New Media Age articles from July 2004

New Media Age archives from July 2004

Honda ad row tarnishes launch of Zip Television.(Honda Zip TV)
July 1, 2004... Honda is at loggerheads with ITV, Sky and Flextech/UK TV over interactive TV advertising, in a row which threatens to embroil other big brands and escalate into a full-scale stand-off costing media sales houses millions of pounds. A war of...

Cyber-criminals face tougher law.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... MPs have proposed a major crackdown on UK cybercrimes, including increasing the sentence for computer-related crimes from six months to two years. The three-month inquiry into the Computer Misuse Act (CMA) 1990 was commissioned by the All...

Protest as BBC is given first sight of Graf report.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... The BBC is preparing its response to Philip Graf's review of its online operations, after Tessa Jowell handed the report to BBC chairman Michael Grade this week. Gratis report, which was submitted to Jowell in the spring, has subsequently...

Mobile customers hit with legacy of recycled numbers.
July 1, 2004... Consumer confidence in mobile content is being damaged by operators' policies of recycling phone numbers too rapidly, leading users to receive premium services for which they haven't asked. The issue highlights the serious issue of a lack...

Notification of cookies is down to owners, says IPA.(Institute of Practitioners in Advertising)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... Digital agencies are being advised to make sure that their advertising contracts with media owners clearly stipulate it's the media owners that are responsible for providing users with information about how cookies are being used. The...

Telegraph rethinks Handbag following Barclays' buy-out.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... The Telegraph Group is to weigh up the future of its Handbag.com joint venture with Boots following the Barclay Brothers' anticipated 665m [pounds sterling] buy-out of the group, which is due for completion at the end of this month. ...

First recruitment drive for Friends of the Earth site.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... Environmental charity Friends of the Earth has launched its first online drive for new supporters. The push, Agency Republic's first project for the charity after winning its digital account in April, highlights the issue of climate...

Kelkoo trials cross-border price comparison service.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... Kelkoo has unveiled its first cross-border shopping comparison service to coincide with its launch in the Belgian market. The firm, acquired by Yahoo! early this year, said the new service will let Belgian users compare offers both from...

Yahoo! Europe signs ad research deal.(Dynamic Logic Ltd.)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... Yahoo! Europe has signed a one year deal with cross-media research firm Dynamic Logic, enabling it to offer clients the means to measure the impact of online ads on their brand. The two companies have worked together for several years, both...

BT rapped by ASA for misleading broadband posters.(British Telecommunications PLC, Advertising Standards Authority )(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has warned BT against running misleading ads, after cable company Telewest objected to a poster promoting its 512Kbps broadband service. The headline stated "Same speed broadband is 8 [pounds sterling]...

DWP unlikely to meet 2005 online services deadline.(Department of Work and Pensions)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... The Department of Work and Pensions looks set to miss the Government's 2005 target to get all its services online, according to a report this week. The DWP admitted to the House of Commons Select Committee on Public Accounts that it wasn't...

Norwich and Peterborough first with instant mortgage offers.(Norwich and Peterborough Building Society)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... Norwich and Peterborough claims to be the first UK building society to give instant mortgage offers through its Web site. The society has also started to point potential customers to alternative mortgages from its rivals, if they don't fit into...

Opera Telecom records profits up by 100% on last year.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... Mobile services provider Opera Telecom has recorded revenues and profits for the year ending 30 May 2004 up 100% on the previous year. The company cited strong growth in its international markets and continuing contract wins in the broadcast...

Chris Ward to stand in for Gillian Kent at MSN UK.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... MSN's UK director Gillian Kent will be replaced by commercial director Chris Ward when she goes on maternity leave this summer. Kent is scheduled to finish work in July and will be taking six months out. Ward will assume her UK director title...

MasterCard signs up partner to tackle online fraud.(NameProtect)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... MasterCard has signed up fraud detection company NameProtect to help it tackle online scams such as phishing and the brokering of stolen card numbers. NameProtect will monitor domain names, Web pages, online discussions, spam email and other...

Betinternet takes full control of Euro Off-Track business.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... Betinternet has taken full control of the Euro Off-Track business after buying out its US partner in the joint venture. The bookmaker, which is based on the Isle of Man, bought the 50% stake in the business as part of a wider strategy review....

Lycos plans switch from ad revenues to subscriptions.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... European portal Lycos is moving away from advertising-based revenues and is looking to focus on subscription services, in order to catch-up with its long-standing rivals Yahoo! and MSN. The company has recently launched a media platform to...

The Cloud to offer free trials of Wi-Fi hotspots.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... UK businesses will this summer be encouraged to test Wi-Fi services for free through a promotional campaign being initiated by wireless network The Cloud. The Wi-Fi network has admitted hotspot owners are failing to cash in on their public...

O2 service turns MMS into postcards.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... O2 has launched a service to transform MMS photo messages into traditional postcards. Subscribers texting the service can have their image and personal message turned into a postcard delivered by Royal Mail. The operator is targeting...

'Elle' publisher to put all titles online.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... Hachette Filipachi, the publisher of Elle and Sugar, is taking its entire portfolio of nine women's magazines online for the first time, marking the company's first serious attempt to exploit the Internet. The firm has already launched a...

Premiership football clubs look to offer mobile betting.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... Manchester United. Arsenal and Liverpool football clubs are to launch mobile betting services in time for next season. The three Premiership clubs are already running mobile auctions with gaming firm Million-2-1 and its CEO, Chris...

Victor Chandler iTV plans held up by technology.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... Online bookmaker Victor Chandler is putting together plans for an interactive TV betting service, but says technology is still a problem. Recent months have seen a renewed surge of activity by bookmakers getting involved in TV. The most...

Customs called to account over e-services spending.(Customs and Excise Ltd.)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... Customs & Excise says it will respond next month to a damning report which criticised it for spending 100m [pounds sterling] on e-government services without following government guidelines. The department admitted that lessons have to be...

Flytxt wins Capital Radio contract.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... Capital Radio is to embark on an expansion of mobile activity across all its brands, with MMS services expected, following the appointment of Flytxt to run the group's mobile strategy. O2 previously supplied mobile services to Capital. ...

Hellomagazine.com plans SMS service for the future.(short messaging service)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... The Web site for Hello!, the celebrity magazine, is planning a range of SMS services in the coming months. The company plans to work with an aggregator on the services but will manage them in-house. A soft launch is planned at first in order to...

Netsize to join Orange's third-party WAP billing launch.(Wireless Application Protocol)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... Mobile aggregator Netsize has announced it's to be the first to join Orange's third-party WAP billing launch (NMA 24 June). The company said that the launch will build on its existing work on WAP billing with several operators in Europe. ...

Gaming Club Sportsbook launches viral campaign.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... The Gaming Club Sportsbook has launched a viral campaign to attract new customers. Digital agency Preloaded created the viral campaign. The game, Sinkyadrink, is set in a bar and the aim is to drink as much you can. Some 400,000 people have...

Sandvine broadens P2P tools.(Technology)(peer-to-peer)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... Network application provider Sandvine has expanded its peer-to-peer (P2P) Policy Management technology to include the emerging file-sharing platforms Bittorrent and Direct Connect. This will help ISPs to control the traffic originating from...

BT Rich Media to provide Wimbledon streaming platform.(Technology)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... BT's digital media platform, BT Rich Media, will be used by the All England Lawn Tennis Club to stream Wimbledon match replays. The Wimbledon Plus video subscription service will be supplied by TWI's Interactive division, the TV arm of sports...

EMusic launches MP3 kiosk.(Technology)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... MP3 subscription service EMusic has unveiled its first digital download kiosk in New Jersey, allowing music fans to purchase MP3 live concert recordings. EMusic Live Kiosks will be rolled out across the country, and users will need a USB pen...

Vignette adds remote portals tool to Application Builder 7.0.(Technology)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... Web software firm Vignette has integrated the Web Services for Remote Portals standard into its new Vignette Application Builder 7.0. The system includes remote portal publishing technologies for distributed portals, and applications can be...

New code fixes QuickTime movie browser problems.(Technology)(e-business consultancy)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... A Scottish software developer has discovered a new way to play QuickTime movies in any Web browser while still complying with standards set out by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). Ross Angus, a Web developer at e-business consultancy...

Readspeaker launches UK text-to-speech application.(Technology)(Readspeaker)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... A text-to-speech application service provider has launched in the UK, claiming to offer greater Web accessibility in that it doesn't require a software download or high bandwidth Web connection. The Readspeaker service was developed in...

Mediaburst offers email-to-SMS tool.(Technology)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... An integrated email and SMS tool has launched in the UK to push text as a business communications tool. The new OutlookSMS package has been certified by Microsoft, and allows users to send and receive mobile text messages directly from...

Fernhart outsources data services infrastructure.(Agencies)(Fernhart New Media contracts with TeleCity)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... Digital solutions provider Fernhart New Media is migrating its server infrastructure to TeleCity. Docklands-based TeleCity will provide outsourced data centre and managed services to support the firm's multiple platforms. Fernhart clients...

Unit 9 completes Eidos Championship Manager 5 site.(Agencies)(services and partnerships)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... Unit 9 has completed the final phase in the creation of the Eidos Championship Manager 5 site, introducing a tool that lets gamers build their own blogs. Unit 9 says it's the first time blogging and forums have been integrated in a site to...

Wheel partners with Carwatch.(Agencies)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... Wheel has signed a 'partially paid-on-results' online partnership with vehicle data checking service Carwatch UK. Wheel will develop an affiliate marketing scheme for the firm, including recruiting partners and developing banners, text links...

Itraffic claims new focus on retainers after losing Hilton.(Agencies)(Hilton Hotels)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... Interactive marketing agency itraffic is to concentrate on attracting clients on retainer contracts in a bid to boost company stability, after losing Hilton Hotels this week. The agency offered this as a partial explanation for taking the...

Screen Pages expands via acquisition of Clockworx.(Agencies)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... E-commerce agency Screen Pages has bought rival Clockworx Design as part of a new expansion drive. The Surrey-based firm--which counts Fat Face, Corgi and Savile Row among its client list--said the move would widen its client base and give...

Arnold takes on Hurley as client services director.(Agencies)(Arnold Interactive appointed Susanna Hurley)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... Arnold Interactive is planning to focus more on existing clients rather than pursuing new wins, following the appointment of Susanna Hurley as its first client services director. The full service digital agency has previously focused on...

Ad 2-one picks up VidZone music video Web site.(Marketing)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... Ad 2-one has added European broadband music video subscription site VidZone to its portfolio of media rich Web sites. The acquisition boosts the company's portfolio of entertainment broadband sites, which already includes Blueyonder and...

Government rolls out new FRANK drug campaign online.(Marketing)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... The Government's FRANK drugs awareness campaign will see its next wave of online activity soon after the Home Office and Department of Health appointed Profero to carry out the work. The appointment followed a five-way pitch managed by COI...

Tamar launches Jamvikt site.(Marketing)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... New skateboarding, snowboarding and biking clothing company Jamvikt has made its online debut with a new Web site created by interactive media agency Tamar. The jamvikt.com site will be promoted with an SEO and email marketing campaign that's...

Fish4 and Yahoo! UK promote UK jobs partnership deal.(Marketing)(Yahoo! UK and Ireland)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... Online classifieds site Fish4 is promoting its partnership with Yahoo! UK, which sees the former's career portal fish4jobs.co.uk being chosen as Yahoo.co.uk's official online jobs partner. Fish4 is running a Yahoo! homepage ad splash with the...

Glenfiddich targets younger market with online music.(Marketing)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... Whisky brand Glenfiddich will focus on promoting 'nu-jazz' with the launch of its first interactive marketing campaign. The campaign, which is set to run in the latter part of this year, will include online and mobile initiatives. Seeking...

Fox launches online ads for I, Robot film release.(Marketing)(Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp.)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... Twentieth Century Fox has launched an online campaign promoting the re]ease of its Will Smith sci-fi summer blockbuster I, Robot. The film is billed as a futuristic action blockbuster and online activity is therefore targeting tech-savvy...

Japanese horror movie begins viral campaign.(Marketing)(Contender Entertainment Group, Egovision)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... A viral campaign for Japanese horror flick Ju-On." The Grudge " got underway this week promoting the film's nationwide release tomorrow. New media agency Egovision has been charged by The Grudge distributor Contender Entertainment with...

Beckham still top of the league for fan sites.(Trends)(David Beckham)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... Despite missing his penalty last week, David Beckham is still the most popular sports star online, according to domain name specialist NetNames. The England captain now has 111 domain names registered by fans around the world, almost double...

UK transport intranets placed among top ten in the world.(Trends)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... The Department of Transport's and London Underground's intranets have been chosen as part of research firm Nielsen Norman Group's ten best government and public sector intranet designs. The winning list was judged on usability, ROI and...

P2P text messages top 2bn.(Trends)(peer to peer )(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... The volume of P2P text messages has increased by over a quarter during the last year, according to the Mobile Data Association (MDA). The industry body recorded a total of 2.19bn messages in May, an increase of over 28% compared with the same...

Web not being integrated into offline ad campaigns.(Trends)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... Confidence in online advertising from leading brands is growing, yet Web strategies continue to be developed in isolation from those offline. A report from Jupiter Research found that although more than two thirds of advertisers in Europe...

Combating spam costs business 10bn [pounds sterling].(Trends)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... British businesses are wasting 10bn [pounds sterling] a year dealing with spam and viruses, says Yahoo!. UK office PCs are out of action for nine days a year, its research reveals, while lost productivity and interruptions to the working...

Access and ad revenues to double in value by 2008.(Trends)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... Internet advertising and access spending in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) will almost double over the next four years, according to a recent report from PricewaterhouseCoopers. Findings show that Web access and Internet ad...

Pre-teens have highest mobile take-up.(Trends)(MobileYouth)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... Under-10s are the fastest growing sector of mobile phone owners in the UK, reveals market research company MobileYouth. A new survey found that a fifth of primary school children now own mobiles, equating to 700.000 mobile phone owners...

Dormant users cost online banks 100m [pounds sterling].(Analyst Speak)
July 1, 2004... While the headlines are highlighting the meteoric growth of online financial services, for every one of Britain's 9m active online bankers there's another who's become dormant. 'Dormant customers'--those who register for online banking, use it...

What are the top banking search terms?(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... Loans and mortgages feature predominantly in the top ten which is topped by the general search for 'Credit card'. The specific term 'online banking' ranks equally with 'banking' highlighting the popularity of banking online. Search...

Download music chart sets stage for rise in competition: the major players in digital music are getting ready for growing rivalry as the sector finally takes off.(News Analysis)
July 1, 2004... The unveiling of the first digital download chart by the Official UK Chart Company (OCC) this week was welcomed with the usual mix of excitement and controversy that long-term observers have come to expect of the digital music industry. ...

Broadband must look beyond TV for content.(Leader)
July 1, 2004... Once again the vexed question of broadband content is raising its head. It seems that ISPs have realised that consumers don't care about what the technology is doing, they just want to know what they can get from it (see feature, page 27)....

No Web site, no business.(Letters To The Editor)(Letter to the Editor)
July 1, 2004... Roy Abrams, CEO, Aspect Group I read with interest Continental Research's findings that half of UK businesses have no Web site (Trends, NMA 17 May). It's positive news that the figures are exceeding initial expectations, yet alarming to...

Parties' online absence loses them the vote.(Letters To The Editor)(Letter to the Editor)
July 1, 2004... CJ Brough, PR manager, IPT I make no apology for assuming that, as a 27-year-old female graduate living and working in London with a comfortable disposable income between my husband and I, any political party would see me as a prime...

Don't give others a free ride at your expense.(Meyer on finance)
July 1, 2004... This past month has heralded a procession of historic events that could only lead those watching to think about the benefits that they have today thanks to living in a free society. A couple of examples come to mind. The 60th anniversary...

Will broadband ever be a content medium?(Opinion)
July 1, 2004... People often ask me about all the great content they'll be able to get once they sign up for broadband. Sadly, other than faster downloads, today the exciting world of broadband consists largely of undersized music video clips, grainy movie...

Calling the shots: the joint venture between Sony and Ericsson gave Peter Marsden his biggest challenge so far: to get the new player into the top tier of mobile phone handset manufacturers.(Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB)
July 1, 2004... At a time when many mobile phone manufacturers have tacitly given up on their erstwhile aspirations to become content providers, Sony Ericsson MD Peter Marsden stands out from the crowd. He acknowledges that operators still want to control...

Inclarity.(Moves)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... Communications service provider Inclarity has appointed Sue Davidson as MD of its broadband telephony division. Davidson joins from MCl, the communications network, where she held senior positions including UK MD and VP of retail sales for...

One World Interactive.(Moves)(One World Interactive)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... One World Interactive, the global premium access and billing company, has announced that CEO Nigel Tatlock has resigned. The Atlas Telecom Interactive board, the sole shareholder of One World Interactive, has appointed Mike Neville as interim...

Panlogic.(Moves)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... Digital agency Panlogic has appointed designer Mark Howard to its technical Web-build team. Mark was previously an HTML designer at Matinee. Clare Jayne has also joined Panlogic asa senior account manager, having previously worked at Espotting...

Orange.(Moves)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... Orange has appointed three senior marketing executives. Alexis Dormandy has been promoted to the newly created role of chief marketing officer, while Shaun Orpen joins as business marketing director. Angela Hall takes the post of director of...

mBlox.(Moves)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... Gary Cuccio has joined mobile messaging infrastructure service provider mBlox as CEO. He will lead the company's senior management team. Cuccio has over three decades of experience in the telecommunications industry, having spent 27 years at...

Inspired Broadcast Networks.(Moves)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... Inspired Broadcast Networks, provider of digital entertainment and broadband services to consumers in public places, has taken on Matthew Porter as director of digital assets. He will focus on taking the company's digital product range into...

OTPmedia.(Moves)(OTPmedia)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... OTPmedia, the online marketing agency, has appointed Lisa Middleton, who joins from MediaCom North, as account manager for reference and sports web sites. Jonathan Watts joins as account manager for entertainment sites, working with clients...

Alternative Networks.(Moves)(Alternative Networks)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... Independent business telecoms service provider Alternative Networks has recruited former Vodafone senior manager Jason Rigby as commercial director. He will be responsible for driving development, implementation and management of supplier...

Reaching for the stars: with years of work invested in building an online audience, Hello! is confident that it can see off any challenges from rivals in the celebrity gossip market.(Strategic Play Hello!)
July 1, 2004... The celebrity craze is here to stay. In fact, it's pretty hard to visit a newsstand without being slightly overwhelmed by the latest news from the Big Brother house, footballers' off-duty activities or the goings on of minor European royalty....

State of the union: Erkki Liikanen, European Commissioner for enterprise and information society, is leaving his job to become governor of the Bank of Finland. Having spent five years in Brussels, he spoke to NMA about Europe, broadband, fighting spam and global competition.(Interview)
July 1, 2004... Erkki Liikanen is something of a career politician. First elected to the Finnish Parliament in 1972 at the rather tender age of 21, he became Minister of Finance in 1987 before moving on to the Foreign Office in 1990. Since then he's been...

It's what's inside that counts: broadband providers are starting to acknowledge it's not the technology itself that will sell but what's available through it. But can, or indeed should, ISPs be transforming themselves into providers of entertainment?
July 1, 2004... "We have to blur the boundaries between broadband access and entertainment. As an industry, we need to stop thinking about what technology's doing and focus on how the consumer is experiencing it." This statement by Andrew Burke, director...

Make the most of the medium: last year Yahoo! called for an improvement in the standard of creativity in online advertising. Have things picked up?(NMA Advertising)
July 1, 2004... JULIET BLACKBURN Head of digital, AAR There's a small percentage of clients that make significant investment in online advertising and some of the best work is delivered for them. They're committed to this medium and are requiring highly...

Neil Hughston, head of client services, Tribal DDB London.(Ad Watch)
July 1, 2004... As footie fans sat nervously at their desks wondering if it had gone to penalties, there was some light relief in the form of Euro 2004-themed viral games. So, who was worthy of the championship title and who should have stayed on Hackney...

Weighing up the ways to measure: does a new ratings-based scheme for measuring online ads bring us closer to a single currency?
July 1, 2004... As the online medium grows up, there's increased clamour for it to have a grown-up measurement system. The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA) in the UK, along with their counterparts around...

Top ten new campaigns May 2004.
July 1, 2004... Data supplied by Nielsen//NetRatings LemondAd 1 DELL CLIENT/ENTERPRISE SOLUTIONS Advertiser: Dell Timing: 8 January-15 June 2004 Placement: Brand Republic, BT Openworld, Crash.net, Friends Reunited, iCircle, ITV, Loot, MSN,...

Top ten viral campaigns 15 May-15 June 2004.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... 1 VIRGIN MOBILE Xtina Exposed Creative: RKCR/Y&R Planner/buyer: DMC 2 VIRGIN Tollet Humour Creative: RKCR/Y&R Planner/buyer: DMC 3 BT BROADBAND Where Did The Time Go? Creative: Agency.com 4...

Gadfly.
July 1, 2004... As far as armchair enthusiast Gadfly can tell, 2004's summer of English sport seems well on course for the usual less-than-stellar results. With our football hopes smashed by the dreaded spectre of a penalty shootout, telco firm Viatel must now...

Next week.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... Calls to order What effect is 3G likely to have on the Government's increasing take-up of mobile services? Blog on the Tyne New media is making a significant contribution to the ongoing economic regeneration of Newcastle Watching paint...

Chris Dipple Technical director, SECPay.(SECPay)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... CHRIS DIPPLE Technical director, SECPay What role does SECPay play in e-commerce? We're a payment service provider. We offer an infrastructure for merchants to take payments securely online and reduce fraudulent transactions on their sites....

Diary.(Calendar)
July 1, 2004... 6 JULY 2004 * Web Accessibility: Best Practice and The Law London 0131 220 8213 uservision.co.uk 6-7 JULY 2004 * International Design for Engagability Conference Birmingham 0121 331 7870 user-lab.com 7-8 JULY 2004 * The...

Arne Maynard.(site of the week)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... site of the week arne-maynard.com Owner: Arne Maynard Agency: Preloaded Content 20/25 Usability 17/25 Branding 20/25 Monetisation 15/25 Total 72/100 ...