Latitude CEO is Entrepreneur of the Year 2006

Oct. 29, 2006 - PRLog -- London, 31 October 2006: Dylan Thwaites, CEO of Latitude, the Search Engine Marketing specialist, has won the sought-after title of Ernst & Young Technology & Communication Entrepreneur of the Year for 2006. He held off strong competition to collect the award at the UK Entrepreneur of the Year finals.

The award was seen as recognition of Dylan's outstanding achievement in growing Latitude from a staff of six with £100,000 sales in its first year in 2001, to its current position as the biggest dedicated search marketing company in Europe.

The company is one of the top ten fastest growing technology companies in the UK, as recognised in the recent Sunday Times Tech Track 100. Dylan attributed this growth to the: "talent, dedication and ambition of the Latitude team."

Richard Hall, UK Markets Leader of Ernst & Young, commented: “This award recognises Dylan’s significant vision, which has seen him establish a successful Search Engine Marketing business that he aims to grow to be the world’s biggest and most profitable online marketing company within five years.” This was supported by the Rt. Hon. Lord Young, chairman of the 2006 awards national judging panel, who said the award recognised: "A professional entrepreneur who has punched above his weight and secured deals with huge blue-chip companies.”

After collecting the award, Dylan said he felt privileged to join the Entrepreneur of the Year Hall of Fame, which includes Jeff Bezos of Amazon, Pierre Omidyar of eBay and Sergey Brin and Larry Page of Google. But Dylan was quick to stress that he saw it as an award for the whole of Latitude.

Dylan also stressed that Latitude will continue to innovate. "The changing Search Engine landscape means we can’t stand still", he explained. "We need to keep pace with technological and industry developments and work harder then ever to ensure we deliver maximum value to our clients."

About The Entrepreneur Of The Year

Founded in the US in 1986, the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year is a regional, national and international annual award programme that identifies and recognises the achievements of outstanding entrepreneurs within successful growing businesses in more than 40 countries on six continents. The 2006 UK awards were the culmination of ten months of interviews, regional heats and national judging sessions. In front of nearly 800 entrepreneurs and their guests, 35 finalists battled it out in nine different categories ranging from Young Entrepreneur of the Year to Master Entrepreneur of the Year.

About Latitude

Latitude (www.searchlatitude.com) is Europe's leading Search Engine Marketing agency. With a turnover of £18.8m in 2005, it is the fastest-growing, most successful UK company in the rapidly-developing area of online marketing. Latitude employs a team of more than 80 specialists and provides local and global Search Engine Marketing services in 41 countries. It specialises in managing marketing campaigns on search engines by ensuring companies rank in the best possible positions on search results pages.

For more information, including photos from the UK Entrepreneur of the Year finals, please visit: www.searchlatitude.com/winner