New Media Age articles from August 2003

New Media Age archives from August 2003

Britvic runs major Web and text push for Tango.(Brief Article)
August 7, 2003... Soft drinks company Britvic is running one of its biggest new media-enabled on-pack promotions, part of an 11m [pounds sterling] push for Tango, in partnership with Sony PlayStation 2. It's the latest in a growing list of major offline...

Sun Dream Team launches on iTV.(Brief Article)
August 7, 2003... The Sun is making its first foray into interactive TV this week with the launch of its Dream Team fantasy football game on Sky. The move takes one of the newspaper's most successful online games into almost 7m households across the UK,...

ITV overtakes BBC with 'Pop Idol' interactivity.(Brief Article)
August 7, 2003... ITV will be the winner in the interactive stakes when its new series of Pop Idol goes head to head with the BBC's Fame Academy on Saturday. Pop Idol audiences will get the full range of interactive services, including SMS news alerts and...

Waitrose slams rival sites over 'accessible' designs.(Brief Article)
August 7, 2003... Waitrose is relaunching its Web site to ensure compliance with new accessibility legislation, and has criticised its rivals for offering second-rate versions of their site to disabled users. The new Web site is being developed by technology...

Government broadband plans to benefit rural areas.(Brief Article)
August 7, 2003... Plans from the Government to co-ordinate the purchase of broadband technology for the public sector could be good news for businesses in rural areas, according to the former head of the government's e-commerce team. E-commerce minister...

i-level names new group MD.(Brief Article)
August 7, 2003... The UK's biggest digital media planner/buyer agency, i-level, will have a new group MD from the start of next month. The agency is promoting its current deputy MD, Faith Carthy, to the position which is being vacated by Nick Gutfreund....

Freeserve warns Ofcom of broadband regulation role.(Brief Article)
August 7, 2003... New media regulator Ofcom is clashing with Freeserve over the role it should play ha ensuring competitive wholesale pricing within the broadband industry. Freeserve is concerned that the super-regulator lacks the time and expertise to...

Betting exchange wins landmark legal decision.(Brief Article)
August 7, 2003... Betting exchanges have won a big victory in their battle with the gambling establishment, after the High Court ruled in their favour last week over the latest Levy Scheme. Sporting Options, the second largest UK exchange, had brought a...

AOL runs streamed ad for Sessions@ music service.(Brief Article)
August 7, 2003... Portal AOL is running a streaming video ad to promote its Sessions@AOL music service on sites such as MTV, Ministry of Sound and Capital Radio. The ad, planned by Carat Interactive with creative by Steel Design, uses technology from...

Crusha gets Web and iTV relaunch.(Brief Article)
August 7, 2003... Silver Spoon, the company behind Crusha milkshakes, is relaunching the brand with a major marketing push via interactive TV and online. The Crusha Cows game launches this week on Sky Digital, giving viewers a chance to enter a competition...

Fancy A Flutter signs Challenge sponsorship deal.(Breaking)(Brief Article)
August 7, 2003... Fancy A Flutter, the interactive TV bingo-style games channel Joint venture from Rank and NDS, has agreed a sponsorship deal with Flextech channel Challenge. Fancy A Flutter will support Challenge's Soap Addicts show with branding at the...

Trouble launches new interactive 'Cruel' show.(Breaking)(Brief Article)
August 7, 2003... Flextsch-owned teen channel Trouble this week started airing the latest in its series of 'Cruel' reality shows, with the emphasis heavily on involving viewers via text, Web and iTV. 'Cruel Holiday', developed for Flextech by Endemol-owned...

Jennifer Mowat takes Yahoo! Europe development role.(Breaking)(Brief Article)
August 7, 2003... Jennifer Mowat has Joined Yahoo! as head of operational development and planning for Europe. She will report directly to Mark Opzoomer, MD and regional VP of Yahoo! Europe. Mowat will work across all units, including country operations, search,...

Motley Fool runs anniversary cash-prize competition.(Brief Article)
August 7, 2003... Personal finance site The Motley Fool is running a London poster campaign to promote a competition which is offering 2,500 [pounds sterling] in cash to help the winner pay off their credit card debt. Fool.co.uk says it's running the competition...

Ymogan to provide online voting service for 'Pop Idol'.(Brief Article)
August 7, 2003... Internet payment service Ymogen will be providing an online voting service for the TV show Pop Idol. Each vote will cost 25p and will be charged to the user's credit card or telephone bill Members of the public are invited to register an...

FXM launches site to support Official Xbox Magazine.(Brief Article)
August 7, 2003... FXM International, a subsidiary of Future Publishing owner Future Network, has launched a Web site to support its Official Xbox Magazine. Subscribers to the magazine will receive a unique subscriber identifier code with the latest issue, out...

Chelsea FC launches online payment system.(Brief Article)
August 7, 2003... Chelsea Football Club has launched a new online payments system for highlights, live match commentary and a range of other services. The system was roiled out in time for the live online match transmission of the club's friendly match against...

Isle of Man opens up UK to offshore bookmakers' ads.(Brief Article)
August 7, 2003... The UK's policy against offshore gambling is being undermined by changes to Isle of Man law which will allow offshore bookmakers to advertise in the UK from next month. Until now, online bookmakers could only advertise in the UK if they...

E-voting report fails to address security worries.(the Electoral Commission report )(Brief Article)
August 7, 2003... An independent review of the electronic voting trials at this year's local elections has been criticised for failing to address security concerns. The Electoral Commission report on the e-voting pilots, 'The Shape of Elections to Come',...

Lastminute prepares for French move.
August 7, 2003... Lastminute.com is preparing to launch what it says will be France's first dynamic packaging online holiday booking service. It's also planning to integrate its charter flights inventory into its UK Breakbuilder service. On Tuesday,...

First two portal clients sign up to aggregation tool.(Brief Article)
August 7, 2003... MoneySupermarket has unveiled the first two customers for its account aggregation system. Thisismoney.co.uk, part of Associated New Media, and Money Telegraph are the first sites to sign up to the white-label service, View My Accounts. ...

Acclaim uses mobile game as plug for console version.(Urban Freestyle Soccer )(Brief Article)
August 7, 2003... In the latest sign of mobile and console games integration, games publisher Acclaim Entertainment is releasing a mobile version of its latest football game months ahead of the main console version. This is extremely unusual for the games...

FindWhat.com buyout won't limit Espotting growth.(Brief Article)
August 7, 2003... Search marketing network Espotting Media says it's still on a growth curve after agreeing to be bought out by US company FindWhat.com earlier in the summer. The search marketing network--which is in danger of losing its contract to supply...

IPC appoints Heery to beef up Loaded and Uncut sites.(Brief Article)
August 7, 2003... IPC is scaling up the online presence of its magazines Loaded and Uncut following the appointment of Kevin Heery, former technical and production manager on NME.com, to the newly created role of head of online. Heery will be responsible...

Shazam widens European presence.(Brief Article)
August 7, 2003... Shazam has signed deals to take its mobile music recognition service into three more countries in Europe. The firm will launch the service in partnership with Mobilkom Austria, Zeal Sonera in Italy and TeliaSonera Finland. This is the...

Actinic wins Smart award of 150,000 [pounds sterling] from DTI.
August 7, 2003... E-commerce software developer Actinic has won a Smart award of 150,000 [pounds sterling] from the Small Business Service, part of the Department of Trade and Industry. This is the highest amount that the SBS awards for development projects....

Bradford & Bingley launches online credit card broking.(Brief Article)
August 7, 2003... Bradford & Bingley has launched an online credit card broking service. The service is available on the Web sites of both its Independent financial advisory arm, The MarketPlace, and its mortgage broker John Charcol. It covers over 100 cards,...

Toptable.co.uk reveals plans to extend service out of London.(Brief Article)
August 7, 2003... Restaurant booking service Toptable.co.uk has revealed plans to expand out of London into the regions. Toptable has been advertising its service using street promotions and press ads, following a recent site relaunch. The site said it will...

Granada to launch Web site to support Rugby World Cup.
August 7, 2003... Granada will launch a new Web site to support ITV's coverage of the next Rugby World Cup, after striking a sponsorship deal for the event with Travelex. It's not yet clear whether the event will benefit from the interactive TV carriage deal...

William Hill links high street shops with online accounts.(Brief Article)
August 7, 2003... William Hill has stolen a march on its main rival Ladbrokes by launching a system to integrate its online accounts with its high street shops. The bookmaker has rolled out a new voucher system which will allow customers to deposit money...

Mindhouse to break into new markets through Tandberg TV deal.
August 7, 2003... Interactive TV company Mindhouse is seeking to break into new markets in Asia and North America on the back of a deal it's agreed with global broadcast infrastructure company Tandberg Television. Mindhouse is developing the electronic...

Index Gaming first with football betting via IVR.(FootyFlutter interactive voice-response service)(Brief Article)
August 7, 2003... A new betting service will launch next week that offers football wagers through a combined Web and interactive voice-response system. FootyFlutter, set up by Index Gaming, allows users to place bets by ringing a premium-rate number. The...

Vodafone Live! goes out on location.(Brief Article)
August 7, 2003... Vodafone Live! is this week launching a new location-based directory service from Mobile Commerce. The text message and WAP service, which is due to go live today (Thursday), is based around content from Thomson Directories, with services...

Diary.(Calendar)
August 7, 2003... 12-15 August 2003 Building Secure Virtual Private Networks London 0800 282353 learningtree.co.uk 10 August 2003 Edinburgh International Games Festival Edinburgh 01386 830642 eigf.co.uk 2...

Bertelsmann to sell its 36% stake in Barnesandnoble.com.(Finance)(Brief Article)
August 7, 2003... Bertelsmann is selling its 36% share in Barnesandnoble.com for $164m (102m [pounds sterling]) to Barnes & Noble. This marks a change of heart by the German media firm since last year. The stake was held by Direct Group, the Bertelsmann's...

Internet Business Group sees turnover rise and cuts losses.(Finance)(Brief Article)
August 7, 2003... E-commerce firm Internet Business Group saw a marked increase in turnover in the six months to 30 April, while also cutting its losses. The company, which owns an affiliate marketing service and a network of eight specialist sports sites under...

Kuju to speed up cost cutting after failing to sign projects.(Finance)(Brief Article)
August 7, 2003... Games developer Kuju said its cost-cutting programme will be accelerated in the coming weeks after a failure to sign up new projects. The company had assumed it would have started development work on two major projects by the end of July but...

ValueClick exceeds market expectations for Q2 2003.(Finance)(Brief Article)
August 7, 2003... Digital marketing company ValueClick said it has exceeded the market's expectation with its results for the second quarter of 2003. The US firm, which bought search marketing company Search 123, made a pre-tax profit of $1.6m (0.9m [pounds...

GE promises no limit on UK technology investments.(Finance)(Brief Article)
August 7, 2003... GE Technology Finance, part of the General Electric group, has promised to spend whatever's needed as it sets up the business in the UK. The division, which is an arm of GE Structured Finance, recently opened a London office, the first...

Newsplayer raises funds to help in acquisition bid.(Finance)(Brief Article)
August 7, 2003... Newsplayer Group, the digital content licensing company, has raised new funding through a placement of new shares. The AIM-listed firm, which saw its turnover fall by 80% in the past year, said it raised 740,000 [pounds sterling] before...

ActivCard buys up a third of Aspace.(Finance)(Brief Article)
August 7, 2003... US smart card firm ActivCard has taken a significant minority stake in London-based Aspace Solutions in a 3.5m [pounds sterling] deal. The California firm is taking a 38% shareholding for 1m [pounds sterling], but is also providing a 2.5m...

GMT leads 6m [pounds sterling] investment into XchangePoint.(Brief Article)
August 7, 2003... Venture capital firm GMT Communications Partners is leading a 6m [pounds sterling] investment into XchangePoint Europe to support its UK and German operations and to fund its expansion into other countries. Also involved in the investment...

Software developers clash over Web accessibility role.(Technology)(Brief Article)
August 7, 2003... Software firms are divided over the role they should play in Web accessibility, which is leading to confusion about the future of Web design. Leading software developers like Macromedia and Adobe say they're anxious to support the World...

Atomica releases PC research tool.(GuruNet virtual library)(Brief Article)
August 7, 2003... Software company Atomica has released a desktop research programme that provides Windows PC users with an alternative to search engine-based research. GuruNet is a virtual library that can be downloaded to the desktop and works with any...

Red Fig to license out TV audience data interface.(Gallery Manager)(Brief Article)
August 7, 2003... Red Fig, the participation TV firm behind hit shows including I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here and Ant and Dee's Saturday Night Takeaway, is licensing technologies to third parties for the first time. The firm, which gathers, sifts...

Pure offers SMS/email ad manager.(Technology)(Brief Article)
August 7, 2003... Digital marketing agency Pure has launched an online tool that allows brands to conduct SMS and small marketing campaigns from a PC. It says its PureResponse tool is being used by agency Lateral, Faber & Faber, Wired Sussex and Speed-dater....

BT Openworld offers firms Internet security pack.(Technology)(Brief Article)
August 7, 2003... BT Openworld has launched an Internet security pack to help firms protect their sites against viruses and hackers. The service includes McAfee VirusScan, which guards against Web viruses and is automatically updated when new patches are...

Grokster to launch ad-free Premium service.(Technology)(Brief Article)
August 7, 2003... File-sharing service Grokster is planning to launch a premium version of its software that will be ad free. The paid-for service will use Softwrap digital rights software to ensure that all digital content distributed is free from piracy....

Squareleaf WSP offers user-friendly hotspot access.(Technology)
August 7, 2003... A new Wireless Service Provider (WSP), SquareLeaf, has launched, aiming to make hotspot access more user-friendly. For 49.99 [pounds sterling] a month, it offers Wi-Fi roaming over 20,000 locations worldwide and unlimited data downloads. The...

Vodafone and Verizon to offer laptop data card service.(Technology)(Brief Article)
August 7, 2003... Vodafone has partnered with US service provider Verizon Wireless to develop a laptop data card for business customers travelling between Europe and the US. The dual-branded service will be based on Vodafone's Mobile Connect Card, and will let...

Omnicom buys Agency.com from Seneca Holdings.(Agencies)(Brief Article)
August 7, 2003... The UK arm of Agency.com and its media agency subsidiary iTraffic believe their futures have been further secured by the news this week that US-based agency group Omnicom has bought Agency.com from Seneca Holdings for an undisclosed sum. Two...

Icon Medialab International reports a drop in Q2 revenues.(Agencies)(Brief Article)
August 7, 2003... Icon Medialab International, the Swedish parent of IconMedialab and Lost Boys Group, has reported a drop in second-quarter operating revenues, resulting in an operating loss before goodwill amortisation of 2.8m [euro] (2m [pounds sterling])....

Designate has been reappointed as the lead agency for Isle of Wight Tourism following a three-way pitch for the integrated marketing account.(Agency Wins)(Brief Article)
August 7, 2003... Designate has been reappointed as the lead agency for Isle of Wight Tourism following a three-way pitch for the integrated marketing account, which is estimated to be worth over 500,000 [pounds sterling] designate.co.uk Edited by Sara...

Simply Travel, the upmarket holidays brand, has appointed Glasgow's Front Page Design to redesign its Web site following a three-way creative pitch.(Agencies)(Brief Article)
August 7, 2003... Simply Travel, the upmarket holidays brand, has appointed Glasgow's Front Page Design to redesign its Web site following a three-way creative pitch. The agency's brief is to create a site that is content rich, has increased functionality and...

Endemol gets into media planning via Victoria Real.(Agencies)(Brief Article)
August 7, 2003... Endemol, the TV company behind reality series Big Brother, is to make its first foray into media planning and buying with the launch of a digital marketing division. The new division will be launched within interactive agency Victoria...

Lawton sells email video tool to Hollywood studios.(Agencies)(Brief Article)
August 7, 2003... Online marketing agency Lawton has started to make inroads into the major Hollywood studios with email marketing tools that it has developed in-house. Its video streaming tool, dubbed Trailermail, was originally developed for Nintendo...

Cheeze brings pay-per-click in-house.(Agencies)(Brief Article)
August 7, 2003... Online direct response agency Cheeze is establishing an in-house team to manage pay-per-click (PPC) search campaigns, in response to growing demand from clients. Cheeze, which runs PPC campaigns on Google, Overture and Espotting across...

Oyster Partners teams with CDD.(Agencies)(Brief Article)
August 7, 2003... Independent digital communications consultancy Oyster Partners is teaming up with chore-the-line ad agency Campbell Doyle Dye (CDD) on their third joint project in less than 12 months. Oyster was awarded the task of building a new Web site...

Universal Music to launch busted mobile Java game.(Marketing; Busted Manager game)(Brief Article)
August 7, 2003... Universal Music has unveiled a groundbreaking Tamagotchi-style mobile Java game for its pop act Busted as the latest stage of its digital marketing push for the band. The new game, Busted Manager, allows players to act as a virtual band...

Thistle launches major online push.(Marketing)(Brief Article)
August 7, 2003... Thistle Hotels, London's largest hotel group, is making its first big online customer acquisition push. The hotel group sees the Web as a vital distribution channel and has launched this campaign to boost its online database from 50,000 to...

UIP to run interactive TV trailer for 'American Pie'.(Marketing; United International Pictures )(Brief Article)
August 7, 2003... Hollywood studio United International Pictures has launched an interactive TV trailer on Channel 4 to promote the upcoming release of its latest film, comedy sequel American Pie: The Wedding. It's the second time the company has decided to...

Greenpeace runs viral game for anti-GM campaign.(Marketing)(Brief Article)
August 7, 2003... Environmental pressure group Greenpeace has launched an online viral game designed to support its anti-GM food campaign. In the game, called GM Warrior and devised by Artificial Environments, the player uses a slingshot to destroy GM flowers,...

Channel 4 picks Ambergreen for GridClub search campaign.(Marketing)(Brief Article)
August 7, 2003... Channel 4 primary school education site GridClub.com is running a six-month search engine marketing campaign. It has appointed Ambergreen to ensure the site is highly ranked against relevant keywords. Before the campaign starts, Ambergreen will...

TMW creates rich-media push for Smirnoff.(Marketing)(Brief Article)
August 7, 2003... Diageo vodka brand Smirnoff is running a rich-media push based on the 'If Smirnoff made' concept used in J Walter Thompson's TV ads. The ads, by digitalTMW, run on MSN, Channel 4, Sky and Yahoo!, taglined 'If Smirnoff made desk fans'. An...

Schoolchildren unskilled in getting most out of the Web.(Trends; Northumbria University study )
August 7, 2003... Disorganised and unstructured information on the Internet, coupled with a lack of information-gathering skills, has been blamed for teenagers' lack of confidence when using the Web at school for research purposes, a study from Northumbria...

Businesses must check facts before signing up to DSL.(Trends; Point Topic survey)(Brief Article)
August 7, 2003... Businesses should be wary of DSL broadband packages and watch out for huge variations in price and quality of service, according to a report from the broadband information service Point Topic. The survey of 25 business DSL operators around the...

IT directors value security but fail to track its effectiveness.(Trends; IDC survey)(Brief Article)
August 7, 2003... Only 13% of businesses attempt to demonstrate the value of investing in IT security by actively tracking return on investment, says a report from IDC. in a survey of 100 CIOs, CTOs and IT directors, it found that 71% of respondents said IT...

Too many Wi-Fi hotspots?(Trends; Juniper prediction )(Brief Article)
August 7, 2003... The number of commercial Wi-Fi spots in the UK is rapidly overtaking the number of wireless mobile devices In use, according to a report by Juniper Research. The imbalance is likely to damage the survival of small independent hotspot providers....

European e-tailers report this is year for profitability.(Trends; Jupiter European Commerce survey)
August 7, 2003... Up to 63% of European retailers' sites are profitable and an additional 13% expect to be so by the end of the year, reveals the latest Jupiter European Commerce survey. The survey covered 25 of European's largest online retailers, with a...

Hitwise tool tells sites what words users searched for.(Trends)(Brief Article)
August 7, 2003... Online intelligence company Hitwise has launched a tool to enable clients to see what search keywords users are typing into search engines before clicking through to their own or their competitors' sites. By contrast with other user-centred...

Web filtering set to triple by 2007.(Trends)(Brief Article)
August 7, 2003... The Web filtering market will grow by more than 200% over the next tour years, claims Frost & Sullivan. The marketing consulting company believes the market sector will benefit from the increasing temptation for non-business related surfing...

Better access speeds lead to strong rise in WAP usage.(Mobile Data Association study)(Brief Article)
August 7, 2003... WAP page impressions are continuing to grow strongly, according to the latest figures from the Mobile Data Association (MDA). In June, WAP page impressions rocketed by 12% to hit 784m, taking the daffy average to 26m across the four GSM...

BT boosts broadband offer with Yahoo! deal.(Analyst Speak; BT Yahoo! Broadband. Internet access)
August 7, 2003... As is to be expected, BT dressed the announcement of its broadband alliance with Yahoo! in the usual hyperbole. The entente, BT said, would produce "a completely new Internet experience", cementing the company's leadership of the broadband...

Firms unprepared for disability laws.(Mediasurface study on UK's 1995 Disability Discrimination Act )(Brief Article)
August 7, 2003... The majority of UK businesses are still unaware of laws on disability discrimination which require them to make their Web sites accessible to people with disabilities, according to a new report. 81% of UK business Web sites remain...

IAB/IPA measurement plan seen as only the first step: while the online ad industry recognises the need for a standard for audience measurement, can it work in practice?(Analysis)
August 7, 2003... The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and the Institute for Practitioners in Advertising (IPA) last week said they were embarking on a "long-term mission" to "explore creating a gold standard online audience measurement system" (NMA 31...

Time to get accessible as legal action looms.(Leader)(Editorial)
August 7, 2003... Web accessibility is always controversial, but recent announcements have highlighted a huge gulf in awareness of the issues. On one hand, the Government has announced plans to adopt best practice in Web site accessibility, with its Quality...

Standardised ads are essential to industry.
August 7, 2003... Every media channel needs standard formats, it makes them easy to use. Which is why many of us were concerned by last week's letter that suggested the industry shouldn't bother (NMA 31 July). The role of the Interactive Advertising Bureau...

Don't underestimate the power of the virus.(Brief Article)(Column)
August 7, 2003... We always take every possible step to ensure the safety of the data we hold. That's why our email systems are protected by extremely effective firewalls and virus detection systems that we check for updates every 10 minutes, and which show us...

Three-note approach to music download services.(Harper on the law)
August 7, 2003... Once upon a time we were told the Internet would be an anarchic Wild West where the usual laws and regulations wouldn't apply. In most cases, history has shown this statement to be far from accurate. In fact, online businesses (and indeed...

Mobile middlemen need a new position.(Opinion)(Industry Overview)(Column)
August 7, 2003... The term 'disintermediation' is an effective way of saying 'removing the middleman'. The phrase was coined to describe many Internet-based businesses that used the Web to sell products to customers rather than going through traditional...

Fitting two into one: the merger last year of two giants of the IT hardware sector, Hewlett-Packard and Compaq, was a major event--not least for Marius Haas, who as VP of worldwide e-business was responsible for the unification of their IT infrastructures.(Marius Haas)
August 7, 2003... As vice-president of worldwide e-business at Hewlett-Packard, Marius Haas is keenly aware of how, businesses of every size and make-up can use the Internet: as a tool for communicating with customers, partners and staff; as a platform for...

Inspired Broadcast Networks.(Moves)(Brief Article)
August 7, 2003... Pay-to-play digital entertainment company inspired Broadcast Networks has appointed Rick Mower as marketing and wireless director. He was previously MD of The Wireless Marketing Company, which merged with 12snap last year. Mower will oversee...

Handbag.com.(Moves)(Brief Article)
August 7, 2003... Handbag.com, the women's lifestyle Web site, has appointed Ruth Brownlee as ad director. She will lead the in-house ad sales team, and joins from Channel 4 where she held the post of commercial development controller. Prior to that, Brownlee...

Digital Bridges.(Moves)(Brief Article)
August 7, 2003... Shahin Javidi has joined mobile entertainment solutions company Digital Bridges as COO. He will be in charge of worldwide sales and business development, and has over 17 years' sales and marketing management experience. He was previously VP of...