Partner Article

UKTI plans SXSW mission for digital firms

A UKTI trade mission to SXSW in Austin, Texas is set to benefit a number of innovative UK digital businesses.

The annual music, film and interactive industry hub is spread across venues throughout the city of Austin.

Between March 8-13, the trade mission will visit the festival, taking part in a number of activities hosted by sector experts and local contacts, designed for companies looking to expand their business or seek investment from overseas.

Among the those preparing themselves for the trip are two North East businesses: advertising network, Addiply, and online music service, sharemyplaylist.com.

Founder and director of sharemyplaylist.com, Kieron Donoghue, said: “We already go over to the States once every couple of months, but this will give us an opportunity to meet valuable contacts in record companies, and tech businesses.

“It’s important for us to maintain a B2B and a consumer profile, and the UKTI trip will mean we can do both.”

On the trip, delegates will learn about the US market, it’s drivers, how to win business and getting noticed.

Rick Wagthorn, CEO of Addiply hopes the mission will provide an opportunity to raise the profile of his digital advertising exchange.

He said: “We have already seen interest from an organisation that covers Philadelphia and Florida, so SXSW will allow us to gain further reach.

“We are hoping to introduce and demonstrate a working model to the US, showing that our business can replace traditional local ads sales forces.

“Much of this trip will not only be focused on building new contacts, but also ‘re-networking’ with contacts we have previously met in the US.”

Applications are open to UK-based SMEs operating in the digital sector through a competitive selection process.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .