Webmedia, the new-media company, is slashing staff numbers from 30
to 20 following a strategic review undertaken by its new managing
director, Peter Beech, and Steve Bowbrick, its chairman and chief
executive.
Webmedia, which has evolved from a Web production company to embrace
strategic functions over the past year, has sought increasingly to
position itself as an agency with which clients can work directly,
rather than via an ad agency. Beech said the company would ’continue to
develop long-term relationships with clients’, which, he declared, were
crucial to its profitability.
However, Beech maintained that the company was not averse to working
with agencies. He added: ’The aim is to provide a number of
customer-focused digital services, ranging from consultancy to
production and implementation.’
The job losses come mainly among production, administration and sales
and marketing staff. Beech, who will take on responsibility for
marketing as part of his new role, said: ’The online interactive
business is in a state of almost constant change. We recognise that
Webmedia needs to anticipate these changes and be flexible enough to
adapt.’
Beech joined Webmedia officially this week from Leo Burnett, where he
was head of interactive marketing.
