Web 2.0 service Imagelooop enlists Music 2.0 CEO Ralf Plaschke

Cologne, February 2007; Web 2.0 service provider Imagelooop GmbH has taken steps to further strengthen its management: as of April 2007, Ralf Plaschke will assume the position of CEO in the company. This move will allow Imagelooop to profit greatly from the extensive experience and network of contacts accumulated by the 42-year-old Plaschke during his years in the music sector. The digital music market is seen as the driving force behind the Web 2.0 boom, the increased range of social communities and the integrated service programs known as “widgets”.

Throughout his career, Plaschke has held a variety of management positions in the music and entertainment business, including as Managing Director of the world’s largest music fair – PopKomm – of which he was a shareholder for many years. Plaschke also has extensive experience with internet and media, having managed a variety of projects in recent years as joint owner of internet agency PopData GmbH. The main focus of these activities was on the development and management of fan and social communities on the internet, TV and radio.
Most recently, Plaschke was involved in setting up 7 Digital GmbH, the German subsidiary of English company 7 Digital Media Ltd., which distributes digital media content, primarily music.

3.5 million slideshows visits per month
Today, online service imagelooop.de is already registering huge access rates, which are set to increase even further. In January alone, a total of 3.5 million slideshow visits were recorded. This strong growth is attributable to the viral marketing principle: internet users integrate their slideshows easily in social communities such as MySpace.com, for example to present their profile page more effectively. These are accessed here by friends in the online network, who in turn encourage other friends to visit the slideshow.

Ralf Plaschke explains the new possibilities for marketing music and entertainment content via Web 2.0 as follows: “While some conservative music and media sector representatives have yet to wake up to the modern age, many bands, artists and producers have long since been using the new services to great effect – to present their work to fans via multimedia and to kick off their own communication and marketing measures.”

Stefan Riehl, COO and shareholder of Imagelooop, is confident that the new CEO will be able to use his music sector experience to spur on further growth: “Ralf Plaschke’s wealth of experience and the expertise of the existing Imagelooop team in Web 2.0 combine to form a powerful management.”

About imagelooop.de
Imagelooop allows internet users to create and design their own animated slideshows for displaying digital photos. Without any technical expertise, users can show their slideshows on their own websites, in blogs, or on community sites such as MySpace.com, or can play them on their own Windows desktop.

In December 2006, Imagelooop GmbH secured new investment from influential sector experts: Dr. Andreas Weigend, Principal at People & Data (San Francisco) and former Chief Scientist with Amazon.com (Seattle), Otto Wolff Industrieberatung und Beteiligungen GmbH, the two founders of the German broadband provider QSC AG, Bernd Schlobohm and Gerd Eickers, and internet business angel Mehrdad Piroozram. With this strategic financing approach, Imagelooop established the basis for faster and scalable growth.

Imagelooop GmbH
Im Mediapark 5b
50670 Cologne Germany
presse@imagelooop.de
www.imagelooop.de
Tel. +49 221 4545641
Fax +49 221 4545659

This release was published on openPR.