Ringier buys Ad Pepper Switzerland
Internet advertising marketer Ad Pepper International also withdraws from Switzerland
The Internet advertising marketer Ad Pepper International is also withdrawing from SwitzerlandBy Clemens HörlerAs of June 1, 2001, Ringier AG is taking over 100 percent of the share capital of the online advertising marketer Ad Pepper Media Switzerland AG. The media company previously held 49 percent of the Swiss company, which was founded in 1999.
"We had hoped that we would benefit more from Ad Pepper International's pan-European network structure," sums up Edwin Dünki, Head of E-Business at Ringier. "The money flows that flowed out of and into Switzerland within the network were rather modest after all."
Ringier wants to rename and reposition the company following the complete takeover of Ad Pepper. The company, which currently also has non-Ringier sites in its portfolio in Switzerland, is to focus on new forms of online advertising such as sponsorship, response elements, revenue-sharing models, co-branding campaigns, publicity reports and cross-marketing for Ringier.
Concentration on a few websites
However, as Dünki emphasized to WerbeWoche, other websites will also be marketed in the future in addition to the Ringier platforms. "But there will only be a few sites, which will be looked after all the more intensively for it," Dünki explained. Exactly which platforms these are is not yet known, nor is the future name of the new company. In addition to the Ringier sites, Ad Pepper Switzerland currently markets MSN, sites of the Basler media group and the Winner platforms, among others.
Most of the employees of Ad Pepper Switzerland will be able to continue working, according to Dünki. However, some layoffs have already been made, he said. Who will manage the successor company in the future will be decided in two to three weeks.
The fact that Ad Pepper is withdrawing from the Swiss market is not entirely surprising given the situation in which the online advertising industry currently finds itself. According to Philip Ellison, media manager of Ad Pepper Media International, Ad Pepper considered Switzerland to be an important market, but the short-term prospects for profitable business were not good. In view of its international orientation, the company therefore decided to withdraw from Switzerland and Austria.
Ad Pepper will also be saying goodbye to the USA in the near future. The strategy is clear: focus on the key European markets where Ad Pepper has been able to capture larger market shares, and consolidate business there.
At the Annual General Meeting on May 9 in Amsterdam, CEO Ulrich Schmidt expressed confidence for the future: Ad Pepper had grown disproportionately compared to other European competitors. The company was continuing to make progress towards profitability and expected to cut costs significantly in 2001. The losses could not have been avoided, he said, as the company expanded into six more countries in 2000 and invested (cautiously) in new products and sales and service structures.
Ad Pepper Media International N. V., which is listed on the Neuer Markt in Frankfurt, had generated sales of 15.3 million euros in fiscal 2000, but posted a loss of 9.6 million euros. Painful for investors, too: the share price, which was quoted at 18.10 euros shortly after the IPO in October 2000, has since settled at values between 2 and 4 euros.
"We had hoped that we would benefit more from Ad Pepper International's pan-European network structure," sums up Edwin Dünki, Head of E-Business at Ringier. "The money flows that flowed out of and into Switzerland within the network were rather modest after all."
Ringier wants to rename and reposition the company following the complete takeover of Ad Pepper. The company, which currently also has non-Ringier sites in its portfolio in Switzerland, is to focus on new forms of online advertising such as sponsorship, response elements, revenue-sharing models, co-branding campaigns, publicity reports and cross-marketing for Ringier.
Concentration on a few websites
However, as Dünki emphasized to WerbeWoche, other websites will also be marketed in the future in addition to the Ringier platforms. "But there will only be a few sites, which will be looked after all the more intensively for it," Dünki explained. Exactly which platforms these are is not yet known, nor is the future name of the new company. In addition to the Ringier sites, Ad Pepper Switzerland currently markets MSN, sites of the Basler media group and the Winner platforms, among others.
Most of the employees of Ad Pepper Switzerland will be able to continue working, according to Dünki. However, some layoffs have already been made, he said. Who will manage the successor company in the future will be decided in two to three weeks.
The fact that Ad Pepper is withdrawing from the Swiss market is not entirely surprising given the situation in which the online advertising industry currently finds itself. According to Philip Ellison, media manager of Ad Pepper Media International, Ad Pepper considered Switzerland to be an important market, but the short-term prospects for profitable business were not good. In view of its international orientation, the company therefore decided to withdraw from Switzerland and Austria.
Ad Pepper will also be saying goodbye to the USA in the near future. The strategy is clear: focus on the key European markets where Ad Pepper has been able to capture larger market shares, and consolidate business there.
At the Annual General Meeting on May 9 in Amsterdam, CEO Ulrich Schmidt expressed confidence for the future: Ad Pepper had grown disproportionately compared to other European competitors. The company was continuing to make progress towards profitability and expected to cut costs significantly in 2001. The losses could not have been avoided, he said, as the company expanded into six more countries in 2000 and invested (cautiously) in new products and sales and service structures.
Ad Pepper Media International N. V., which is listed on the Neuer Markt in Frankfurt, had generated sales of 15.3 million euros in fiscal 2000, but posted a loss of 9.6 million euros. Painful for investors, too: the share price, which was quoted at 18.10 euros shortly after the IPO in October 2000, has since settled at values between 2 and 4 euros.
