Racing Post Connect goes live - Powered Wave2 Media Solutions

Client

The Racing Post is the UK’s and Ireland’s premier Horse Racing and Sports betting newspaper which also operates a highly successful website, betting smart phone applications and iPad editions.

The business has invested significantly in the development of digital/multimedia services for both existing and potential markets and already has a number of world-class websites, spearheaded by RACINGPOST.com which includes an online subscription service.

The business has also recently developed a number of innovative mobile and tablet products which are crucial in extending the appeal of the brand to a new audience. In addition to racing-related products, Racing Post is also expanding its digital product range into sports and football, which is a growing area of the business.

Challenge/need

Racing Post has an existing classified database containing circa 11,000 individual customer records. Previously the details of this database were only produced annually in a printed publication however the objective going forward was to publish this information via a listings directory accessible on-line or via mobile platforms.

Additionally, Racing Post wanted the capability for existing advertisers to enhance their listing and for new advertisers to create their own ads for the very first time. The new system also needed to support advertising packages for both print and online.

Solution

Following a detailed and thorough vendor selection process, Wave2 Media Solutions was selected as the business partner of choice. The solution, RACING POST CONNECT (www.racingpostconnect.com/marketplace) combines AdPortal3 (self-service advertising), MarketPlace (online classified listings directory) and the Wave2 Publishing Platform. Wave2’s new generation AdPortal3 was launched in November 2012. An evolution of the highly successful AdPortal2, it introduces new “front end” architecture to allow a new level of versatile and configurable user journeys and presentation together with support for both web and mobile access.

In addition, a number of major new features have been introduced:

• Complete new user interface; highly configurable and customisable to allow publishers and media companies to achieve the perfect user experience for their particular advertisers.
• Powerful new “UpSell” features for increasing advertising revenue.
• Integrated AdServing with advertiser’s “Dashboard”.
• Enhanced edit and formatting facilities to provide advertisers a greater degree of control.
• Extended Rich Media support including the ability to create and book advertising for mobile delivery.

MarketPlace is an out-of-the-box solution which can be configured to support multiple categories of advertisement including private sales, business services, commercial vehicle hire, hotels, restaurants as well as many others. The product can also support a full range of ads, including listings, lineage, semi-display, and video content.

Innovative features in MarketPlace include an alerts capability, which allows users to create a “needs” request if their search has proved unsuccessful. This means that the system can then alert the customer if an item matching their request becomes available at some point in the future. Alerts can consist of an e-mail, an automated message, or even a Tweet.

MarketPlace integrates closely with Google Maps, Google Ads and links with Facebook, Twitter and Delicious. It will also interface with a wide range of advertisement sources including Wave2’s own AdPortal. This latest release of MarketPlace extends its functionality to mobile devices providing many new services for both advertisers and users.

Wave2 Sales Director, Andrew Haggarty, commented “This contract is significant as it strengthens our position as a leading solutions provider to the UK newspaper industry and we are therefore delighted to have been working with Racing Post on this innovative project.

Racing Post are a forward thinking organisation and their decision to adopt a completely automated self-service model for on-line and print advertising is an indication of this. The approach of Racing Post is further evidence that the future of newspaper and magazine advertising is to embrace a true cross media policy. By enabling advertisers to easily build and deliver advertisements for publication in both online and print formats RACING POST CONNECT can offer a wide ranging service at minimal cost.”