BBC Worldwide and Dennis invest in subscription marketing

by Daniel Farey-Jones, Brand Republic 13-Apr-05, 07:30

LONDON - Magazine subscription services companies Galleon and Customer Interface are to combine forces within a joint venture umbrella company set up by their respective shareholders, BBC Worldwide and Dennis Publishing.

The 50:50 joint venture, Galleon CI, creates a more competitive company and allows for investment to improve existing services and develop additional services.

Management will spend the next few months evaluating which services to introduce, so there will be no immediate operational changes or redundancies.

New chairman Tom Turcan said that some of the services under consideration were in the area of subscription marketing services and customer contact.

Peter Phippen, managing director of BBC Magazines, underlined that subscriptions are of increasing importance to the UK magazine industry.

Galleon is 100% owned by BBC Worldwide. Customer Interface's ownership was previously divided between Dennis Publishing, its founder Felix Dennis, and Johnsons News Group. As part of the transaction, Felix Dennis and Johnsons have transferred their interests in Customer Interface to Dennis Publishing.

The new senior team at Galleon CI comprises Mandy Thwaites, managing director of Galleon, as managing director; David Neale, executive chairman of CI, as finance director; and Turcan as chairman of executive management.

Turcan's background is in media and technology and his CV features time at Logica, Capital Radio and News International. He was director of business development at News International until 1999. He then set up domain name registration services Netsearches, before selling it to a competitor and turning to consultancy.

As well as BBC titles, Galleon's clients include H Bauer and Waitrose Food Illustrated from John Brown Citrus Publishing. The company is based in Somerton, Somerset, has around 110 staff. Its 2004 turnover was £3.4m.

As well as Dennis Publishing, Customer Interface's clients include Paragon Publishing, Time Out and The Spectator, as well as customer magazines for Scope and Aston Villa. The company is based in Sittingbourne, Kent, has around 130 staff. Its 2004 turnover was £3.9m.

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