Novis, the publisher of 17 online news services in the food and life-science industries, already has a strong foothold in this emerging market with Cee-FoodIndustry.com, a website relaying technical and industry news to food and drink manufacturers in central and eastern Europe. But it has now consolidated this position through a marketing alliance with ITE Exhibitions, the region's leading organiser of trade shows, accelerating its penetration into this key manufacturing audience.
Under the terms of the agreement, Novis will be one of the official online media partners of the Ingredients Russia 2004 and 2005 shows in Moscow. ITE Exhibitions will offer subscriptions to the Novis news service to all show visitors and exhibitors through ITE websites and at the events. Novis will, in return, promote these events to its 260,000 news subscribers through a combination of direct marketing and onsite display advertising.
The first show to be covered by the agreement will be Ingredients Russia to be held in Moscow on 24 November, at which there will be more than 11,000 visitors.
A study by Algorithm Group of the Russian B2B sector found as long ago as 1999 that the majority of Russian businesses were connected to the Internet: in the first half of 2004, Russian Internet traffic grew by 245 per cent.
Yet the federation's trade media, both traditional and online, is still nascent. The only area that yet enjoys any significant B2B media presence is the publications aimed at wholesalers.
"Our news service is a natural complement to the shows organised by ITE," said Franck Metzger, managing director of Novis. "By providing key decision makers in the food and beverage industries in Russia and eastern Europe with daily business and technical news, we can equip them to build on the contacts they make at the ITE exhibitions and allow them to take advantage of subsequent breakthroughs as they happen."
Mel Vaux, event manager for Ingredients Russia added:"We are always striving to make our events even more effective for our exhibitors and visitors. This alliance forms part of ITE's ongoing commitment to being the organisers of the must-attend industry events on food development in Russia, bringing together the largest group of business decision makers in this industry."