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NewswireToday - /newswire/ -
Leeds, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom, 11/14/2008 - ITV’s online business directory Scoot is offering video advertising, website links and more information on individual businesses as part of a brand new look revealed this month.
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Scoot has responded to feedback from retailers, service providers and manufacturers across the UK to revamp the site and give customers quicker access and more relevant detail about the products and services they need.
Niki Torrance, Scoot’s head of marketing and product development, comments: “Our relationship with ITV has enabled us to be the first online business directory in the UK to provide online video advertising, where the production of the video is included in the package.
“Small businesses can display a video within their business listing on Scoot as well as appear on the ITV local news, weather and entertainment website – itvlocal.com. Starting from just £175, Scoot offers different packages to suit different budgets, making video affordable, even for small businesses.
“We’re also offering free website links and a greater depth of information on individual businesses, with cleaner, more dynamic design, making searches easier and quicker and results more relevant. We’re supporting the relaunch with TV advertising over the next three months to attract even more potential customers to the site.”
Richard Waterworth, Head of Marketing for ITV Consumer comments: “Small businesses are able to take advantage of what we at ITV do best and create the perfect advertising package to suit them and their budget. There is rapid growth in video consumption across our portfolio of websites such as ITV.com and ITV Local and we’re delighted to be helping Scoot and its customers to connect with consumers across a range of different mediums.”
“ITV Consumer is expanding and developing its online offering and it’s great to have Scoot onboard to represent us in the online business directory industry. The re-launch of Scoot and its new strategy will enable customers to re-think the way they view and consume online video advertising and allow them to tap into ITV’s advertising and production experts. This adds another string to ITV’s online bow and further expands our overall proposition to help advertisers reach their customer base.”
Scoot has refreshed its brand and completely redeveloped its website. Using search technology from FAST - a Microsoft Subsidiary and new datasets from Market Location and QAS, Scoot users can enhance their search both geographically and by business attributes. Niki Torrance explains: “As well as giving Scoot users a straight list of results which match their criteria, we can now offer them the chance to extend their search by seeing a list of companies who operate in the location, but are not based there or by looking at businesses in nearby locations.
“If users get too many results and don’t know which to choose, Scoot offers simple filtering tools, which allow them to reorder the results to focus on smaller geographical areas, more specific categories or specific business attributes: show me hotels with swimming pools or only plumbers who take Visa, for example. We also have maps showing the locations of business listings with the ability to overlay points of interest, such as nearby car parks or restaurants, and photos of local landmarks. Everything has been designed to help Scoot users get to the most relevant results as quickly as possible, so they come back to us time and time again.”
ITV bought the Scoot operation at the end of 2006 as part of their strategy to grow their online revenues and extend their advertising services to the SME market.
Media marketing specialist, Velvet Shark, advised Scoot on the rebrand and Leeds-based leisure marketing agency, Banana Kick is working with the company on its communications programme including direct marketing and digital solutions. MCG PR is providing PR consultancy for the relaunch.
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rebecca.douglas[.]mcgpr.co.uk 
