News
VCCP launches a new search agency
Vallance Carruthers Coleman Priest, VCCP, is launching a new company on September 27th, called VCCPsearch. It will be a dedicated Internet search agency and will not only service many of its parent company's clients but all other divisions within the Chime PLC group, which includes Bell Pottinger Public Relations.
VCCPsearch is to be a dedicated search engine marketing agency, specialising in natural search engine optimisation, pay per click marketing, digital consultancy and search technology solutions. Paul Mead, the new managing director of VCCPsearch says: For most people, search engines are the gateway to the Internet; so brands cannot ignore them if they want to get their message across. Search is the fastest growing area in marketing.
The new agency will focus on three areas: Search for brand, search for response and search integration into a wider brand strategy.
Paul Mead says: "Using only three major search engines (Google, Yahoo and MSN) advertisers can reach over 90% of the UK's 30 million online audience. And with the ongoing fragmentation of offline media, search engine marketing is offering an incredible opportunity to position, protect and develop brands through its huge reach. This is a fundamental and significant switch in the way brands seek to deliver their chosen messages."
VCCPsearch is very much brand focused, an area that Mead believes is currently underepresented with search engine oriented agencies.
He says: "We understand that search marketing is part of a much bigger remit and needs to be one of the key elements of an integrated campaign. However, it is becoming increasingly important. The major advertisers in the UK still spend a tiny percentage of their budget online and this is disproportionate to where their audience are spending their media time."
The new agency will increase the Chime Group to 27 agencies with over 400 blue chip clients including 02, Coke Zero, Dunhill, ING and Metro.
Founding Partner of VCCP, Ian Priest, says: "No time in the recent past has marketing and advertising been developing and changing so rapidly. To stay ahead of the game and offer clients' best practice and the most complete strategy, it is imperative to constantly enhance and adapt agencies. VCCPsearch extends our offering."
The agency is headed by Paul Mead who was formerly managing director of specialist search agency Quartz Interactive since its conception in 2004. He has over 7 years of experience in the search and Internet industry, having left VNU in 2000 to join Internet publisher Crystal Guides, the company which launched UK Net Guide and developed one of the first social networking websites, The Answerbank. He says "Our team come from a great mix of backgrounds - dealing with search engine marketing at major agencies, media owners and the search engines themselves. They all have one thing in common - years of experience and real depth of expertise in search."