Peter Tonstad New CEO in Boostcom Group - Increasing International Growth Ambition

OSLO, Norway and LONDON, September 1, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --

Peter Tonstad is appointed new CEO of Boostcom Group (previous Boost Communications). He previously held the position as CEO of Tidal / Wimp. Founder and CEO Øystein R. Skiri will enter into a role focused on group business development.

Grow and further develop a strongly positioned company  

For more than 15 years Boostcom Group has grown to become a leading company within mobile marketing and advertising in the international market.

In a highly mobile focused digital space advertisers are now looking for partners that understand how mobile can be fully integrated into their digital marketing and advertising strategy. This is an area where Boostcom is strongly positioned.

- Boost has been a frontrunner in the development of technology and services for mobile internet, apps and advertising for 15 years, and mobile customer clubs and loyalty programs for 10 years. My job will be to accelerate the international growth. We will continue investing in product development and sales in combination with evaluating M&A opportunities. With strong and ambitious financial owners we are well positioned to take a leading role in the ongoing consolidation within the technology space around mobile CRM and advertising internationally, Tonstad says.  

Tonstad has a strong track record from the digital arena and has previously served as the CEO of the public mobile services company Aspiro.

Founder enters into new role 

Founder and CEO of Boost for more than 15 years, Øystein R. Skiri, is looking forward to getting Tonstad on board. - As an entrepreneur it is always important to understand when the timing is right to let a more seasoned CEO take the company to the next levels.  Now I'm looking forward to enter into a role where I can focus more of my time on sales and business development, Skiri says.

Strong financial owners 

The Norwegian governmental venture fund Investinor together with Norwegian Innovation Capital III (Norsk Innovasjonskapital III, led by Rune Rinnan) invested in Boost in 2012. Together they currently control 53% of the company. Chairman of the Board, Investinor's Jon Øyvind Eriksen, sees massive opportunities moving forward.  - We are very happy about getting Peter on board to lead us through our planned growth in a highly interesting market space that is quickly moving into consolidation. Peter has a strong track record and will add a new dimension to the company in executing our strategies, Eriksen says.

A quickly evolving industry  

The mobile marketing space is characterized by rapid changes and massive dynamics. Programmatic buying has changed the way ads are placed and there is a continuous growth in the number of digital channels a brand needs to master in their struggle to reach their customers in the most efficient ways. This has led to increased focus on businesses building up their own marketing channels through customer clubs and loyalty programmes. Even though the rapid market changes makes it challenging to continuously be ahead of the competition, Tonstad sees a range of interesting opportunities out there. -  Brands are spending big money on paid advertising across digital channels. But so far this has not been properly linked to the brand's CRM activities and loyalty programmes.  We see some strong opportunities in utilising big data from CRM activities and online user behaviour to optimise how you buy online advertising.  If you combine this by placing mobile at the centre of your CRM and digital strategies you will increase the chance for successful ROI in your marketing efforts. This will also fit well with the rapid growth in programmatic buying. Boostcom Group has a very strong position in all these areas, a position we will now develop to the next level, says Tonstad.

Link to news article and press photos:http://boost.no/2015/09/peter-tonstad-new-ceo-in-boostcom-group-speeds-up-international-growth/

About Boostcom Group:  

Boostcom Group was founded in 2000 as a spin off from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), and has grown to become a preferred supplier of technology and services for mobile marketing and advertising on the international arena. Companies in the group include Boost Communications that focuses on technology and services for adopting web content and formats to mobile in combination mobile advertising sales, and Boostcom Media that has a leading position in building and hosting digital customer loyalty clubs and programmes.  Boostcom Group has offices in Trondheim, Oslo, London, Krakow and Dubai. Group turnover in 2014 was NOK 79 million with a positive EBITDA. Investinor and Norsk Innovasjonskapital III control 53 % of the company. The rest is owned by employees and local investors.