RealCities Account Goes to Euro RSCG/DSW Partners

Knight Ridder selected EURO RSCG/DSW Partners to create, develop and execute a marketing campaign to build awareness for its Real Cities network of regional information hubs on the Web.

DSW Partners will use primarily off-line media to expand awareness and drive traffic to the RealCities hubs, beginning with Miami.com, BayArea.com, TwinCities.com, and DFW.com.

The regional campaign will launch in November with print, followed by outdoor, radio, Web advertising and TV beginning in early 2000. Spending was not disclosed.

“Our strategy will leverage off-line and online media to drive traffic to KnightRidder.com’s regional ‘city.com’ online properties,” said David Boede, partner at DSW Partners.

“The time is now for KnightRidder.com to lock in its dominant role as the premier provider of local online information and build our brands in our markets,” said Dan Finnigan, president of KnightRidder.com. “This marketing campaign is designed to do just that.”

Real Cities’ regional hubs offer locally catalogued Web directories supported by a national database to help users find information quickly and easily. Other services include search, community publishing, e-commerce marketplaces, free email, 24-hour national and local news and a one-time registration service for use on all Real Cities sites and online services.

Each ‘city.com’ hub integrates the hometown Knight Ridder newspaper into the network.

Knight Ridder recently launched a new Internet business unit, KnightRidder.com, to consolidate the company’s presence on the Web.

DSW Partners serves as a lead agency and West Coast presence for EURO RSCG Worldwide, the world’s fifth-largest advertising network with 176 agency offices in 72 countries.