Brand Republic announces relaunch: The best just got even better

Brand Republic, the market-leading online portal for the advertising, media, marketing and PR industries, is relaunching as a next generation web site with personalised content, an emphasis on community and a new look and feel, created by OgilvyOne Worldwide London.

OgilvyOne, a leading DM and digital agency, has created a completely new page design, new navigation and a set of new features and functionality. The revamped site went live on Monday.

As well as its acclaimed breaking news service, the new Brand Republic, which already has a monthly audience of over 215,000 users*, offers its members the chance to have their say via forums and blogs written by opinion formers working in the worlds of advertising, media, PR and marketing. Users also get access to the UK’s leading marcomms job site.

Personalisation plays an important role too – through My Brand Republic, users can build their own home page, with BR’s specialist news feeds as well as their own selected search engine and content from any area they chose, from sports news to weather forecasts, or current affairs.

A tailor-made profile allows them to make connections with their peers and colleagues. My Brand Republic allows marcomms professionals to build their own archive for future reference.

Other highlights of the new-look site include:

- A relaunched Jobs section containing over 3,000 current vacancies, comprehensive job and industry guides, company profiles and CVs, as well as an improved recruiter services suite.
- Mediaweek.tv, a regular series of web chats with leading media figures such as C4’s chief executive Andy Duncan. The current show features a far-ranging interview with WPP’s chief executive Sir Martin Sorrell.
- A revamped breaking news service.
- A fully searchable archive, dating back to 1995, of more than 300,000 articles.
- A global, constantly updated, events diary.
- Access to the latest research from third parties such as the IAB, Nielsen//NetRatings and Thomson Intermedia as well as sister Haymarket publications including Campaign and Revolution.
- The opportunity to subscribe to 17 different email bulletins, covering everything from data and DM through to broadcasting;

"The new Brand Republic really makes the most of the unique properties of the internet," said Rufus Olins, managing director of Brand Republic. "The popularity of BR continues to grow. More than ever, we’ll be able to keep all our users informed, educated and connected with each other as they help us evolve the site further. Brand Republic is becoming an indispensable tool for marcomms professionals who need to stay ahead of the game."

BR’s latest ABCe figure shows a growth in unique users to 215,261 unique users a month. The new site will also give advertisers a large and expanding volume of active users whom they could target with appropriate messages at the right time and in the right place.

John Baker, head of Interactive at OgilvyOne, commented: "The focus has been to make it easier to get to the depth of content and tools on Brand Republic, and emphasise the community and networking features of the site. Additionally, we’ve created new ‘bespoke’ magazine sites for Campaign, Marketing, Media Week and six more key trade titles to allow editorial teams to publish news and content daily, meaning that the brand values of the individual titles will come across much more strongly."

"For us as an agency, this has been a fascinating and challenging brief, and we are delighted to have had the opportunity to revamp such a prestigious and, to the marcomms industry, important, site."

Published exclusively online since 2001, Brand Republic is well-known for its breaking news service and jobs board, and is also the home to web sites for publisher Haymarket’s leading B2B print titles Campaign, Marketing, Media Week, Revolution, Marketing Direct, Promotions & Incentives and Direct Response.

Access to Brand Republic is completely free, and only requires a quick and simple registration process. To register now, go to: http://www.brandrepublic.com/

* according to ABCe, 215,261 unique users visited the site during October 2006

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For more details, please contact:

Rufus Olins
Managing Director
(0208 267 4956)

Philip Smith
head of content
(0208 2678038)
Haymarket.