PEOPLE: CAROLYN CHIN: A PLUS FOR REUTERS U.S. MARKET SHARE

Although Reuters Group PLC is the global Godzilla of the financial information industry, the British media giant is dwarfed in this country. But its new chief marketing officer for the United States, Carolyn Chin, intends to change that.

“We’re going to tell everyone we’re bold, edgy and innovative, and sell our products American-style,” says Ms. Chin.

The 50-year-old executive is leading the marketing campaign for Reuters Plus, the company’s flexible, midpriced equity market information service that debuted last month. It’s the much-improved successor to Quotron, an older technology that Reuters bought four years ago.

“Reuters Plus is our answer to what the market needs,” says Ms. Chin, who headed up the Quotron unit while she was at Citicorp.

PAINEWEBBER a CONVERT

The new system is heating up equity information competition with rivals Bridge Information Services Inc. and Bloomberg Financial Markets. Reuters just signed up 11,000 PaineWebber Inc. employees, who converted from Quotron.

“The new Reuters Plus service is far more competitive than previous services,” says a spokesman for PaineWebber.

With 380,000 users globally, Reuters is still by far the largest player, but only a sixth of its screens are in the coveted U.S. market. It’s going after new customers after several years of sitting on its heels while entrepreneur Michael Bloomberg grabbed the high end of the market and Bridge, which just acquired Dow Jones Markets, expanded at the midrange.

Reuters also took a major public relations hit earlier this year from accusations that a subsidiary may have stolen technology from Bloomberg.

None of this fazes Ms. Chin, who has a flair for beating the odds. Growing up as the eldest daughter of immigrant Chinese parents in inner-city Washington, she performed plant gene experiments in her kitchen, earning a scholarship to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. She struggled there socially, surrounded by males who challenged her abilities.

Eventually, they elected her class president.

After earning a degree from Harvard Business School and working in the Carter administration, Ms. Chin pursued a career combining marketing and technology. She has held senior positions at Citicorp and at International Business Machines Corp., where she was in charge of Internet commerce.

In her new job, Ms. Chin also has responsibilities for building up Reuters’ Internet commerce and new business units.

Her broad goal is to identify more opportunities to deliver targeted, personalized news and information. She’s especially interested in high-end users who can afford to pay premium prices, such as traders and chief execs.

PRICED FOR MIDLEVEL USERS

Meanwhile, the Reuters Plus campaign is aiming at a midlevel user, with monthly prices starting at $450 a terminal vs. Bloomberg’s premium price of $1,225. As such, Reuters Plus’ price is closer to Bridge’s. Bridge, with 169,000 users after the merger, is expected to be a tough competitor.

To succeed, Ms. Chin believes, the company needs to build the Reuters brand. She began launching a major TV, print and radio campaign this spring to tout Reuters’ hefty resources as a global media company, including its 1,800 staffers in New York alone.

Ms. Chin chuckles at the notion that Michael Bloomberg has the top clients all sewn up.

“Michael Bloomberg is a unique personality, and we’re not competing with that,” she says.”Reuters has worldwide strength and tremendous assets. I think we can win, and win big.”

Crain News Service