New Media Age articles from March 2008

New Media Age archives from March 2008

Tesco plans mobile retail move following pilot test.(Brief article)
March 6, 2008... Tesco is drawing up plans to become the first supermarket to launch grocery retailing on mobile, following two test campaigns. The world's third biggest retailer undertook two separate trials last month that allowed consumers to order...

BT Vision to become transactional.(Brief article)
March 6, 2008... BT Vision plans to launch a retail service through its IPTV platform by the end of the year. The service, in development, is part of a strategy by BT Vision to exploit the platform's interactive opportunities and enable customers to...

Publishers flag latest ad network misconduct.
March 6, 2008... Publishers have voiced serious concerns over reports that ad networks are tagging ads without publishers' knowledge. The practice allows ad networks to gain data from publisher sites without buying inventory. More than one British ad...

C4 Education launches first fruit of cross-platform remit.(Brief article)
March 6, 2008... Channel 4 Education has today (Thursday) launched the first project under its new cross-platform remit: an alternative reality game. Bow Street Runner is a Flash-based adventure game and is part of Channel 4's City of Vice drama series. The...

Developer of leading social network apps comes to UK.(Brief article)
March 6, 2008... Slide, the developer of the top four applications in the social networking space, is to target the UK market. The US company has appointed Monetise to broker ads across its apps and widgets, which are used by up to 143m social networkers....

Riddell leaves O2 for Nokia content role.(Grahame Riddell appointed at O2 Ltd.,)(Brief article)
March 6, 2008... Grahame Riddell, head of strategic content partnerships at O2, is leaving to work for Nokia. Riddell, who joined BT Cellnet in 1993, is set to leave O2 at the end of March. He's understood to be heading for the Communities division of...

RSPCA seeks digital specialists to assist in restart of online strategy.(Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals)(Brief article)
March 6, 2008... The RSPCA is to overhaul its web presence as the charity looks to focus its fundraising on digital and prepares to pitch for swathes of its online work, with a "multi-million-pound" online marketing budget on offer. The charity has...

Yahoo! in deal with 3 to extend lead in UK mobile space.(Brief article)
March 6, 2008... Yahoo! has struck a mobile display ad deal with operator 3 in the UK as it bids to extend its lead in the space. The internet giant will now represent 3's inventory, which attracts around 1m unique users a month. Previously 3's head of...

WPP chief blames operators for poor take-up of mobile ads.(Brief article)
March 6, 2008... Sir Martin Sorrell, CEO of WPP, has launched a savage attack on the major operators for failing to push the potential of mobile advertising. He blamed the operators for failing to collaborate in order to develop the ad market rapidly. ...

Major music labels sign to ad-funded site.(Brief article)
March 6, 2008... Major record labels EMI, Sony BMG and Universal Music have agreed a deal with MusicMakesFriends.com to offer their entire digital catalogues on the ad-supported site. The pan-European community allows premium members, who pay #7 a month,...

News International forms monthly mobile site measurement initiative.(Brief article)
March 6, 2008... News International Newspapers is rounding up some of the top mobile site publishers in an attempt to present advertisers with a consistent measurement tool. The Leadership in Mobile initiative will offer media agencies access to...

Vodafone plans four ad-funded alerts to boost display revenue.(Brief article)
March 6, 2008... Vodafone is to launch four ad-funded MMS newsletters from April featuring content from publishers, including Emap. Picture and video newsletters for automotive, entertainment, games and technology will be offered to subscribers who have...

Metacafe attempts to shake off UGC tag.(Brief article)
March 6, 2008... Video-sharing site Metacafe is looking to reposition itself as an entertainment content provider, shaking off the user-generated content tag. CEO Erick Hachenburg said the site wants to focus on offering users the best in short-form...

Eurosport to make digital a key focus.(Brief article)
March 6, 2008... Eurosport is to ramp up its focus on digital following its most successful online campaign to date, the broadcaster has said. The company said that high click-through rates for its rich-media ads for the African Cup of Nations and the...

Future redefines online model to offer targeted ads across network.(Brief article)
March 6, 2008... Future Publishing has redefined its online business model to offer targeted online advertising across its network of sites for the first time. As part of its new business model, the special-interest publisher - which has 70 websites...

GameJacket offers ad revenue to Flash game developers.(Brief article)
March 6, 2008... GameJacket, an in-game ad network for Flash games, has launched. The company, which has secured anonymous private equity, specialises in providing pre-roll ad space for Flash games to increase revenues for game developers and games...

DailyMotion targets UK market and appoints Kate Burns as MD.(appointment of Kate Burns at DailyMotion )(Brief article)
March 6, 2008... DailyMotion has appointed former Google UK director Kate Burns as its first UK MD, as the video-sharing site launches an assault on the British market. The French-owned company is to significantly ramp up its UK offering in 2008,...

Legal & General to sponsor investor show.(Brief article)
March 6, 2008... Legal & General will sponsor online investor programme iBall as part of a digital campaign to target premium investors. The campaign, by Carat Digital, includes pre-roll and post-roll ads and sponsorship placements around the programme,...

JVC kicks off digital football game in good time for UEFA Euro 2008.(Brief article)
March 6, 2008... JVC has rolled out a digital marketing campaign ahead of this summer's UEFA Euro 2008 tournament, for which it's a sponsor. The electronics giant is using an interactive football game, called Euroball, to promote its partnership with Euro...

BlinkBox updates film content offer with interactive features.(Brief article)
March 6, 2008... BlinkBox, the online film and TV site, has launched a range of interactive features on the beta site ahead of its full launch in April. The site, which features premium film and TV content, enables users to buy, rent or watch content...

Premier Inn makes international move.(Brief article)
March 6, 2008... Premier Inn is launching a global site to support its expansion via a series of international hotels. The hotel chain plans to open 80 hotels across the Middle East and India from late March. Marketing agency GT, which manages the...

ILike to take on MySpace Music on social network's own territory.(Brief article)
March 6, 2008... US-based social music company iLike is looking to emulate the success of its application on Bebo, Facebook and Hi5 by featuring on MySpace, going up against the network's own music service. Ali Partovi, CEO of the company, said it was...

Maverick Television develops VoD site for Science Week.(Video on Demand)(Brief article)
March 6, 2008... Maverick Television has partnered with the University of Warwick to develop a new video-on-demand site for Science Week. Ideasforlife.tv aims to take advantage of the growing take-up of online video among teenagers. The site is...

Hunter Boot plans first etail site to cash in on summer festivals.(Brief article)
March 6, 2008... Hunter Boot is to launch its first transactional website next month, in time for the start of the summer festival season. The Edinburgh-based company, famous for its wellington boots, is understood to have partnered with Glastonbury...

Match.com trials video despite rival's warning.(Brief article)
March 6, 2008... Match.com has begun trialling video on its site in the same week that rival DatingDirect admitted its video services had poor take-up. Match.com has commissioned VideoJug to make a series of video tutorials for members. Five branded...

VisitBritain and partners woo Irish to visit Northern England.(Brief article)
March 6, 2008... VisitBritain has launched a partnership-led site promoting Northern England to Irish visitors. The site centres around an interactive map of Northern England where users can click on locations in order to get more information on city...

Gaming sites good for targeting older women.
March 6, 2008... Digital gaming, with high levels of consumer involvement and engagement, can be an attractive brand advertising vehicle. Games are hugely varied, offering very diverse advertising opportunities, making it critical that marketers understand the...

Downloading digital music is still a niche activity for UK consumers.(Brief article)
March 6, 2008... Despite a wave of online download stores launching, such as Play.com and HMV.com, downloading music isn't a mainstream activity. Research by Ipsos Mori has found that, nearly four years after Apple launched its iTunes Music Store in June...

ANALYSIS: Majors move to confer value on every click.
March 6, 2008... With Microsoft announcing its Engagement Mapping tool and Google unveiling plans for a working group, the industry anticipates the end of the last-click model Microsoft and Google last week revealed their intentions to evolve the online...

COMMENT: Can Tesco bring new life to m-commerce?
March 6, 2008... As the UK's biggest retailer, Tesco changes every market it touches. For this it attracts awe and opprobrium in equal measure. But one thing is certain: it's only interested in doing something if it can do it big. By enabling it to...

What's more valuable: the idea or what you do with that idea?
March 6, 2008... Ideas are the stock in trade of our industry, the currency we measure ourselves against, the reason we get out of bed in the morning, the service we deliver to our clients, the race we're all involved in. The single-minded idea, the...

LETTER: No u-turn in Hearst's digital strategy.(Letter to the editor)
March 6, 2008... From Duncan Edwards, CEO, National Magazine Company Your front page story 'Hearst to shut down four websites in digital u- turn' (NMA 28.02.08) is inaccurate and confused. Hearst Digital, the digital division of the National Magazine...

LETTER: Facebook dip is more more than a blip.(Letter to the editor)
March 6, 2008... From Tom Gallagher, MD, Logicode Internet The insights in the latest NMA Podcast (29.02.08) into Facebook's drop in traffic were rather interesting. I'd have thought that it's also important to take note of external influences, such as...

OPINION: Social networkers start their shift into tighter communities.(Column)
March 6, 2008... Gone are the days of checking your Facebook account every two hours to see which ex-classmates have accepted your friend requests. So what if you haven't spoken to them for ten years, you still want to scour their profile page for signs of...

AD WATCH: British Heart Foundation takes junk food firmly off the menu.
March 6, 2008... This month's campaigns are a real mixed bag. I'll be looking at whether they're useful or entertaining, on the assumption that if you're either of these you're onto a winner. Let's start with the campaign from Honda....

AD WATCH: NMA CAMPAIGN OF THE MONTH.
March 6, 2008... Brief: Encourage children to think more about the food they eat and take responsibility for their health Formats: Campaign site, MPU Ad campaign Creative agency: Avenue A/Razorfish Creative director: Rob Lawrence Experience...

PROFILE - MATT LOCKE: Thinking young.(Occupation overview)
March 6, 2008... As Channel 4 Education shifts its commissioning budget from TV to all platforms, Matt Locke is looking for better ways to reach teenagers, he tells Danielle Long It takes real bravery for a TV broadcaster to take an entire commissioning...

CHINA: Eastern wisdom.
March 6, 2008... The Chinese government may restrict what people can access on the web, but that isn't stopping them expressing themselves in huge numbers, reports Elen Lewis All eyes will be focused on China during the Beijing Olympics this summer. As...

CHINA: Huge opportunities, and a few restrictions.
March 6, 2008... The digital world in China is staggering on many levels. First there's the sheer scale of the digital population, which is on the brink of overtaking the US as the largest in the world. At the end of last year, there were 210m internet...

NMA MOBILE: Driving the herd.
March 6, 2008... Affiliate marketing has become a huge industry online. What are its prospects on mobile, asks Andrew Darling Affiliate marketing has been one of the great growth stories of online marketing and is now a multi-billion-pound industry in the...

NMA MOBILE: Searching on mobile.(Brief article)
March 6, 2008... Search engine optimisation for mobile phones and handheld devices isn't very different from regular SEO. The most important element is ensuring that customers can view sites correctly on their wireless device. Mobile phone and handheld...

NMA MOBILE: Can internet players get more people using mobile content?
March 6, 2008... Internet players have dabbled in mobile for some time, but their efforts are intensifying as mobile data services become more usable. Executives from both Google and Yahoo! have talked of mobile as a key part of their future strategies....

NMA MOBILE: Teletext makes a smooth and smart transition onto mobile.
March 6, 2008... Agency: Eagle Eye Technology As Teletext is such a highly recognisable media brand within the UK, I was very interested to see how this traditional media company would approach the opportunities of mobile. In January it started including...

MOVES: CondeNet.(CondeNet to appoint Caroline Mastoras)(Brief article)
March 6, 2008... CondeNet UK, Conde Nast's interactive arm, has hired Caroline Mastoras as senior account manager on the client sales team. She joins from OMD Digital. Meanwhile, promotions project manager Sharon Ireland joins from BBH. Copyright:...

MOVES: Commission Junction.(Affiliate network to appoint Cheryl Ingram as UK client director)(Brief article)
March 6, 2008... Affiliate network Commission Junction has appointed Cheryl Ingram as UK client director. She joins from Microsoft Digital Advertising Solutions, where she was head of agency sales. Copyright: Centaur Communications Ltd. and licensors

MOVES: Sugar.(Digital communications agency Sugar to appoint Sophie Paulin)(Brief article)
March 6, 2008... Digital communications agency Sugar has taken on Sophie Paulin as digital account executive. She joins from brand consultancy Clear. Also, freelancers Bastien Schaeffer and Ryan Kidd have been recruited as digital designers. Copyright:...

MOVES: Carlson Marketing.(Carlson Marketing to appoint Adrian Ticehurst )(Brief article)
March 6, 2008... Agency Carlson Marketing has hired Adrian Ticehurst as programme director and Simon Long as technical development director. They join from TUI UK and PR Newswire respectively. Copyright: Centaur Communications Ltd. and licensors

MOVES: Twentysix Leeds.(Twentysix Leeds to appoint Paul Bulmer, Mike Golding and Anna Mawhinney )(Brief article)
March 6, 2008... Full service digital agency Twentysix Leeds has announced a series of appointments. Business manager Paul Bulmer joins from Mediabuzz, account director Mike Golding moves from M&C Saatchi, while Anna Mawhinney from Poulters starts becomes an...

MOVES: 50connect.(50connect to appoint Chris Lunn )(Brief article)
March 6, 2008... 50connect, a lifestyle portal aimed at the over-45s, has recruited Chris Lunn as operations manager. He was previously online marketing manager at Eteach.com, a job board for the education sector. Copyright: Centaur Communications Ltd. and...

MOVES: Daily Mail Online.(Daily Mail Online to appoint James Bromley )(Brief article)
March 6, 2008... Daily Mail Online has appointed James Bromley to the new position of general manager. For the past eight years he's been business development director at Auto Trader. Copyright: Centaur Communications Ltd. and licensors

MOVES: Blowfish.(B'lowfish Advertising to promote Anna Brunt )(Brief article)
March 6, 2008... Digital media agency Blowfish has promoted Anna Brunt from account director to director of business development, while account manager Lucy Holmes has taken the role of account director. Copyright: Centaur Communications Ltd. and licensors

MOVES: Front of Mind.(Front of Mind to appoint Kenneth Kawamoto, Paul Kennedy, Martin Shopland and Binal Shah )(Brief article)
March 6, 2008... Digital agency Front of Mind has appointed four senior recruits. Kenneth Kawamoto, former head designer at The Hub, joins as head of creative; senior web designer Paul Kennedy joins from Continuum Technologies; senior web developer Martin...

SITE INSPECTION: Shockwaves.(www.Styleattractplay.co.uk)(Website overview)
March 6, 2008... Styleattractplay.co.uk Owner Procter & Gamble Agency Airlock Content 15/25 Usabiility 13/25 Branding 13/25 Monetisation 14/25 Total 55/100 The problem faced by FMCG brands...

SITE INSPECTION: Indiefield.(www.Indiefield.co.uk)(Website overview)(Brief article)
March 6, 2008... Indiefield.co.uk Owner Independent Fieldwork Co. Agency in-house Content 17/25 Usabiility 17/25 Branding 10/25 Monetisation 8/25 Total 52/100 I'll admit I'm no expert on the...

SITE INSPECTION: Clinton Cards.(www.Clintoncards.co.uk)(Website overview)
March 6, 2008... Clintoncards.co.uk Owner Clinton Cards Agency Inferno Content 12/25 Usabiility 17/25 Branding 19/25 Monetisation 12/25 Total 50/100 High-street retailer Clinton Cards has...

FULFILMENT: Oli.co.uk.(www.oli.co.uk)(Website overview)(Brief article)
March 6, 2008... Founded Site and brand launched in 2007. Selection Women's, men's and children's fashion, homewares and audio-visual equipment. The majority of fashion is Oli branded, but there are designer ranges from the likes of Jodie Kidd,...

Football Pools make bet on digital for comeback.(Brief article)
March 13, 2008... The Football Pools - formerly the Littlewoods Pools - is to launch a digital offensive as it moves to reinvent itself as an online brand. The company has drafted in a raft of digital agencies ahead of the push this summer and aims to...

Publisher plans girls' virtual world.(HarperCollins Publishers Inc.)(Brief article)
March 13, 2008... By Luan Goldie HarperCollins is to roll out an ad-funded online interactive world aimed at 8-12-year-old girls. The News Corp-owned global book publisher is to launch Lola's Land, based on the popular children's books Think Pink and...

Affiliate networks draw up plans for blacklist.
March 13, 2008... Affiliate networks have proposed the creation of a collective blacklist of unethical affiliates. In a bid to improve the reputation of the #3bn sector, the plans would see networks sharing the lists of affiliates they have banned. ...

Babelgum aims for 3m weekly users by end of 2008.(Brief article)
March 13, 2008... Internet TV platform Babelgum is aiming to attract 2-3m weekly active users by the end of 2008. The platform, which had its commercial launch this week, aims to persuade 20-30m people to download the platform to a PC or Mac by the end of...

Miva moves into mobile space with Greenlight Wireless deal.(Brief article)
March 13, 2008... Miva Media is to serve pay-per-click ads on mobile for the first time following a deal with telecoms technology firm Greenlight Wireless. The company said that the move is its first play in its strategy to push into the mobile space. ...

Sky One uses Discworld drama to attract traffic to relaunched site.(British Sky Broadcasting Group PLC. Sky One)(Sky.com)(Brief article)
March 13, 2008... Sky One will use bespoke digital content in a major online marketing push to promote The Colour of Magic, the second adaptation of a Terry Pratchett's Discworld novel. The campaign also forms part of a concerted bid to grow visitors to...

Ford runs 'most extensive' online ads for new Kuga.(Ford Motor Co.)(rejecttheordinary.org)(Brief article)
March 13, 2008... Ford has rolled out its most extensive pre-launch online campaign to date ahead of the spring rollout of the Ford Kuga, its new 4X4 model. The car giant has launched a campaign site, rejecttheordinary.org, to promote the vehicle, as well...

BBC Worldwide partners with Ebay to push 'used only' goods.
March 13, 2008... BBC Worldwide has signed a partnership deal with auction website Ebay to promote 'used-only' goods across its new ethical living portal bbcgreen.com. The deal will see Ebay run ads across the portal, which launched this week, in a bid...

AOP to hold talks over suspect ad tagging.(Brief article)
March 13, 2008... The AOP is to hold talks on the issue of tagging websites without publishers' consent at its Commercial Working Group meeting in April. Bruce Daisley, chair of the group and Bauer Advertising digital sales director, said the issue would...

Dennis rolls out mobile TV channel for Monkey in first off-portal move.(Dennis Publishing )(Brief article)
March 13, 2008... Dennis Publishing has launched a mobile TV version of Monkey, its free weekly men's e-zine. If it's successful, Dennis will consider similar mobile TV propositions for its other magazine brands, such as Maxim. Working with mobile...

Nissan plans digital-focused campaign for launch of Infiniti.
March 13, 2008... Nissan is launching what it claims is its most digitally focused campaign to date for the launch of its luxury car brand Infiniti across Europe. The soft-launch of the brand at this week's Geneva Motor Show will focus on digital buzz...

Easter kids' movies link up with Piczo.(Brief article)
March 13, 2008... Two of the biggest Easter weekend film releases are to use teenage social network Piczo in their marketing. UK-specific sites have been created within Piczo for 20th Century Fox's Horton Hears A Who and Paramount Pictures' adventure The...

Comparethemarket runs integrated ads across Virgin Radio.
March 13, 2008... Comparethemarket.com, the car insurance comparison website, has launched an integrated campaign across Virgin Radio's on-air and online properties. The campaign features ads across the Virgin Radio website and during its programming, as...

Endsleigh appoints Inbox to give brand increased online presence.(Brief article)
March 13, 2008... Endsleigh, the independent insurance and financial products intermediary, has appointed digital agency Inbox to develop its brand identity and strategy for both online and offline media. Inbox will handle strategic brand development to help...

HSBC uses digital to sponsor Chinese art exhibition at V&A.(Brief article)
March 13, 2008... HSBC is to launch a digital campaign to support its sponsorship of the China Design Now exhibition at London's Victoria & Albert museum. The digital activity, which was created by digital agency RMG Connect, is part of a wider campaign...

Times Online to build property focus via joint site with Globrix.(Brief article)
March 13, 2008... The Times Online is to put further focus on the property sector following the launch of a specialist site it has developed with property search engine Globrix. Globrix, which provides estate agents with free listings on the search engine,...

Lifestyle social network seeks sponsors.(Brief article)
March 13, 2008... Lifestyle social network Three's A Crowd is seeking brands as sponsorship partners. The site, which positions itself as on online glossy magazine, has celebrity socialite Tara Palmer-Tomkinson as a director. It has signed an exclusive...

Dateline unveils online service to rival DatingDirect and Match.com.(Brief article)
March 13, 2008... Dateline has launched an online dating site to rival market leaders DatingDirect and Match.com. Dateline, which has been operating in the UK for more than 40 years, is best known for offering one-to-one personal matches. The company...

Fairtrade Foundation revamps site as public tunes in to plight.(Brief article)
March 13, 2008... The Fairtrade Foundation has overhauled its web presence in the wake of this year's Fairtrade Fortnight. The charity has relaunched its site to reflect the increased public interest in Fairtrade products, as well as to provide an...

Family history site appoints Unanimis.(Brief article)
March 13, 2008... Family and social history site Ancestry.co.uk has appointed sales house Unanimis to handle its online sales. In addition to banner ads, it will be seeking sponsors and partners for the site, which enables members to discover their family...

Greenpeace boosts online activity after success of anti-whaling drive.(Greenpeace International)(Brief article)
March 13, 2008... Greenpeace International is planning to boost its online crusade against whaling with the launch of an online presence dedicated to its Save the Whales campaign. The environmental organisation plans to launch a site for Mr Splashy Pants,...

Sports specialist sales house No.9 Media wins new clients.(Brief article)
March 13, 2008... No.9 Media, the sport specialist digital media sales house start-up, has won three clients: football.co.uk, foot-boots.com, and hattrick.org. The three sports sites will now be represented by No. 9 Media, which was set up by former UK...

Clipstar video site appoints I-Spy Search.(Brief article)
March 13, 2008... Clipstar, the video sharing community site and online talent contest, has appointed I-Spy Search to manage its search campaigns. Clipstar, which launched at the end of 2007, is an ad-funded site with a $1m (#495,000) annual prize for the...

B&Q turns to email to engage its customers.(appointment of James Davey at B and Q PLC)(Brief article)
March 13, 2008... B&Q is to place email marketing at the centre of its online strategy in a bid to communicate with customers on an individual level. B&Q's recently appointed head of online marketing James Davey said email would form a core part of the DIY...

Oodle to run classified ads on Bauer parenting site Askamum.(Brief article)
March 13, 2008... Bauer Consumer Media, formerly Emap's consumer division, has signed a deal with classified ads site Oodle to provide its service for new mum's portal Askamum. Askamum was launched last year as the online presence of parenting magazines...

Mobile marketing held back by technology.(Survey)
March 13, 2008... After years of simmering on the back burner, mobile marketing seems to have reached boiling point. Advertisers are keener than ever to leverage what they see as a personalised, uncluttered ad platform; mobile operators and handset...

Email marketing proves to be best channel for driving website visits.(Survey)(Brief article)
March 13, 2008... Email marketing is the most effective ad technique to encourage users to go online and consider purchasing, according to research by data services company Response One. The study - which examined the effectiveness of different ad media...

ANALYSIS: Another example of the need for transparency.
March 13, 2008... The industry agrees that tagging ads without publishers' knowledge is bad practice. But without guidelines, who's responsible for stamping it out? Last week NMA uncovered further misconduct in the online ad industry, as signs of ad...