History of ICB Media Ltd

ICB Media started in New Zealand with advertising and promotions for the hospitality industry and then grew into advertising in general including billboards and direct marketing. We first became involved in the internet and software design, like most companies back then, when the ridiculously high rate banners were first introduced on websites. Everybody thought that paying $70k on a single banner on a website would yield copious amounts of results and return. It turned out it didn't,

Luckily for ICB Media clients we had the foresight to cut back on the spend rather than keep throwing money at it and hoping it worked as a lot of advertising firms did back then. The result, the .com crash.

Because we were more than an online advertising company, we had the ability (as we do now) to move advertising dollar around for small to medium businesses to make sure they were getting good and steady ROI.

At this stage we were only an advertising agency that also had a national contract in New Zealand to supply computers to SME's from a major brand in the country. As the web design businesses we were using kept on closing down due to the crash (it was a very volatile time for the internet) we decided the only way to give our clients what they deserve was to do it ourselves. So we did. We have never looked back from then and through constant training of our staff and keeping up-to-date with new technologies as the have arisen, we have kept ourselves steady over 10 years while others have fallen away.

As we moved to the UK we actually downsized our business to maintaining current clients rather than taking on new clients. This was mainly due to the death of one of the owners and key member. This has served us well as we have been able to develop new technologies and a new business model to take us solidly into the future.

ICB Media Present

At present we are mainly focusing on existing businesses while growing our reseller base throughout the UK. Our new business model is built solidly on our reseller base bringing in new clients and then offering our existing services to those new clients. It is proving to be a great business move for us and it has forced us to rethink our size and decide on the expansion and growth we are now going through.

We have built ourselves office in canterbury which will be the Base Of Operations for the UK and are currently expanding on our resellers offering incentives to business.

Advertising is taking a solid foothold in the business yet again and though recent years has seen it play second fiddle to the internet, advertising is now on equal footing in our business. From the New Business Starter Pack to search engine optimisation (SEO), our advertising is taking on a life of its own through the dedication and hard work of our advertising team. They have been rewarded with success after success for SME's.

ICB Media and the Future...

When I was asked to write something for the future my first thought was 'ok, no worries', then the reality hit. Where exactly is ICB Media going in the future. The business plan has the answer, but that's ours. Suffice it to say we are building on our existing strengths while developing new products for SME's.

• Software Development
• Websites for Businesses
• Web technologies
• Advertising
• Portals
• Resellers

All of which are to be expected. We are however in talks with a national chain of resellers in the USA and Canada to supply our services through them as we do with resellers in the UK. What I can say is this. The service to our UK clientele will always be of the highest priority and standard. When we make the move to supply North America in 2010 it will be accomplished by setting up a team there and not utilising resources here in the UK. Our future is based in the UK as this is now our home and always will be. The future is bright for both ICB Media and our clients and we intend to keep it that way.