Brand Management Outsourcing Set to Surge

(EMAILWIRE.COM, March 25, 2007 ) Belrose, Australia -- The number of Australian companies outsourcing the management of signage is expected to surge over the next five years, as the frequency of re-branding intensifies and more businesses seek to ensure consistency across their branded assets.According to Australia’s leading brand asset management group, Signmanager, outsourcing of signage management has grown to around four per cent of the $500 million spent on signage in Australia each year.“We have seen a significant reduction in the lifecycle of brands over the past six years since we introduced the concept of providing independent, outsourced brand asset management into Australia,” Signmanager’s Chief Executive Officer, Alan Hadley said.“Six years ago, the typical lifecycle of a brand was approximately 15 years, but now we are seeing corporates go through a re-branding exercise every five to seven years on average.“This, and the fact more companies recognise that external signage plays an important role in consumer perception and hence are ensuring their signage is continually maintained, has seen our revenues grow approximately 25 per cent per annum over the past six years and we expect that this year we will grow revenues by some 75 per cent.”Signmanager has a national network of more than 1,600 contractors delivering signage audits, sign maintenance and installations for leading companies such as Australia Post, McDonalds and Foster’s Group.Chief Executive Officer of Signmanager, Alan Hadley, said the company expected that within the next 12 months, some $40 million will be spent on outsourcing of branded assets management“Traditionally companies have used multiple local companies to supply signage and have had no processes in place to ensure they are maintained and replaced as new brands roll out,” Mr Hadley said.“As a result, there are multiple brands for one company out in the marketplace, and often you will see multiple brands of the same company at one outlet. “The shift to outsourcing branded assets to an independent company is an obvious step for Australian companies to take, as we have a national network of professional signage contractors and through our proprietary online technology can ensure national brand consistency.”National Channel Development Manager for Foster’s Group Australia, Stephen Stanley, said the move to outsource brand assets to Signmanager had dramatically improved management of the Carlton and United Beverages signage asset portfolio.“Their technology and reliability have been fantastic for our business and we have been able to use their systems to better manage our signage and branding liveries at around 24,000 sites nationally,” Mr Stanley said.“The savings to our business have been significant and their system enables reporting to confirm the economic benefit of having Signmanager as a partner.” Media contact: Lars Ottosson 0402 033 318 About Signmanager: Signmanager is the leading specialist in corporate brand rollout and strategic re-brand management. Its key purpose is to deliver true, measurable value to corporations, while effectively managing and protecting their retail corporate image for the full life-cycle of the brand. The company was formed in 2000 after the three partners identified and created the "Branded Asset" category after thoroughly researching corporations and their many individual needs. Branded Assets typically include merchandising units, signage, point of sale units and brand promotional marketing material.Contact:Lars Ottossonlars@signmanager.com.auTel: 61 402 033 318###This press release was issued through GroupWeb EmailWire.com. For more information on press release distribution, go to http://www.emailwire.com.

Lars Ottosson

lars@signmanager.com.au