Imperative and Invidis Create Worldwide Digital Signage Consulting Alliance Imperative Group and invidis consulting have formed a strategic alliance to provide comprehensive digital signage and out of home consulting & ‘go to market’ services for customers worldwide London (UK) and Munich (Germany), 20th October 2009 -- The Imperative Group (Imperative) and invidis consulting GmbH (invidis), both European digital signage and digital out of home consultancies, have partnered to create a strategic alliance to offer comprehensive consulting, go-to market and project support services for retailers, landlords, media agencies, brands and technologists. As separate businesses, invidis offers market research, analytics, procurement, communication and event services to high tech, digital, and enterprise clients. Imperative offers network development, delivery and marketing communication services to the digital, retail and media sectors. Both businesses operate across Europe and the Middle East with Imperative also bringing to bear its North American associates to add experiential value and geographic coverage to the alliance. Combined, the strategic alliance offers prospective and existing digital signage & out of home media customers a wider set of skills, competencies and know-how which is offered through a simple single-touch management point regardless of whether you reach out first to Imperative in the UK or invidis in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Both partners will work closely together to add value and apply our combined experience, know-how, people, contacts and networks to provide a depth of knowledge, operational expertise and capability to successfully deliver your project to the highest standard. The psychological and operational fit between both businesses is highly complementary, where each business is both vendor and technology agnostic to ensure our strategic approach, recommendations, procurement and operational processes put customer needs first. Retailers, landlords, brands, media agencies, technology companies and network operators will now be able to draw from the value and experiences offered by both businesses and their combined team of over twenty highly skilled digital media experts across EMEA and North America, all of whom are experienced, technology agnostic independent practitioners in their own right. The alliance’s eight step process, which forms the basis of the core service portfolio, includes: 1. Orientation: Provides a full suite of early stage evaluation tools for customers and their stakeholders looking to develop digital networks or associated products & services, which includes Orientation, Strategy and Development (OSD) workshops. 2. Business intelligence: Provides a comprehensive suite of analytics services which includes market, process & competitive analysis, best practice, costs and revenue options. 3. Project mapping: A systematic identification & assessment of all key areas, components, processes and outputs. These inform the final product and its composition, approach, operational capability, measurement method, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and financial modelling. 4. Project qualification: A formal process of engaging internal and external stakeholders with the project map to assess favourability, commitment and feedback for the purposes of validating the project and/or business case prior to signoff. 5. Operational: Provides a single-point of responsibility for the sourcing, procurement, building, delivery, management and billing of all facets of capital, operational and people resources required to deliver the project. 6. Strategic communication: Provides clients with access to a range of proprietary PR, marketing & media channels across EMEA and North America by virtue of the alliance’s industry, media and journalist relations, contacts & associations plus the invidis.de portal. 7. Face to face promotion: The organization of a range of physical events including trade shows, road-shows, conferences and roundtables to support product launches and product developments to help the market understand its value, where it is best demonstrated face to face. 8. Thought leadership: A process of assimilating complex technical, media or commercial products & services into accessible and digestible formats. This will improve access & understanding of the subject matter using opinion forming channels such as white papers, articles, opinion pieces and speaking engagements on the European & US circuits for example. “In forming this alliance, we can help our customer’s conceive, manage and deliver digital signage projects that create viewer value and returns measurable benefits to the brand through managed, measured and accountable practises. We then add exceptional value by applying the talent of our international network of knowledgeable retail media and digital out of home experts to help us achieve the best possible results for our clients and their customers” said Chris Heap, Imperative Group’s Managing Director. “This alliance brings together two complementary businesses with shared values and working principles. I believe this offers real value to the marketplace in terms of the talent, knowledge, process and operational practices we can bring to bear for prospective or existing clients in the digital signage and out of home markets whether they be in Europe, North America or the Middle East” said Florian Rotberg, Managing Director, invidis consulting. Ends ## Editorial and press contacts: Imperative Group Chris Heap Managing Director Email_chris.heap@imperativegroup.com Website_www.imperativegroup.com Telephone_+44(0)771 2897236 Invidis Consulting Florian Rotberg Managing Director Email_florian.rotberg@invidis-consulting.de Website_www.invidis.de Telephone_+49 89 2000416-17 Notes to editors About the Imperative Group The Imperative Group helps retailers, landlords, media and technical businesses connect, develop, innovate, deliver and communicate their digital retail & out of home media projects in order to deliver competitive advantage. The value we add is based on a cocktail of primary knowledge, connections, method and approach drawn from over 11 years of practical experience gained specifically in retail & out of home media networks (Inc radio and digital screen media. We provide a broad range of competencies fine tuned to the needs of the retail and out of home media markets, including new product development & proof of concept, project management, marketing & press relations, insight management and business development. Our experience relates to that gained from working with retail and out of home media owners, operators and practitioners in the UK, Europe and U.S including BP, Pret, The Mall Corporation, Tesco, Shell, Kroger, Safeway, Shaws, Scala (EMEA), Premier Retail Networks (Thomson PRN), BTiNet, Sony Professional Solutions Europe and POPAIdigital (UK & Ireland). The Imperative Group is a member of POPAIdigital and representatives of the business sit on the management committee for POPAIdigital UK and on the Advocacy Steering Group in the U.S. About Invidis Consulting invidis consulting GmbH, headquartered in Munich/Germany, is a renowned European consulting firm for digital signage. The business model is based on four pillars; consulting, research, communications and events. To provide clients with all the necessary market information - comprehensive and accurate industry data in the entire digital signage value chain are continuously collected and analyzed. Thereby taking into account the various communication and content distribution processes in the relevant vertical markets across Europe. One of the strategic objectives of the specialized consultancy is to strengthen its own position as the leading information provider for Digital Signage in Europe. The research and consulting business is continuously expanded to additional international markets through strategic alliances. The company was founded in 2006 by Florian Rotberg (Managing Director) and Oliver Schwede (Senior Analyst). invidis consulting is a founding member of OVAB Europe, DMS Cisco Eco Group and a strategic partner of the Imperative Group. References include Avaya, Celstream, Cisco, Daimler, Dell, ECE Flatmedia, Evonik, GfK, HP, Hyundai IT, IBM, LG Electronics, NEC Displays, Neo Advertising, Panasonic, Philips, Samsung, Scala, Sharp, T-Systems and others. © Imperative Group Ltd & Invidis Consulting GmbH, 2009