Press Conference

on the establishment of Austria’s new, largest communications group
March 5, 2009, 10:00 am
Onyx Bar Do & Co Haas Haus

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The market has changed

The Austrian communications market needs experts that are more than just PR agencies, lobbyists, market researchers or advertisers. Communication is more integrated today than it has ever been before. Communication experts have never had to fulfill such diverse requirements before. But: there are virtually no “all-in-one” agencies that offer all of these services at an equal level of quality. Because demand for “specialists” has never been higher.

The idea

These changes in the market’s expectations and demands have motivated a group of communications agencies at the lead in their respective fields to create something entirely new in Austria: a communications group that unites all key communication disciplines with the exception of traditional advertising: PR, lobbying, change communications, market analysis and research, and strategic consulting. The idea of Leading Advisors Group was born.

The implementation

Leading Advisors Group GmbH was founded yesterday, March 4, 2009. Leading Advisors Group’s shareholders are:

  • Dietmar Ecker with Ecker & Partner (25%)
  • Wolfgang Rosam with Change Communications (25%)
  • Monika Langthaler and Christian Nohel with Brainbows (15%)
  • Gregor Schönstein with Public Interest (10%)
  • Helmut Brandstätter with BBC (10%)
  • Peter Filzmaier with Institut für Strategieanalysen (10%)
  • Sophie Karmasin with SK Market Intelligence (5%)

Leading Advisors Group’s motto is: “Think independently – Act collectively.” Leading Advisors Group offers a unique range of services on the Austrian market and selects the most qualified experts in the relevant fields to guarantee the highest quality of advice.

“The new number one on the Austrian market”

With 90 employees, 100 clients and €15 million in net revenue (gross sales: approximately €60 million), Leading Advisors Group is the number one on the Austrian communications agency market.

3 pillars

Leading Advisors Group’s business is built on three pillars:

  • Holistic communications solutions
  • High quality expertise
  • Social responsibility

Leading Advisors Group’s efforts will focus on expanding its market leadership through common strategies in the fields of the social sciences, market research, public relations, change communications, coaching, public affairs and sustainability. This combination of different fields that are relevant to communication forms the ideal basis for sound strategies that will lend the group a key quality advantage on the market in addition to its size advantage.

Leading Advisors Group brings together the most experienced communication consultants in Austria and offers a new approach to holistic communications solutions through these disciplines. This enables Leading Advisors Group to select the best specialists for a given project and to create an optimal balance between emotions and objectivity.

Social responsibility

A company that is this large and successful must also be clearly committed to social responsibility. Leading Advisors Group is working with experts in social fields to create an innovative strategy to combat poverty and provide assistance to those in need. An Internet marketplace is to be created (“the second market”) to bring together supply and demand for concrete professional and personal assistance services. The project is being financed by Leading Advisors Group and is to be launched in the summer.

Further expansion

Another three to four agencies will be joining Leading Advisors Group in the coming months. Negotiations are currently underway with Web 2.0, event and grass-roots lobbying agencies and with potential partners in Austria’s different provinces. These negotiations are to be concluded by the end of 2009 at the latest, at which point Leading Advisors Group’s basic framework will also be complete.

Independence and collaboration

Each of the individual partner companies will remain entirely free to conduct their own business, to draw up and implement their own strategies and to maintain their own images and communication policies as they see fit. At the same time, the connections created in the Leading Advisors Group will result in a pool of knowledge and experience that will open up new ways to increase customer satisfaction and to win new customers for all of the member companies.

The Leading Advisors Group benefits principle

The foundation of Leading Advisors Group as a joint marketing subsidiary of the member individuals and companies is the first step in a long-term strategy. Leading Advisors Group’s tasks include:

  • internal know-how exchange
  • the establishment of an umbrella brand
  • the leveraging of synergies in purchasing products and services
  • joint PR and marketing
  • the development and market launch of joint products
  • employee training
  • the UTILIZATION OF THE Leading Advisors Group NETWORK

Management

Monika Langthaler, Dietmar Ecker and Wolfgang Rosam will be managing Leading Advisors Group.

Medium term: IPO and expansion

One of Leading Advisors Group’s key focuses over the next five years will be expansion. An IPO or the procurement of private equity capital is planned for 2013 or 2014 to enable Leading Advisors Group to bring agencies in CEE on board and to implement the Leading Advisors Group concept in other Central European countries. This plan is also a first in Austria – no other agency group in the country has pursued such an ambitious goal. Leading Advisors Group’s shareholders are convinced that the CEE market will be quick to get back on its feet after the end of the global economic crisis, and that there will soon be great demand for professional communication services.