April, 2008 - Just two months after joining Pleon’s London Office as Associate Director of the B2B practice, Mark de Wolf has been appointed to lead the overall technology practice for Europe.
"Our technology practice is one of the cornerstones of Pleon’s success and continues to drive a large portion of our business," said Tim de Boer, European Director, Products & Services. "In recent months we’ve seen a tremendous resurgence in multi-national, technology companies integrating strategic business communication across Europe. Bringing Mark’s skills to bear will reaffirm the importance of London as the hub of European technology expertise as well as bring a fresh approach to the practice."Previously a Senior Account Director at Spreckley London and a former business journalist, de Wolf joined Pleon in February. He was attracted to Pleon’s holistic and flexible approach to communications, citing the company’s expertise in international account management and vertical industries as key assets for technology companies doing business in Europe. "Technology per se is not as fascinating to people as it once was; consumers and business users alike have begun to take computing for granted and are less interested in the technical DNA of a business solution. The consequence is that some really valuable technologies are in danger of being typecast as ‘plumbing’ if tech companies don’t shift from product communications to business relevant communications."
As new modes of communication influence purchase decisions, de Wolf says his clients have started questioning the value of highly commoditised technology media relations. "It is no longer acceptable to just deliver ink in IT trade pubs and Pleon has set the bar on strategic message delivery. Our intrinsically curious culture enables us to stay abreast of trends and be more creative when it comes to delivery of campaigns and themes that tie directly to a client’s business objectives."
"The days when agencies could deliver campaigns with a one-month shelf life are over. Technology PR programmes now need to support the lifecycle of a product or platform, not just its launch."
Over a quarter of Pleon’s current business is multi-national and de Wolf plans to leverage this experience to become a ‘human share point’ for new business and creative campaign development, helping connect the dots on Pleon’s technology skills and experience map of Europe. "When multi-national account management works well it is because the client isn’t fed a standard procedure or way of working, you have to be flexible and willing to adapt your organisation to the client. This is one of the reasons that I came to Pleon because I think when it comes to international PR support, Pleon is both fluid and effective, regardless of who is in charge or where the client originates."