Metro and JCDecaux axe link-up

by Olivia Solon, Media Week 19-Feb-07, 17:45

Metro International and JCDecaux are believed to have shelved plans to form a cross-media sales alliance that would create a rival to RSVP.

The international outdoor company and the international free newspaper were discussing a two-year partnership to offer cross-media opportunities to advertisers, enabling them to buy space in the newspapers and run an outdoor campaign in a single deal.

The companies had been in talks for a number of months about a potential commercial link-up, according to industry sources.

The deal was believed to be along the same lines as RSVP (Real Sound, Vision and Print), which links up IPC Ignite, Viacom Brand Solutions and GCap Media.
The three media owners are formally structured both commercially and creatively to offer integrated solutions. The idea with RSVP is for advertisers to deliver multi-channel communications. Its clients have included Lynx, Buena Vista, O2 and Procter and Gamble.
Earlier this month, Metro announced that it had moved into profit for the first time. Meanwhile, net sales had increased by 16% year on year. Last month, the company announced that it had created an interactive publishing division and appointed former BSkyB executive Tom Symonds to head it.
The newspaper publishes in more than 100 major cities in 20 countries across Europe, North and South America and Asia.
Alistair Ballantyne, director of global sales at Metro International, said “we’re not in talks”, and refused to comment further. JCDecaux was unavailable for comment.