Carlton Online will double in size over the next six months and
plans to recruit at least four additional sales people.
Managing director Phil Rooke said the company’s 58-strong staff would
grow to 90 by March and that its four-strong sales team would be
increased to ’at least eight’.
’Our biggest problem at the moment is that we’re constantly selling out
of space,’ he commented. ’We need people to build our range of products
so we have more to sell to advertisers.’
The company plans to create additional sites and move into new areas of
business such as interactive high street kiosks and wireless application
protocol (WAP).
’Next year we will need people who can sell across a whole range of
products, from the web to interactive TV to kiosks and WAP,’ continued
Rooke.
He said there was no shortage of applicants for sales positions. ’Two
years ago you needed some level of technical knowledge to sell new
media, but now you don’t need to know any more about it than you do
about a printing press. We’re constantly getting approached, often by
people who’ve gone into new-media start-ups but now want to work for
someone who isn’t a lunatic.’
But he said there was still a shortage of highly experienced sales
people working in the sector. ’Display reps on leading magazines are the
kind of people we want to bring into the industry.’
Rooke confirmed reports of a pre-Christmas advertising boom on the
internet (Media Business, 22 November). ’It’s as if everybody decided to
advertise at once. There’s a certain amount of ’me too’ advertising
going on. We’ve had 20 new advertisers every month for the last three
months. That’s a lot for four people to handle.’
He added that the sector would remain strong into 2000. ’Once these
people start advertising they are not going to stop,’ he said.
A quick scan of Carlton Online’s sites - games site Jamba, movie review
service Popcorn and SimplyFood -revealed ads from Comet Direct,
Beeb.com, and Handbag.com.
Carlton Online was set up in April 1998 by Carol Dukes, who has since
left to run her own dot.com start-up, ThinkNatural.
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