Bob Musilek Digital Strategist Joins Hibu Omaha

Bob Musilek heads to Omaha Ne, with the announcement of Hibu's comprehensive programme to transform the business from being a leading supplier of print and online advertising for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to being a leader in the emerging local eMarketplace for consumers and SMEs. The strategy was debuted following a rigorous six month strategic review led by Mike Pocock, hibu’s Chief Executive Officer, and his management team. The review included extensive customer research and thorough assessments of market opportunities.
Our strategy calls for an intense, multi-year programme of activity that will facilitate the transformation with the following aspirations and initiatives:

• To become the leading digital services provider to Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), offering them social, e-commerce and mobile web capabilities, among other value added services
• To pioneer the creation of the local eMarketplace, comprising an innovative platform and digital portal where consumers and SMEs can connect and transact
• To achieve leading share of attractive customer segments such as new and existing Latin markets and US Hispanic markets
• To extend the life of the established print business to fund digital growth
• To deliver a best-in-class customer experience, including self-serve and simplified offerings

Musilek stated, "brining this programme to Hibu Omaha leverages our strong presence in the local market, providing a broad range of digital services that address the converging SME need to grow, to transact and to be efficient in the digital world and the consumer’s need to be connected locally to the goods and services they want, to save time and money, and to move their lives forward".
Strategic partnerships form an important part of the strategy that will help drive forward the execution of each initiative. As a consequence, we have rapidly built a strong portfolio of business partners focused on further enhancing our SME and consumer offerings and contributing to the creation of the local eMarketplace platform. Since announcing the strategy in July 2011, relationships have been announced with:

• Znode, acquired by hibu in July 2011 to provide the eCommerce platform that underpins the Group's new digital service offerings
• Microsoft, with whom hibu has established a global strategic alliance, enabling the Group to offer a broad range of Microsoft Advertising solutions and software to its over million strong SME customer base
• The UK Government, who selected hibu to help UK SMEs export their products
• Bazaarvoice, a global leader in transforming customer conversations into long-term business value, enabling eMarketplace participants to engage and converse with their customers online
• Netbiscuits, the leading platform for developing, publishing and monetising sites and apps across all mobile and connected devices, allowing eMarketplace participants to quickly move their products into the mobile environment
• Shopkick, an innovative leader in local loyalty, allowing US businesses to use smartphone technology to reward customers for visiting their premises
• Moonfruit, acquired by hibu in June 2012, to complement the website building capabilities of Znode, by offering merchants the facility to build their own web presence together with the ability to transact online, on mobile and in social media

Bob Musilek will lead the charge, as Hibu Omaha begins to implement its strategy in the Heartland.