MEDIA RELEASE PR37574
PR Newswire Extends Event Marketing Leadership with Acquisition of Virtual Press
Office
NEW YORK, Dec. 14 /PRNewswire-AsiaNet/ --
- 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
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.
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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 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.
Press Contact:
--------------
Rachel Meranus
Vice President, Communications
PR Newswire
+1.201.360.6776
rachel.meranus@prnewswire.com
SOURCE: PR Newswire Association LLC
CONTACT: Rachel Meranus, Vice President, Communications
PR Newswire
+1-201-360-6776
rachel.meranus@prnewswire.com
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