The Economist to build in-house ad team

THE ECONOMIST   PRINT   ADVERTISING

Hong Kong - The Economist is joining a growing list of media companies offering in-house solutions to clients, with a dedicated client team joining from early 2011.

Mirroring its US and UK offices, The Economist Group Asia Pacific has hired a senior account director and design team to offer what it calls thought leadership solutions such as research and insights, briefing papers, public relations and earned media opportunities.

Already the group has locked in advertisers for 2011, with one project for the Lien Foundation already in full swing.

The Economist sales director Rob Ferguson said the idea is to take the weekly title away from being just a platform for advertisers into a whole new area of delivering thought leadership programs.

"Clients want thought leadership and The Economist is in a very good position to offer that," Ferguson said. "This will be a very big push for us going into next year."

The move also follows the departure of Andrew Au as marketing manager, advertising and sponsorship, Asia Pacific, who takes on a new role with creative agency Fluid as business development director.

Ferguson said trade marketing activity for the group would now be split between himself and Grace Hahn, director of group marketing The Economist Group Asia Pacific.

The second half of 2010 has seen The Economist make a number of key moves including the introduction of Hong Kong and Singapore advertising editions and the appointment of Edelman as its PR partner. 

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