Adstream and Quickcut to merge

Adstream and Quickcut, two of the world's most technologically advanced advertising services companies, have announced that they are to merge.
Adstream and Quickcut are the world's leading providers of digital asset management services to the advertising industry. Their digital online products simplify the processes behind creating, producing, storing and distributing advertising materials. Quickcut is widely acknowledged as the leading provider of these services in print media while Adstream has similarly advanced and proven solutions for television and radio advertisements.
The world's leading advertising agency groups use Quickcut and Adstream as a key part of their production workflows, including Omnicom, IPG and WPP. The new merged operation will integrate these leading technologies to deliver a unique service to advertising agencies and their clients around the world.
The two companies' development teams have already been working together to provide a single solution, which will be available to customers' during the first quarter of 2005. This product will be unique in offering advertising agencies and marketers around the world a one-stop solution across television, radio and print media. As a result, the production and delivery of an entire advertising campaign - from concept to consumer via any combination of media worldwide - will be possible from a single desktop. Advertising agencies will now be able to simplify their working practices and lower their costs at a time when the whole industry is under pressure to become more efficient in its business processes.
Commenting on the merger, Adstream's Chief Executive, Gerard Barron, said: "Both Adstream and Quickcut are already revolutionising the way advertising materials reach their final destination. This merger means that for the first time all parties involved in the total advertising process will be able to collaborate and deliver their services digitally across all media. This is a huge step forward for the industry which will have major cost-saving implications."
Grant Blanchard, Chief Executive of Quickcut, added: "Quickcut and Adstream have worked towards the same vision for several years. Our mission has been to relieve the advertising industry of inefficient and costly working practices. Both companies have spent years developing digital services focused on different media that are now transforming the way agencies work. Now is the time to put them together. For the first time an entire advertising campaign, from client brief to delivery, can now be managed simply and efficiently across all media."
(GB)