.