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PR Newswire Extends Event Marketing Leadership with Acquisition of Virtual Press Office

2009-12-15 00:58 660


-- Combined services create the industry's most extensive platform for

tradeshow marketing and communications

-- VPO Co-Founders, Peter Brand and Tom Cherry, to join PR Newswire in

leadership roles

NEW YORK, Dec. 14 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- PR Newswire announced today the acquisition of Virtual Press Office (VPO), bringing together the leading global providers of tradeshow news distribution solutions and online press office management.

To view the multimedia assets associated with this release, please click: http://multivu.prnewswire.com/mnr/prnewswire/41651/

(Logo: http://www.prnasia.com/sa/200704191652.gif )

The combined services will enable PR Newswire to offer the industry's most extensive platform for event marketing and communications. The purchase of VPO further enhances PR Newswire's portfolio of web engagement technologies and complements the company's recent acquisition of The Fuel Team, the website software company whose award-winning technology has powered PR Newswire's online newsroom and investor room tools since 2004.

VPO serves more than 500 conferences and 10,000 customers worldwide, delivering a host of tools and services that allow event marketers to address all facets of tradeshow communications, from building online press kits to direct email marketing to social media outreach and analysis through its recently launched EventBuzz dashboard. Having established VPO in 1996, its co-founders, Peter Brand, chief executive officer, and Tom Cherry, chief operating officer, will join PR Newswire to lead the company's Global Events team.

"VPO has long been recognized as the leading pure-play provider of event-based news distribution, management and tracking," stated Ninan Chacko, chief executive officer, PR Newswire. "Incorporating VPO's extensive relationships and event marketing expertise into PR Newswire's already-robust tradeshow platform will enable us to deliver the most complete, end-to-end communications solution serving tradeshow organizers, presenters and attendees. In particular, Peter's and Tom's leadership and industry savvy will be instrumental as PR Newswire continues to enhance our tradeshow marketing services and leverage event development opportunities on a global scale."

The integration of VPO's event-focused tools and technologies with PR Newswire's Global Events platform will provide event organizers and exhibitors with an unparalleled suite of communications services for maximizing exposure to show attendees, media and consumers. These services include:

-- Exhibitor Information Kits - PR Newswire's Exhibitor Information

Kit platform, which enables companies to build full event microsites

complete with multimedia, automatic news updates and RSS capabilities,

will be augmented by features available in VPO's Online Press Kits,

including advanced media measurement reports. All kits will gain

further exposure on PR Newswire's EventNewsCenter.com, an online

tradeshow portal containing news and exhibitor information kits from

events around the world.

-- News Distribution - PR Newswire empowers event organizers and

exhibitors with the ability to disseminate news to a broad, global

audience as well as to niche markets and media groups. VPO's vNews

service will further supplement PR Newswire's leading distribution

capabilities by enabling customers to execute personalized and highly

targeted email campaigns.

-- Social Media - The union of PR Newswire's Social Media Metrics and

VPO's recently launched EventBuzz will provide companies and event

planners with the most wide-reaching and detailed tool for tracking,

analyzing and acting upon tradeshow social media buzz.

-- Sales Lead Communications - Generating business remains a core

objective of most companies' tradeshow strategies. VPO's vLeads

enables PR Newswire's Global Events team to offer an inclusive sales

email campaign service, from building the sales email campaign, to

distributing the campaign to the exhibitors' target audience, to

delivering real-time leads directly to its sales team.

-- Multimedia Production & Distribution - PR Newswire, through

its multimedia company, MultiVu, offers event organizers and

exhibitors a full array of multimedia tools and services, including

video production, webcasting, multimedia news release development and

dissemination, and direct photo distribution to media and consumers as

well as "high-traffic" postings on the largest digital display in the

world in New York City's Times Square and on a digital board on the

Las Vegas strip

"Event marketing has changed dramatically over the past several years as online technologies, such as electronic news distribution, multimedia and now social media, have become integral to all phases of the tradeshow communications spectrum," noted Peter Brand, co-founder and CEO of Virtual Press Office. "The union of VPO with PR Newswire's Global Events division provides an unmatched communications platform which will enable event organizers and exhibitors the world-over to truly maximize their tradeshow endeavors, whether the objective is to launch a product, generate sales leads or raise brand awareness."

About PR Newswire

PR Newswire is the global leader in innovative communications and marketing services, enabling organizations to connect and engage with their target audiences worldwide.

Through its multi-channel distribution network, audience intelligence, targeting, measurement and compliance services, PR Newswire helps corporations and organizations conduct rich, timely and dynamic dialogues with the media, consumers, policymakers, investors and the general public, in support of building brands, generating awareness, impacting public policy, driving sales, and raising capital.

Pioneering the commercial news distribution industry 55 years ago, PR Newswire connects customers with audiences in more than 170 countries and in over 40 languages through an unparalleled network of offices in 16 countries across North and South America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, and via unique affiliations with the leading news agencies across the globe. PR Newswire is a subsidiary of United Business Media Limited (UBM.L), a leading global business media company that serves professional commercial communities around the world. For more information, go to http://www.unitedbusinessmedia.com .

About United Business Media

UBM focuses on two principal activities: worldwide information distribution, targeting and monitoring; and, the development and monetization of B2B communities and markets. UBM's businesses inform markets and serve professional commercial communities -- from doctors to game developers, from journalists to jewelry traders, from farmers to pharmacists -- with integrated events, online, print and business information products. Our 6,400 staff in more than 30 countries are organized into specialist teams that serve these communities, bringing buyers and sellers together, helping them to do business and their markets to work effectively and efficiently.

For more information, go to http://www.ubm.com

For more information, please contact:

Press Contact:

Rachel Meranus

Vice President, Communications

PR Newswire

Tel: +1-201-360-6776

Email: rachel.meranus@prnewswire.com

Source: PR Newswire Association LLC
Keywords: Advertising
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