MediaVest is to handle a pounds 10 million online and offline push
for Switch2.net, the web entertainment start-up.
Switch2.net’s owner, Edison Interactive, has hired MediaVest to control
planning and buying for a large-scale launch in early 2000.
MediaVest’s planning director Darren Rubins, its TV buying chief David
Jowett and strategist Jeremy Paul will work on the business.
Switch2.net is a consumer-focused leisure portal which is set to go live
at the end of this year.
Users will be able to switch to a series of sites on games, sports and
music as well as link to online radio stations like Talk Radio.
Edison Interactive business development director Simon Grice said
MediaVest’s campaign will include online advertising but mainly focus on
offline media.
Grice added that all parties involved were still in discussions over
which media to use, but Edison is keen that consumers associate
Switch2.net with entertainment, so press buying will focus on newspaper
TV guides.
MediaVest is also looking at television, particularly digital, and the
possibilities of linking with ONdigital’s recently launched service
Open.