Monster brand bound for NZ

By ADAM GIFFORD

Monster.com, which is to internet job sites what Amazon.com is to on-line book selling, is preparing for a high-profile push into the New Zealand market.

The American company has hired Australian advertising agency Lowe Lintas and Partners and public relations firm Markson Sparks! to create a multimillion dollar campaign for the Monster.com.auand Monster.co.nz brands. The company is known for its big marketing outlay in the United States, this year spending $US4.5 million ($NZ9.2m) for two spots during the Superbowl and three spots during the pre-game show.

It also has the distinction of being one of the few internet companies to turn a profit, through sales of services, job listings and ad space.

Monster.com.au managing director Tom Freed says the company sees itself as a global career management network and the job market as global.

"In some industries the shortage of certain talented, skilled individuals means companies are poaching for talent from other countries," Mr Freed says.

But he says the local flavour is important.

"We are bringing our concept and strategy to the internet community, which is a global community, but to provide a meaningful experience for people we must understand the local issues.

"The career issues in Taiwan or Korea or the US may be different from what people go through in Auckland."

Mr Freed says the company does considerable research to find what is important to job seekers or people planning their careers, and incorporates this into the site.

Getting people to come back repeatedly is the key to success for any site, and Monster.com does this through on-line resume building tools and articles on career and employment issues, as well as its 300,000-job database. "We offer support for people to come and have a positive and meaningful experience about their career," says Mr Freed, a California native who has spent the past 15 years working outside the US in technology-related jobs. "It's not just about jobs, but more importantly about empowering people to take control of their career and giving them the tools to manage that process for themselves. They can't rely on anyone else to do that for them." That can mean advice on how to dress, how to ask for a raise or handle a performance review. If a review isn't a good one, quietly look for another job, he says.

Mr Freed says there are too many job sites or "career management sites" in the market to be sustainable.

"Eighteen months down the track we'll see the current number reduced to just three or four companies. There's definitely going to be a rationalisation.

"With major media companies involved, it is going to be survival of the fittest. Only players with deep pockets and the means and the will to win by funding marketing campaigns worth many millions of dollars will still be here in the long term." Monster.com is owned by TMP Worldwide, a yellow-page advertising agency and provider of direct marketing services.