Sanoma Corporation, Press Release, 21 March 2013 at 12:20 CET+1
Today, Sanoma has announced it will launch four new ventures in 2013, underlining its on-going transformation to become an agile and innovative multi channel media & learning company. The start-up companies are born out of the company’s international talent pool. This incubator approach is new to Sanoma and led by the company’s Future Media Team. It signifies an important change in the way the company operates, now also adopting lean and highly responsive business development.
“The new internal ventures are key initiatives in our company’s transformation process,” comments John Martin, Sanoma’s Chief Strategy & Digital Officer. “We are working hard to accelerate our digital development. These start-ups are an excellent example of creating innovative new digital services with consumer demands and desires at the core, using lean development methods.”
At the end of 2012, Sanoma’s Future Media Team launched a ‘Mobile Accelerator’ initiative to select and develop the start-up initiatives. Through a competitive and intensive program involving 150 entrepreneurial talents, Sanoma tapped into the ideas and knowledge of its own people on a cross-departmental, international scale. Lean start-up methodologies allowed the teams to quickly shape and adapt the business propositions. The selected concepts are now being brought to life by small teams selected from this talent pool.
Rocco van den Berg, part of the Future Media Team and responsible for these internal ventures, explains: “Right now, we are starting with four ventures that cover mobile business propositions in the areas of beauty, gamified learning, video-based learning and digital learning market places. At the same time, new ventures will originate from other accelerator programmes in various areas that we are organizing. The whole idea is to win fast, or fail fast: each venture has to show its value and the sustainability of the proposition, or we will move on. We are setting out to make a difference.”
Sanoma’s Executive Management Group strongly supports the launch of the new ventures. Harri-Pekka Kaukonen, Sanoma President & CEO, says: “This launch is exciting: it allows Sanoma to develop completely new businesses in a very customer-responsive way, founded on the knowledge and insights of our own experts. It also makes a significant contribution to building a more innovative and agile culture at Sanoma. It is a completely new way of doing and really sets an example.”
Additional information
Sanoma Group Communications, Robin Janszen, tel. + 31 20 851 2108 or communications@sanoma.com
Sanoma.com
Sanoma inspires, informs and connects. Sanoma is a leading European group with a focus on consumer media and learning. We bring information, experiences, education and entertainment to millions of people every day. We employ over 10,000 professionals in some 20 countries. In 2012, the Group’s net sales totalled EUR 2.4 billion. Sanoma’s share is listed on the NASDAQ OMX Helsinki.