The new media consultancy behind the Evening Standard’s new
quarterly CD giveaway, The Knowledge, plans to turn the CD-Rom into a
viable advertising medium.
The consultancy, 86, has established a CD contract publishing division
which includes three sales staff. 86 joint managing director Will Sankey
said: ’The CD-Rom has finally come of age. The Knowledge represents a
whole new publishing formula for media owners and advertisers.’
86 worked alongside new media production company John Henry Productions
to create The Knowledge, which appeared with the Evening Standard on 5
November and included ads from Tesco Direct and Slam City Skates. 86
handled the bulk of advertising sales. Sankey said similar partnerships
would follow.
’CD-Rom seemed to fall out of favour a couple of years ago because
nobody had CD-Rom drives on their PCs. That situation has now
changed.’
Sankey and his fellow managing director Shirin Kalal established 86 18
months ago to advise clients on their online media strategy. As well as
working with the Evening Standard, 86 handles online sports shop
Kitbag.com and soon-to-launch entertainment portal Switch2.net.
Sankey was previously media planning director at BMP, working with Sony,
Marks & Spencer and Thomson Holidays.
He said: ’It’s quite clear that the business to be in at the moment is
new media. We’re attracting interest from traditional media publishers,
retailers and ISPs.’
The next issue of The Knowledge is due out in the spring. The first
edition contained information on the latest bars and restaurants, as
well as music and the trailer for the latest Bond film. Users could also
install Zoom, the free ISP part-owned by Standard parent Associated
Newspapers. A screensaver included animated characters representing 20
different advertisers.
