New Media Age articles from April 2008

New Media Age archives from April 2008

Government fails to offer digital sector full support.(Survey)
April 3, 2008... The UK government is failing in both its own online ambitions and its support of the digital media industry, according to the first exclusive survey of the UK's digital media and marketing industry. The findings, which showed a lack of...

E4.com debuts web-only content.(Brief article)
April 3, 2008... E4.com is set to launch its first wave of online-only content since the youth brand relaunched as a multi-platform channel in January (NMA 10.01.08). The content - which will be available from next week and will be cross- promoted on...

Online giants unite to combat cyber-bullying.
April 3, 2008... Fourteen digital giants including Vodafone, Orange, O2, Facebook, MySpace and Google are to launch the first joint industry initiative to combat mobile phone bullying and abuse. The Pan-European Education Initiative is the first time the...

IAB taskforce aims to fend off criticism of behavioural targeting.(Interactive Advertising Bureau UK Ltd.)(Brief article)
April 3, 2008... The Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) is to create a behaviourial targeting taskforce, to develop standards for the controversial practice. It said the taskforce is a response to the debate over privacy issues. IAB CEO Guy Phillipson...

De-construct opens office in Amsterdam for global clients.(de-construct (London, England))
April 3, 2008... De-construct, the Isobar-owned digital creative agency, will open an office in Amsterdam this week. It will be headed by MD Neil Bedwell, who was account director on the Adidas account in the UK. The agency will work on international...

Carling pulls together football and music content on revamped portal.(Brief article)
April 3, 2008... Carling has relaunched its website as a portal that brings together its branding work in football and music. The site will push the brand's current campaign 'Belong'. Nielsen estimates owner Coors spends #11.8m a year on advertising...

Kelkoo looks to US for growth as UK price-comparison market stagnates.(Brief article)
April 3, 2008... Kelkoo is planning to expand into the US as it looks to combat stagnation within the UK market. The price-comparison site, set up in 2000 and bought by Yahoo! in 2004, operates in ten European countries but is considering a US operation...

Unanimis insists all steady as top client Ebay goes to Ad2One.(Brief article)
April 3, 2008... Unanimis is facing up to the loss of its biggest client, Ebay, after more than six years representing the online auction giant. Ebay has awarded its account, estimated to be worth between #5m-#10m, to ad sales house Ad2One following a...

Umbro uses viral video in footie campaign.
April 3, 2008... Nike-owned sports brand Umbro is to release a viral video as the digital element of its campaign to support its 'Bring it on' football manifesto. The video will feature freestyle footballer John Farnworth, as well as footage of real fans...

News Corp ad network UK launch aims to handle all Murdoch sites.(Brief article)
April 3, 2008... Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation has launched an ad network in the UK with ambitions to exclusively represent all News Corp sites. The UK is the latest country .Fox Networks has rolled out in. It has opened operations in France, Spain,...

Ladbrokes uses mobile ads to push Grand National betting.(mobile advertising)(Brief article)
April 3, 2008... Ladbrokes is preparing for a 24-hour home-page takeover of the Planet 3 mobile portal for this Saturday's Grand National. The bookmaking giant is keen to extend its cross-platform presence for the UK's largest single sports betting event....

Citroen runs mobile ads for C5 promotion.
April 3, 2008... Citroen has become the first advertiser to take advantage of new mobile advertising channels on O2 and Vodafone as part of the marketing campaign for its C5 model. The car manufacturer has booked a series of mobile ads via media agency...

BBC regenerates Doctor Who site.(British Broadcasting Corp.)(Brief article)
April 3, 2008... The BBC will relaunch the Doctor Who website this week to coincide with the start of the fourth series this Saturday (5 April). The revamped site, which is one of the BBC's highest trafficked programme sites, attracts 200,000 unique users...

The Independent kicks off search strategy to take on competition.(Brief article)
April 3, 2008... The Independent has appointed Latitude as its search agency as it steps up its challenge to the online dominance of other broadsheet newspapers, such as The Times and The Guardian. Latitude will run both paid and natural search for the...

Walker Books takes 'Where's Wally' digital.(contracts)(Brief article)
April 3, 2008... Walker Books, the publisher of Where's Wally, has appointed Magic Lantern to build its online presence. The independent children's book publisher will launch an interactive site this May to encourage young users to find out more about its...

ITV uses Facebook campaign to promote new US comedy.(Brief article)
April 3, 2008... ITV is to roll out a digital campaign to promote its showing of US comedy-drama Pushing Daisies. A dedicated Facebook application will allow fans to include Pushing Daisies content, including exclusive clips, on their profile page and...

Gaming social network to also host music.(Brief article)
April 3, 2008... Tracks from digital music distributors The Orchard and Kudos will be among the content available on gaming social network BabeDrift, due to launch in May. The site, from online games specialist Thirdeye-T, will allow users to build...

Faceparty ditches all advertising under 'anti-establishment' model.
April 3, 2008... British social network Faceparty has removed all advertising from its site in a major strategic rethink. It's understood the site, founded in 2000, has downsized to just four staff from 18 in what it's claiming is a bid to become less...

LoveFilm and T-Mobile partner in movie recommendation tool.(Brief article)
April 3, 2008... Movie rental site LoveFilm and mobile operator T-Mobile have partnered in an online campaign to help consumers find their perfect film. A campaign site has been developed in a bid to increase LoveFilm membership and to promote the mobile...

Berry Bros & Rudd revamps website.(Berry Brothers and Rudd Ltd.)(Brief article)
April 3, 2008... International wine merchant Berry Bros & Rudd has overhauled its site in a bid to become the online destination for wine lovers. BBR.com now includes information about wines from around the world, with visitors able to search for products...

DCSF in #1m push to help divorced dads engage with their kids online.(Department for Children, Schools and Families)(Brief article)
April 3, 2008... The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) is to embark on a #1m online push to help separated fathers. The five-year project, dubbed Dads Space, is being backed by charity Respect and aims to help more than 200,000 fathers...

Universal and Total Film link up for promotion on MySpace.(Universal Studios Inc.)(Brief article)
April 3, 2008... Universal Pictures has partnered with the website of Future Publishing's Total Film to help promote forthcoming Colin Farrell comedy-thriller In Bruges. Visitors to a dedicated MySpace page for the film - which opens on 18 April and also...

Fashion TV awards online sales to Oridian.(Brief article)
April 3, 2008... Fashion and beauty TV channel Fashion TV has awarded its online ad sales account to Oridian. The ad network competed in a four-way pitch for the contract with the international TV channel, which broadcasts in over 200 countries. ...

McDonald's in second mobile ad campaign.
April 3, 2008... McDonald's has embarked on its second bout of mobile adverting with Bauer, O2 and Vodafone for its Money Monopoly competition. It was the first fast-food retailer to invest in mobile display ads last year (NMA 13.12.07). The latest...

Yougofurther gives members chance to star at Glastonbury.(Brief article)
April 3, 2008... UCAS's social network Yougofurther is giving its members the chance to audition to appear at this year's Glastonbury Festival. In a tie-up with music magazine Q, the university application organisation's site will invite members to upload...

Music industry needs to rethink expectations.
April 3, 2008... Record industry revenues are rapidly deteriorating due to a significant decline in sales and the diminishing price of physical formats. Screen Digest believes that in 2008 the volume of physical sales will shrink by more than 20%. Music...

Popular travel brands provide poor usability and customer experience.(Brief article)
April 3, 2008... Popular travel brands like Thomas Cook and First Choice are failing to provide a satisfactory level of customer experience, according to a usability study by Webcredible. The usability and accessibility firm examined the websites of 20 of...

Seven in ten UK adults go online while watching TV.(Survey)(Brief article)
April 3, 2008... Nearly seven out of ten (69%) online British adults watch TV and surf the web at the same time, found market research firm Harris Interactive. Meanwhile, 21% of 16-24-year-olds claim that they always go online while watching TV. The...

Number of phishing attacks on UK banking customers up 70%.(Brief article)
April 3, 2008... The number of phishing attacks on UK bank customers has jumped by 70% over the last year. According to internet domain name specialist NetNames, 60,000 phishing emails were sent to customers in February alone. Jonathan Robinson, COO...

ANALYSIS: Online TV broadcasters fight to control content.
April 3, 2008... With broadcasters hoping to stop on-demand streaming aggregator TV Guide from deep linking to their programmes, how will the still-new online TV model develop? Last week it emerged that both the BBC and ITV have engaged their lawyers to...

COMMENT: Singing the praises of the digital industry.
April 3, 2008... You're a very positive bunch. The economic storm clouds may be gathering but the digital media industry is bursting with optimism. With online advertising continuing to rocket and investment pouring into online media, such optimism may be...

Industry regulations remain preferred method of control.
April 3, 2008... The Home Secretary Jacqui Smith recently demanded all terrorist material be removed from the web. In line with the Terrorism Act 2006, however, no such material is hosted in the UK. Similar demands have been made of service providers with...

LETTER: The semantics of contextual advertising.(Letter to the editor)
April 3, 2008... From Ian Saunders, MD, Crystal Reference Systems and Brian O'Sullivan, MD, Ad Pepper Media UK The recent furore concerning behavioural targeting firm Phorm (NMA 20.03.08) comes as no surprise. It's always going to be controversial to...

LETTER: Mapping the totality of user behaviour.(Letter to the editor)
April 3, 2008... From Ciaran McConaghy, analytics manager (EMEA), Microsoft APS In response to Matthew Tod's letter (NMA 20.03.08) in which he states that with many current tracking systems "there's a lot of key data being missed out", I'm happy to...

LETTER: Is security of social networks up to snuff?(Letter to the editor)
April 3, 2008... From Paul Davie, founder, Secerno The launch of Lola's Land, a social network specifically for 8-12-year- old girls (NMA 13.03.08), makes me extremely nervous. Too many social networks are focused on the cosmetics of their service and...

OPINION: Mathematicians better suited to search than creatives.
April 3, 2008... Search marketing has rapidly evolved into a $22bn (#11bn) global market. It's incredibly fast moving and extraordinarily complex. In an attempt to optimise bid positions, many agencies have huge teams of people, both on- and offshore, using...

PROFILE - STEVE KINCAID: Crashing the party.
April 3, 2008... Doubling online sales within two years is central to Steve Kincaid's plan for Zavvi, but the pressure is on in a highly competitive marketplace. Will Cooper reports Launching a new brand is always tough, but launching one after a...

WIDGETS: Stay in touch.
April 3, 2008... As social networks open up their platforms to developers, widgets are taking off as a way to get your brand out to where young people are online, reports Luan Goldie For any Coronation Street fan who can't wait for the latest instalment...

WIDGETS: The widget that keeps on giving.(Brief article)
April 3, 2008... While widgets that entertain and promote are popular, those serving a purpose, such as donating to charity, are also proving to be successful, particularly in the social networking space. Last November, fundraising site JustGiving rolled...

PUBLISHING & SEARCH: News hound.
April 3, 2008... As newspapers get to grips with the shift of information distribution to online, one area they need to engage with is search. Nicola Smith looks at the areas affected Search optimisation is the new buzz phrase in newsrooms. Both The...

MOVES: MoMedia International.(Alex Grahame)(Brief article)
April 3, 2008... MoMedia International, a producer and distributor of digital entertainment, has appointed former Eurosport distribution and development manager Alex Grahame as head of EMEA. Copyright: Centaur Communications Ltd. and licensors

MOVES: Unamimis.(Brief article)
April 3, 2008... Ad network Unanimis has taken on Sarah Lindsay-Bush as head of client services. She was previously account director at Yahoo!. Meanwhile, operations manager David Nelson joins from Sheraton Systems, analysis programmer Louis du Toit...

MOVES: Greenlight.(Andrew Stubbs and Brian Anderson )(Brief article)
April 3, 2008... Search marketing agency Greenlight has boosted its sales team with the appointments of Andrew Stubbs as business development director and Brian Anderson as business development manager. Stubbs joins from Efficient Frontier while Anderson comes...

MOVES: Magnitude.(David Burley)(Brief article)
April 3, 2008... Digital marketing agency Magnitude has appointed David Burley as a Flash animator. He was formerly a layout artist and graphic designer at Aardman Animations. Copyright: Centaur Communications Ltd. and licensors

MOVES: Lida.(Brief article)
April 3, 2008... Marketing agency Lida has recruited digital designer Marios Takousies from DDB London and digital developer Daniel O'Brien from Sumo TV. Meanwhile, digital project managers Lisel Barrett and Lorenzo Guernieri join from Craik Jones and The...

MOVES: Start Creative.(Julie Lane )(Brief article)
April 3, 2008... Digital and branding agency Start Creative has hired Julie Lane as head of digital business development. She was previously head of sales and marketing at LBi. Copyright: Centaur Communications Ltd. and licensors

SITE INSPECTION: Radio 4 - World on the Move.(Website overview)(Brief article)
April 3, 2008... Bbc.co.uk/radio4/worldontghemove Owner BBC Agency Airlock Content 23/25 Usability 21/25 Branding 19/25 Monetisation 18/25 Total 81/100 BBC Radio 4 has created...

SITE INSPECTION: Joules Clothing.(Website overview)(Brief article)
April 3, 2008... Joulesclothing.com Owner Joules Clothing Agency in-house Content 18/25 Usability 18/25 Branding 19/25 Monetisation 18/25 Total 73/100 Casual clothing specialist...

SITE INSPECTION: Family Time.(Website overview)(Brief article)
April 3, 2008... Ourfamiltytime.co.uk Owner Radox Agency Geronimo Content 21/25 Usability 20/25 Branding 10/25 Monetisation 10/25 Total 61/100 I've always associated Radox with bubble baths,...

SITE INSPECTION: armorica.co.uk.(Website overview)(Brief article)
April 3, 2008... Founded 2004 Selection Armorica is, it says, 'serious about cookware'. The site holds a large selection of branded electrical, specialist and kitchen products from both well-known and obscure brands. It also features recipes....

DIGITAL BRANDING: Branding through video.
April 3, 2008... In late 2005, Utarget decided to become the ad network of the brand. We already offered tailored inventory to suit all client needs. What was missing was video. If the internet to date has offered measurable placements for the...

DIGITAL BRANDING: The digital perspective.
April 3, 2008... Digital platforms were originally seen as purely a transactional and direct-response medium. But increasingly their effectiveness for branding is being demonstrated. NMA's Nic Howell looks at the five areas where their impact is greatest ...

DIGITAL BRANDING: The branding perspective.
April 3, 2008... There's no ignoring online in an age where consumers' power is growing and brands must develop deeper relationships with customers. Brand Strategy's Ruth Mortimer examines where the opportunities lie for the year ahead If brands once...

DIGITAL BRANDING: Just between us.
April 3, 2008... Consumers are often willing to give out their personal data, especially on social networks, yet they seem wary of how it may be used by marketers. Nicola Smith looks at how can brands stay safe amid such contradictions When Facebook...

DIGITAL BRANDING: Socially Savvy?(Brief article)
April 3, 2008... Research from the Information Commissioner's Office in November 2007 looked at young people's social networking habits. It found that 33% of young people have never read privacy policies on social networks and don't understand how they can...

DIGITAL BRANDING: Private assets.(Brief article)
April 3, 2008... Tink Taylor, business development director at Dotmailer.co.uk and a member of the DMA's Email Marketing Council, offers ten tips for brand marketers who plan to make privacy an asset to their brand. 1 Display a clear link to your privacy...

DIGITAL BRANDING: On with the show.
April 3, 2008... The web is developing fast as a place where video content is being created and consumed. Adrian Pennington looks at how brands are experimenting with ways of creating video content for audiences that are entirely separate from TV One of...

DIGITAL BRANDING: Endemol's Gap Year.(Brief article)
April 3, 2008... Endemol UK is preparing reality-based interactive drama Gap Year in association with Bebo, with its launch postponed from early 2008 to around August to allow more time for sponsors to come on-board. The interactive series will follow six...

DIGITAL BRANDING: The third way.
April 3, 2008... After the high street and online, mobile offers a new channel for reaching consumers wherever they are. But is the mobile internet yet mainstream enough for brands to think about appearing there, asks Pieter Preston Maurice Levy, chief...

DIGITAL BRANDING: Case studies: Coca-Cola and Smirnoff.
April 3, 2008... Coca-Cola: The Greatest Gift is Giving Brief: To generate brand association for Coca-Cola around the Christmas holidays on the theme of people's desire to communicate with their friends during this season. Campaign: Users could send...

DIGITAL BRANDING: Close friends.
April 3, 2008... The success of mass social networks is working against brands as they find it harder to reach precisely the audience they want. Claudine Baker asks if specialised groups could be the answer to their dreams 'Facebook fatigue' has been the...

DIGITAL BRANDING: Case study: Southwest Airlines.
April 3, 2008... The problem for a brand taking out display ads on general social networks is that those it wants to target may only be a small proportion of the total membership. Working with niche networks can help the brand become part of the fabric of an...

DIGITAL BRANDING: Interest levels.
April 3, 2008... What any advertiser wants to know about any ad medium is how it will affect sales. Online is great at measuring reach, but working out how engaging digital ads are has proven more tricky. Jennifer Whitehead looks at the latest research ...

DIGITAL BRANDING: Engaging soft-drink consumers.
April 3, 2008... In a bid to encourage more FMCG brands to invest in online advertising, the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) has undertaken a number of cross- media brand engagement studies. The latest has just been released, looking at the soft-drinks...

DIGITAL BRANDING: Make an impact.
April 3, 2008... Dynamic Logic has been tracking what effects online advertising has on consumer behaviour for three years. Will Cooper examines some of the results to see what ad formats work best It's a common lament among marketers that, while there's...

Premiership clubs seek to up fan activity online.(Brief article)
April 10, 2008... Major Premiership football clubs are preparing to incorporate user- generated content and social networking into their sites. Liverpool FC is to overhaul its site with a focus on user-generated content, such as blogs and video. It looks set...

Halifax and The Sun target expats.(Halifax International)(Brief article)
April 10, 2008... Halifax International has agreed an extensive content partnership deal with The Sun to launch Expats, an online newspaper and community site for Britons living abroad or considering relocating. The site, which went live yesterday...

Behavioural targeting spot-checks demanded.(Interactive Advertising Bureau UK Ltd.)(Brief article)
April 10, 2008... Industry insiders have called for random spot-checks on behavioural targeting companies in a bid to bring more credibility to the sector. The calls were sparked by news that the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) is to create a behavioural...

River Island appoints Conchango to relaunch site.(Brief article)
April 10, 2008... River Island has appointed agency Conchango to overhaul its controversial website, but has refused to set a date for finally introducing an accessible site. The high street clothing retailer's website has been criticised for being...

CNN to embed Java site within Samsung mobiles in new push.
April 10, 2008... CNN International has revealed details of a fresh mobile push across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia-Pacific and Latin America with the launch of a new mobile Java site. The application will be embedded in a range of Samsung handset...

Eurosport launches integrated campaign.(Brief article)
April 10, 2008... Eurosport has launched an integrated online and on-air content package for its coverage of the Rip Curl Lofoten Island surf trip. The content is the latest development in Eurosport's concerted effort to drive traffic to its website. ...

Bacardi puts digital centre stage of summer festivals campaign.(Brief article)
April 10, 2008... Bacardi has launched a campaign that puts digital at the core of its summer festival activity. The drinks brand has launched a campaign site within bacardi.com for its partnerships with UK summer festivals. Visitors can research and win...

Lynx in second brand site push for new 3 deodorant.
April 10, 2008... Lynx has started a second major push of its brand site to help educate consumers about how to use its new Lynx 3 product range. The updated Lynx Effect site, built by BBH, went live earlier this week with half of the site dedicated to the...

Nivea rolls out site to support launch of My Silhouette range.(Nivea France)(Brief article)
April 10, 2008... Nivea has launched a campaign site for its My Silhouette range of women's beauty products. The rich-media site features editorial content including exercise tips and a shopping guide to ways for women to feel good. Visitors will also...

Govt overhauls teenage sex advice site.(Brief article)
April 10, 2008... The Department for Children, Schools and Families has begun a renewed digital push to combat teenage pregnancies and STIs with an overhaul of its R U Thinking? site. The new version of the site, which went live at the start of the week,...

BBC iPlayer launches on Nintendo Wii on back of booming take-up.(British Broadcasting Corp.)(Brief article)
April 10, 2008... The BBC iPlayer is set to launch on the Nintendo Wii as latest figures reveal more than 42m BBC shows have been viewed via the service since its Christmas Day launch. The first-quarter figures reveal iPlayer usage grew by 25% each month,...

Nokia to augment mobile ad inventory through WidSets app.(Brief article)
April 10, 2008... Nokia is set for a major expansion of its mobile advertising inventory. The handset giant is looking for the first time to place ads on its WidSets application, which acts as an entry-point for the mobile internet. The company, which...

BA offers Caribbean holiday in prize push.(Agency.com Ltd.)(British Airways PLC)(Brief article)
April 10, 2008... British Airways has rolled out a campaign to promote its flights to the Caribbean ahead of the summer holiday season. The site, by Agency.com, was timed to launch around the opening of Heathrow's Terminal 5. It's supported by a major...

Dennis Publishing to roll out dating site for young men.(Brief article)
April 10, 2008... Dennis Publishing is to roll out a dating site for men's title Maxim. Readers will be able to access the site through the Maxim home page, where they will then be taken into a fully branded dating site. The launch follows Savage...

Brands rethink search strategies as Google shifts trademark policy.
April 10, 2008... Major brands including Barclaycard are set to rethink their search strategies due to last week's change in Google's trademarking policy, according to sector specialists. ISBA, the advertising trade body, said that the decision by Google...

Virgin Radio plans sports podcast.(Brief article)
April 10, 2008... Virgin Radio is to launch a sports podcast service, Virgin Sports Extra, in a bid to provide audiences with in-depth sporting news. The service, which will be available to download on the Virgin Radio website and iTunes, will also provide...

Blue Dragon makes oriental recipes central to site revamp.(Brief article)
April 10, 2008... Associated British Foods' oriental food brand Blue Dragon's website is to receive a major redesign. The site, which is set to launch in mid-April, aims to engage visitors and encourage repeat visits by offering more than 150 Chinese,...

Five close to appointing agency roster to help push VoD service.(Brief article)
April 10, 2008... Broadcaster Five is in the final stages of its digital agency roster review and will appoint up to five agencies in the coming weeks. The broadcaster - which already works with Made By Many as its strategic digital agency of record (NMA...

Kiss Radio uses environmental site to educate young adults.(Brief article)
April 10, 2008... Kiss Radio has become the latest media brand to launch an environmentally focused website with the roll out of Kiss the Planet. The site, which went live last week, supports the radio station's environmental series, fronted by Sam Branson,...