Media Week, Media Week, 30 May 2006, 00:00am

Mediaforce wins sales task in West Country

Mediaforce has been appointed to handle national sales for the West Country free newspaper group, View From Publishing.

Mediaforce was awarded the brief for the portfolio of newspapers, which previously handled sales in-house, without a pitch.

View From Publishing, set up last year by regional press veteran Philip Evans, has since launched six titles in Honiton, Axminster, Seaton, Colyton, Lyme Regis and Bridport. The combined portfolio has a total free distribution of 30,000 and competes against Archant's Exmouth Journal.

The company also publishes a monthly community journal, View from the Blackdown Hills, with a free distribution of 8,000.

This is the latest in a series of wins for Mediaforce, which is the national sales house for Johnston Press. In May, it picked up the £8m brief for the Belfast Telegraph.

Mediaforce managing director Lawrie Procter said: "View From Publishing offers proper community-based titles and is what local newspapers should be producing."