Media services brand consolidation
Media service, DW Pub, is merging its five distinct brands into just one, ResponseSource.
This follows a period of rapid consolidation in the media services sector, including Cision’s recent purchase of PR Newswire. At the time, Jeremy Thompson, MD EMEA at Cision, said the acquisition was, “The final, missing piece” in Cision’s recent expansion.
DW Pub’s switch to ResponseSource, completed today (4 January 2016), aims to make clear the connection between the services and values of the, previously, five brands. As the most media-facing of all the DW Pub brands, the ResponseSource name was chosen as the overarching brand name. The official company name has also been changed from Daryl Willcox Publishing Ltd to ResponseSource Ltd.
In a blog post on 9 December, DW Pub founder and former journalist, Daryl Willcox, said, “When I started this business back in 1997 my philosophy was to help journalists and PR professionals communicate and collaborate effectively. Nowhere is this thinking better illustrated than in our ResponseSource Journalist Enquiry Service. It puts journalists and other media creators at the heart of the process.”
The other four sub-brands; FeaturesExec, SourceWire, ResponseSource and JournalistDirectory, retain their former functions, despite merging under the ResponseSource umbrella brand.
This change may be ResponseSource’s move to strengthen itself against a dwindling list of big-player competitors offering integrated communications services. Kantar Media bought Precise last June, and Cision now owns Gorkana, as well as PR Newswire.
