Times Private Treaties finalist at PubliGroupe and INMA Innovative Business Models contest

Times Private Treaties (TPT) was voted one of the seven most innovative business models by PubliGroupe and International Newsmedia Marketing Association (INMA). The second edition of PubliGroupe and INMA's Innovative Business Models contest focussed on the innovative ways used by media companies to extend their brands, fill new spaces in the market, attract new audiences and generate new revenue streams.

TPT, launched three years ago, was the only entry from India to have reached the finals, though it failed to win any metals in the finale. The other finalists in the fray were Glossy Media (Poland), Wonderlist.ca by The Toronto Star (Canada), Verdens Gang's Pengenedine.no (Norway), St-Petersburg Times' Politifact.com (USA), Autos by Winnipeg Free Press (Canada) and Detroit Media Partnership (USA).

Verdens Gang won the gold for Pengenedine.no (your money), a website that provides its customers quick and convenient access to some of the best interest rates on liquid funds. The interested customers receive quick offers from financial institutions competing for their money. The website receives a commission on the users’ acceptance of offers from partnering banks.

The second place went to The Toronto Star for Wonderlist.ca, an e-mail marketing programme that awards prizes to participants in exchange for their commitment to receive deals and offers from advertising partners. The advertising partners pay for speaking to the Wonderlist participants.

The third spot went to a campaign by the Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News. Detroit Media Partnership launched a project aimed at preserving two newspapers by cutting back home delivery of the print newspaper to three days a week, a digital focus toward the future.

On TPT making it to the final round, Sivakumar Sundaram, chief executive officer, Times Private Treaties, says, “The BCCL Group has always been involved in the metamorphosis of the media industry in general and the print industry in particular in the country. We are an ideas company and innovation drives business strategy. TPT was established as the growth engine for the new generation entrepreneurs seeking to launch and grow their brands.”

He adds that TPT has partnered with more than 250 entrepreneurs across India. “It was started with a vision to make advertising accessible to those entrepreneurs who had the potential but had to choose between growing their businesses and investing in a brand.”

For the record, INMA is a non-profit member organisation which recognises the marketing activities of newspapers. PubliGroupe is a marketing and sales organisation dedicated to the sale of advertising space for the media in Switzerland and other countries.