MAIS.L Regulatory News (MAIS)

17th March 2014

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blur Group plc

("blur," the "Group" or the "Company")

 blur brings s-commerce to Video and HR sectors

Two major new categories are announced to further disrupt traditional players

blur Group plc (BLUR), the s-commerce company, announced today two new categories on its Global Services Exchange for Video and HR Services, moving into areas which are currently the domain of the very large service providers.

Video Services will launch for both experts and customers when blur 4.0 goes live in April: it builds on the success of video projects which currently are briefed via blur's Design and Marketing categories, with a large number of expert providers already on the Exchange. These services will now extend to include all forms of broadcast production as well as the current content videos which form an increasingly important element of companies' content and communication strategies. This move is also designed to disrupt the last bastion of the global ad agencies as TV advertising becomes available through the s-commerce platform.

HR Services will offer three main project types: Executive Search and Selection; Training and Development; and Benefits and Remuneration planning. For Search and Selection projects, companies will now be able to brief outside the traditional headhunters making the process more competitive and opening up the long tail of providers. blur will follow its established launch process for a brand new category, by building its expert crowd of HR providers globally and launching for projects when critical mass is reached. This approach has seen it rapidly build 8 successful verticals to date. HR experts can start to sign up with the launch of 4.0 and it will be open for projects later in the year.

Offering these services also extends the reach of blur Group across the enterprise, with the Chief People Officer now joining other C-level executives who see increasing value, efficiency and quality from using s-commerce. It also provides opportunities for a new set of expert service providers globally who can benefit from the new business the Exchange is already offering to nearly 40,000 service providers.

With the Video Services category globally forecast to be worth $12bn for video ad spend alone and HR Services $53.4bn in 2017, these two categories provide additional market share for s-commerce from the $2tn+ global services market, following blur's success in marketing, creative, technology and professional services.

Philip Letts, blur Group CEO, said:

"Video has always been a popular project on the Exchange; driven by an incredible array of expert providers around the globe who are able to be more competitive by working directly through the platform. However we recognized that these providers could deliver on the full gamut of production and further disrupt the older style network agencies. We saw a similar opportunity for disruption with HR Services: a huge potential market with many companies looking for outside expertise and support. And for expert search and selection, it's another segment that has been characterized by a small number of very large providers, whereas better expertise often exists outside this. So we look forward to seeing those large providers join the Exchange and compete on a level playing field for new business."

Ends

For further information please contact:

About blur Group plc at blurgroup.com

blur Group is a technology company reinventing how businesses do commerce at blurgroup.com. Its Global Services Exchange uses blur's proprietary s-commerce platform to enable approaching 40,000 business users in 141 countries to buy, sell and deliver core business services and take advantage of Software as a Transaction™ to pay for these projects.

blur Group (BLUR) is a public company headquartered in the UK with offices in the US and Europe. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange's AIM market. blur was founded in January 2006 and launched in alpha in 2007 with the full, formal launch of the Global Services Exchange in January 2010. At that time, just over three projects per month were submitted. Now, nearly 200 projects start on the exchange each month. Customers include Danone, Broadridge, Coral, Exceed, HCA, Momentive, Red Commerce, the Financial Times, Berlitz, Butlins, GE Healthcare and Tyco. Over the same time, average project value has grown from approximately $1,500 in 2010 to $89,000 in Q4 2013.

Today, over 4,000 projects have been submitted with a combined value of above $170 million. These have come from the US, UK, Europe, Africa and Asia with over 37,000 expert service providers on eight exchanges responding to them.

The global spend on HR outsourcing for 2013 was $42 billion, according to research company HfS, and KPMG. The figure will rise to 53.42* billion in 2017.

http://www.horsesforsources.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Webcast-deck-outsourcing-is-dead_HfS_FINAL1.pdf

Another report by PWC shows global video ad spend as 5.076 billion in 2013. According to the PWC report, video revenues will rise to 12.094 in 2017.

http://www.pwc.com/gx/en/global-entertainment-media-outlook/segment-insights/internet-advertising.jhtml