New Media Age articles from May 2003

New Media Age archives from May 2003

Ad tool trials bring iTV standard within reach.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... The iTV advertising industry has taken a big step towards getting the content production standard it needs for the medium to really take off. Interactive Digital Sales, the sales house responsible for the Flex-tech and UKTV channels, has...

Channel 4 adds data capture to Big Brother iTV.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... This year's Big Brother will for the first time have a 'big brother' element of its own with Channel 4 bringing in a data capture element to iTV services based on the new series. The broadcaster will today unveil the format and concepts...

Portals to cut back on free email in spam attack.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Free email services could be ditched by some of the largest Web players, as part of a unified attack on spam. The three online giants, America Online, Microsoft and Yahoo, have said that they'll work together to develop ways of blocking...

CitizenCard warns sites of name-and-shame tactics.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... The government-backed photo ID scheme CitizenCard has warned that it will name and shame Web sites that refuse to be accredited by its interactiveAgeCheck scheme. The non-profit organisation hopes its online age and ID verification service...

Kiss 100 rolls out second phase of Hey Sexy strategy.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Radio station Kiss 100 is rolling out its latest major SMS campaign next month. The 'I love London' campaign is the next phase of the station's Hey Sexy mobile marketing strategy. Launching at the beginning of June, the campaign will be...

Lastminute to move onto iTV.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Lastminute.com is weeks away from making its first serious move into iTV by launching a retail service on the Sky platform. The company wouldn't give any details, but a Sky spokesman said it would launch a dedicated service, rather than be...

Associated New Media ups focus on paid-for content.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Associated New Media, the digital publishing division of Associated Newspapers, is upping its focus on paid-for online content following the appointment of Andrew Hart--former CEO of Ask Jeeves UK & Ireland and ex-MD of Sunday Business--as its...

Halifax creates site for cast of Bollywood TV ad.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Halifax Bank of Scotland has launched a Web campaign to back its current Bollywood-themed TV push for its personal loans products. For the TV ad, Howard Brown--the manager who has featured in HBOS ads for the past two years--and a band of...

Grokster turns attention to UK after US court win.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Grokster, the peer-to-peer network service, has reiterated its ambition to launch in the UK and Europe following a ruling in the US which ratifies it as a legal service. Last weekend's decision agreed with Grokster and co-defendant...

Sportingbet confirms takeover talks.
May 1, 2003... Sportingbet has confirmed it's being eyed-up for a takeover by an unnamed bidder, as consolidation activity among online bookmakers appears to be increasing. The company has been in talks to help fund a *30m payment due in September to the...

Aspect Group expected to name takeover target. (Breaking).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Aspect Group was expected to announce the takeover of a listed new media agency, which could double its size, as NMA was going to press. It will be the first deal since the technical agency said it was on the hunt for takeover targets earlier...

Ministry of Sound launches new site with legal downloads. (Breaking).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Ministry of Sound's relaunched Web site was going live as NMA went to press. The new site offers almost 100,000 tracks for legal download and will deliver over 1.5m audio and video streams per month. Consumers will be able to purchase music to...

iFone commissions Babel Media for games testing. (Breaking).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Global wireless entertainment publisher iFone has commissioned outsourcing games specialist Babel Media to undertake functionality and localisation testing on its catalogue of mobile games. The catalogue includes games such as Monopoly and...

Nomensa MD to co-chair Digital Content Forum group. (In Brief).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Simon Norris, MD of digital design company Nomensa, has been appointed co-chair of the Digital Content Forum's newly formed Industry Action Group for Web Standards. The group is made up of 20 members from across the public and private sectors...

Orange adds 1,000 customers as it pushes contract accounts. (In Brief).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Orange managed to add just 1,000 new customers overall in the UK in the first quarter of the year. As it continued to move its customer base from pre-pay to contract accounts, the company added 54,000 contract tariffs but lost 53,000 pre-pay...

Skipton Building Society launches mortgage microsite. (In Brief).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Skipton Building Society has launched an online campaign, through agency iJack Communications, targeting first-time buyers with its mortgage products. It's launched a microsite, firsttimenerves.co.uk, featuring an interactive tool which is...

ValueClick reports second quarter of profitability. (In Brief).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Digital marketing company ValueClick, which reported its second consecutive quarter of profitability on Friday (25 April), says its European business represents an increasing proportion of its revenue. US-based ValueClick, which didn't give...

Time Out takes first step into online subscriptions.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Time Out has taken the first in a series of steps planned for this year to introduce online subscriptions. From this week it will offer visitors to timeout.com unrestricted online access to its London Eating & Drinking Guide for an annual...

Lycos gets round company restrictions with IM service.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Lycos UK has launched a Web-based instant messaging (IM) service which it claims will side-step measures taken by employers to block at-work use of chat services. The service, which allows users to speak to MSN and Yahoo! IM users, is...

Habbo users hit by One.Tel charges.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... One.Tel, the telephone firm owned by the UK's utility business Centrica, has been accused of overcharging its customers for premium rate phone calls. The online gaming site Habbo Hotel has been inundated with complaints from One.Tel...

Nielsen and Red Sheriff in battle.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... The battle for supremacy between the online audience measurement companies is hotting up this month. Nielsen//NetRatings is set to launch its MegaPanel in the UK on Friday next week (9 May), offering advertiser clients bespoke, detailed...

Egg plans biggest ad push following EHS Brann tie-up.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Egg is planning to spend [pounds sterling]1m on its biggest online marketing campaign since the bank's launch. The campaign is part of an overall [pounds sterling]7m spend across the Internet, TV and print media, and is the first fruit of...

Novartis takes on Flytxt to provide SMS pollen alerts.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Novartis Consumer Health is launching an SMS-based pollen alert to promote its hayfever remedies. The company, which produces Aller-eze nasal spray and eye drops, is working with mobile marketing agency Flytxt to produce the service,...

Agency Republic entices two directors from Ogilvy.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Agency Republic, the marketing communications agency, has poached two creative directors from rival agency OgilvyInteractive. James Cooper and Pierre Odenaal, who have been at Ogilvy-Interactive for the past two years, join Agency Republic...

In-fuslo brings 'South Park' to mobile.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Characters from Comedy Central's South Park will make their first appearance on mobile phones this summer, with mobile games company In-fusio winning the licence to provide games based on the show. Under the agreement, In-fusio will offer a...

Winona eSolutions to develop London Film Festival site. (In Brief).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Winona eSolutions has been appointed to develop the site for this year's London Film Festival following a six-way pitch. The new site will include a searchable database that covers the programme of over 200 feature film premieres and 70 shorts...

More Than runs microsite to support offline ad campaign. (In Brief).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... More Than, part of the Royal & Sun Alliance insurance group, has launched a microsite to support its current offline ad campaign. The company is running a marketing campaign on TV, cinema and billboards. The new site contains prizes based on...

Challenge launches Flash ad for 'Celebrity Addicts'. (In Brief).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Flextech games channel Challenge has launched a Flash-based TV ad for to promote its new interactive quiz series Celebrity Addicts. The ad, developed by Kerb, is currently running on Challenge as well as other Flextech channels including Bravo,...

E-primefinancial abandons plans for online bank in US. (In Brief).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... E-primefinancial has abandoned plans to open an online bank in the US after admitting it wouldn't be able to raise enough money to satisfy the regulatory authorities there. The company was trying to raise up to $30m ([pounds sterling]18.8m) to...

Isle of Man plans relaxing of rules to lure e-casinos.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... The Isle of Man government is in talks with casino operators about ways in which it can relax its rules for online casinos, in a bid to entice more operators to the island. At the moment just three of a possible 12 licences are up and...

VisitBritain site calls on English to see England.(Visitbritain.com )(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... VisitBritain, the body created by the recent merger of the British Tourist Authority and the English Travel Council, has launched a new site promoting England to the English. Visitengland.com was created by Euro RSCG Circle, which, although...

HMV farms out running of American site to Amazon.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... HMV is now making a profit on all of its online properties after signing a deal with Amazon to run its North American site, HMV.com. The deal mirrors the arrangement between HMV's Waterstone's site in the UK, which Amazon also runs,...

Amazon UK to extend product range.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Amazon UK has revealed plans to extend its selection of products and build on the success of its free-delivery promotion. The music and books e-tailer launched a new range of kitchen and home electrical goods at the start of April, and has...

Diary.
May 1, 2003... 1 May 2003 Managing a New Media & Technology Business in a Wild Market Brighton 01273 666830 wiredsussex.com Pornography to Digital Piracy: Managing the Legal and Business Risk of the E-enabled Employee London ...

Autonomy sees revenues drop by 15% over past year. (Finance).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Search technology company Autonomy has seen revenues decline 15% over the past year. In the quarter to 31 March 2003, the Cambridge-based company had revenues of $12m ([pounds sterling]7.5m), down 15% from the same period of 2002. Net profits...

Internet Business Group makes major dent in losses. (Finance).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Online services firm Internet Business Group cut its losses significantly last year. The company made a pre-tax loss of [pounds sterling]537,000 on turnover of [pounds sterling]1.4m in the year to 31 October 2002, compared to a loss of [pounds...

Overture cuts predicted growth rate for this year. (Finance).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Search marketing firm Overture has cut its predicted growth rate for this year, citing lower than expected US revenues, high traffic acquisition costs and increased technology spending. The company said it will increase its revenues by 50% this...

World Careers Network reports first profits. (Finance).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... World Careers Network has made its first profits in the six months to 31 January. The online HR solutions company made a pretax profit of [pounds sterling]31,082 in the period, compared to a loss of [pounds sterling]100,000 in the same period...

Amadeus backs system to open up telco networks.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Cambridge-based VC Amadeus Capital Partners has made its first new investment of the year, backing a Belfast company whose technology could force incumbent telcos to open up their networks more. AePona has raised [euro]11.5m ([pounds...

Redbus Interhouse hit by shareholder criticism.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Redbus Interhouse has been criticised by one of its largest shareholders for the amount of money it spent on an abandoned fundraising attempt. The co-location company spent [pounds sterling]400,000 on professional advice on raising up to...

Egg shells out more funds for France.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Egg has promised to increase investment in its French operations by [euro]140m ([pounds sterling]97m) and has suspended any further international expansion. The online bank admitted last week that France was proving to be more difficult...

Futuremedia raises [pounds sterling]1.1m to aid expansion.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... E-Learning solutions provider Futuremedia has raised more funding to help with its international expansion, and made two investments of its own. The London-based company raised $1.8m ([pounds sterling]1.1.m) through a sale of shares to...

Microsoft to add fingerprint technology into windows.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Fingerprint authentication technology will be integrated into Microsoft's Windows Server 2003, to improve the authentication process for Internet applications. This is the first time that Microsoft has incorporated biometric-based...

Endeca refines search engine.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Internet search company Endeca has released version 3.5 of its Navigation Engine, which allows users to tailor searches according to their preferred products or suppliers. The search engine can navigate its way around more than 225 file...

Macrovision to license CD copy-protection software.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Anti-piracy firm Macrovision has agreed to license its Windows CD copy-protection technology to Microsoft in the hope that record companies will pilot dual-session CDs. The Windows digital rights management technology uses encrypted MP3...

Eckoh inns voice service for Wyevale.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Eckoh Technologies has launched an interactive voice recognition service for Wyevale Garden Centres, to remove the need for call centres. Speech recognition technology will be used to provide a garden centre locater and information line...

Nokia develops MMS-enabled surveillance camera. (Technology).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Nokia is developing a surveillance camera that can send photos directly to a mobile phone. The Observation Camera is wall mounted, and uses machine-to-machine (M2M) technology so that it can communicate with a mobile phone. The camera is...

Lateral Arts ports Simkin script language to Symbian. (Technology).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Lateral Arts has ported the open source scripting language Simkin to the mobile operating system Symbian. Simkin will allow applications running on Symbian to be scripted using XML. Symbian is the industry standard operating system for advanced...

Sun Microsystems develops privacy software for workers. (Technology).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Sun Microsystems is developing virtual identity software that will enable employees to screen incoming telephone calls, emails and instant messages. The Virsona technology will allow people to maintain their privacy at work while maintaining a...

West End to gain Wi-Fi in Westminster 46 project. (Technology).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... London's West End is be given blanket Wi-Fl coverage next month when 802.11b smart boxes are installed in Soho. The scheme has been dubbed the Westminster 4G project and will provide wireless networking via handheld terminals for council...

Digerati builds Cafe Met site for Arla Foods. (Agencies).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Digerati builds Cafe Met site for Aria Foods Digerati, digital arm of Manchester ad agency BDH\TB WA, has designed and built a new site for Aria Foods as part of a [pounds]1 .5m ad push for its milk drink Cafe Met. The site will focus on...

Moonfish completes work on Silentnight microsite. (Agencies).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Manchester-based interactive agency Moonfish has completed work on a new promotional microsite for Silentnight Beds. The site supports an above-the-line push to launch the bed manufacturer s new range of products designed exclusively for...

Random Media creates site for Battersea Power Station. (Agencies).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Random Media has completed a site which unveils the next phase of development at Battersea Power Station. The site shows the progress to date and the vision for the future. Random Media began work for Parkview International, which owns the...

Agency Wins.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Design and build agency Precedent has won the deal to redesign the site for shopping centre Bluewater following a seven-way pitch. The agency aims to strike a balance between information and inspiration in the new design, encouraging people to...

EHS Brann enters Mexico and builds up Spanish arm.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Havas-owned full service agency EHS Brann continues its worldwide expansion with new offices opening in Mexico this week. The Mexican agency launched on the back of EHS Brann's '3D' proposition, which encompasses digital, direct mail and...

Tequila boosts digital arm to meet online demands.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Communications agency Tequila\ London is expanding its digital department in response to a rise in demand for online work from clients. The agency has found that its route to clients is increasingly via online work, which then flows into...

TLG Interactive renamed Red Tag IM.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Cirencester-based Web marketing agency TLG Interactive has become Red Tag TM, following a rebranding of direct marketing agency TLG Marketing as Red Tag DM. The agency works alongside Red Tag DM and it was from their combined operational...

mOne to staff up UK office in wake of merger.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Recently merged digital media agency mOne Worldwide is taking on new staff for its UK office. The agency--a 50:50 joint venture between Ogilvy One Worldwide and MindShare Worldwide, setup early last month--has 30 staff in the UK. Its...

Lloyds to push insurance brands via Ask Jeeves deal.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Banking group Lloyds TSB is continuing to push its Web insurance brands to search engines by renewing a six-figure deal with Ask Jeeves. The campaign aims to push Lloyds' online insurance services screentrade.co.uk and insurance.co.uk to...

BMG launches Web-only push for 'Matrix' single.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Music group BMG is launching a Web-only ad push to back a single from the upcoming Matrix Reloaded. The campaign was orchestrated by Digital Media Communications and will use a modified QuickTime player to promote the release of Rob...

Nike involves audience at Freestyle Face-Off event.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Nike is to use new mobile technology M2base to allow audience participation at its Freestyle Face-Off event. The M2base setup uses a box which interfaces with big screen or projection systems to let members of the audience interact during...

Qinetiq sees queries rise with ad push.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Science thinktank QinetiQis claiming a leap in business following its online 'Test Us' campaign, in which it asked companies to approach it with difficult technical problems. The firm saw 76,000 hits to its microsite, built by Arnold...

Zingo launches London ad campaign for taxi service. (Marketing).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Zingo, the mobile-based taxi hailing service, is launching a [pounds sterling]2m ad campaign across London this week. The company said targeted SMS messages will be a key part of the push, encouraging late-night passengers and women travelling...

MP3.com takes on Ambergreen for search marketing push. (Marketing).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Online music service MP3.com has appointed agency Ambergreen to run a new search engine marketing campaign. The agency will run a campaign for each of the six national sites within the MP3.com Europe group, including the UK, France, Germany and...

Virgin Atlantic to sponsor Gay.com Pride channel. (Marketing).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Virgin Atlantic has struck a sponsorship deal with Gay.com to push its premium economy flights to gay and lesbian travellers. Virgin will run ads on the Pride channel of the site, which lists a calendar of gay pride events around the world, in...

Ebay patent trial begins. (International).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... A patent case against Ebay, which could result in it paying a crippling $100m ([pounds sterling]63m) in damages, began last week. A Virginia-based lawyer brought the case against the auction giant, claiming that the technology on which it...

Google buys Applied Semantics. (International).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Search engine Google last week acquired fellow Californian Web advertising firm Applied Semantics for an undisclosed sum. The deal is expected to boost Google's targeted search marketing capabilities. Google will retain the Applied Semantics...

KPN completes Planet Internet Belgium sale. (International).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Dutch telco KPN has completed the sale of its Belgian ISP Planet Internet Belgium to fellow Dutch company Scarlet Telecom. All 135 employees of Planet Internet Belgium now work for Scarlet, which also gains a subscriber base of 140,000 as part...

Yahoo! Japan ADSL take-up fuels profit increase. (International).(2003)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Yahoo! Japan attributed its strong end-of-year results to the growth of its broadband Web access offer. The company initially struggled to get ADSL off the ground but figures for the year ending 31 March 2003 showed it's now Japan's market...

Empower enters US with InphoMatch platform deal.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... British wireless messaging firm Empower Interactive has struck its first US deal, securing a contract with one of the US's top SMS and MMS interoperability players. Empower has been taken on by InphoMatch to supply the platform that forms...

Belgium first to launch third-party premium SMS.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Belgium has become the first country to see the launch of true third-party premium MMS content. Netsize has secured what it says is Europe's first direct third-party MMS operator connection, with Proximus in Belgium. It can thus let third...

Wanadoo France reworks structure.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... France Telecom ISP Wanadoo is restructuring to boost its position in Europe and speed up growth, which Q1 figures this week showed is being driven by broadband take-up. Wanadoo France will follow its other global operations and integrate...

Big names continue to win most visitors to their sites.(according to Hitwise survey)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... The Internet's biggest brands are still the major draw for UK surfers, according to a survey of sites visited in the first quarter of 2003. The poll from online information service Hitwise saw big names like lastminute.com, amazon.co.uk...

Huge rise in UK users puts Ebay in front of Amazon.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Ebay's UK site has overtaken Amazon as the number-one e-commerce site for British Internet users. Figures from Nielsen//NetRatings show that the site has been steadily increasing its audience over the last six months. Since March 2002,...

Technology now a cinch say CEOs.(TechMark-listed companies survey done by PricewaterhouseCoopers)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... More than half of the CEOs of TechMark-listed companies say technology is no longer a challenge. While just 2% of those questioned said that innovation and technological progress in their sectors was one of the biggest challenges facing...

IT firms switch to running their own customer events. (Trends).(Brief Article)(Industry Overview)
May 1, 2003... The IT sector is shifting its marketing spend to its own one-off events in a bid to schmooze new and existing customers. A survey by event marketing company GPJ found that 38% of marketing directors expected their event marketing budgets to...

Privacy top concern for quarter of Web users. (Trends).(according to KPMG report)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Fear over privacy of personal information is the top concern of online shoppers, says a recent KPMG report. A quarter of the 2,076 adult Web users surveyed believed this was the biggest problem and would put them off using the Internet to make...

Companies must switch call centres to IP-based systems. (Trends).(Brief Article)(Industry Overview)
May 1, 2003... The number of IP-based call centres is set to treble over the next four years as companies are forced to switch from their existing telephony systems. At the moment, just 4% of call centres in North America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa...

Can Sky Plus resolve its teething troubles? (Analyst Speak).
May 1, 2003... BSkyB is banking heavily on increased average revenues per user (ARPUs) to meet financial objectives for the Sky Digital platform. It believes Sky Plus, its premium PVR service, will play a vital role in that strategy. Personal video...

US judgement clears P2P networks of music industry's piracy charges. (Analysis).(and related article-reaction to judgement)
May 1, 2003... In a blow to the music industry's attempt to crack down on illegal file sharing, Grokster and Streamcast have been declared legal services and not responsible for any illicit material distributed by their users. They now hope they can win back...

Consolidation may not be the only answer for agencies. (Leader).(Industry Overview)
May 1, 2003... Once again consolidation is a not topic in the agency sector. Back in March, NMA reported on the three groups -- Interactive1, Aspect Group and Herald Ventures -- that had emerged as potential buyers. And in this week's profile (page 20), Ned...

Concentrate on building business. (Letters to the Editor).(Letter to the Editor)
May 1, 2003... Roy Abrams, CEO, The Aspect Group It's always interesting to read research and statistics, but did New Media Knowledge's (NMK) research on new business versus repeat business (NMA 10 April) reach any conclusions, or did it miss the point? As...

Don't underestimate repeat business. (Letters to the Editor).(Letter to the Editor)
May 1, 2003... John Pummell, founder, Winning New Business As a new business expert I found the article by Sara Davies (NMA 10 April) fascinating. New Media Knowledge research shows that 44% of agencies are looking to secure their share of new business while...

Preparing for new rules on marketing via email. (Ustaran on the Law).
May 1, 2003... Electronic communications are probably the best thing to happen to marketers since the invention of TV. The beauty of email, SMS and MMS as marketing tools lies in their ability to be a customised mass medium at a fraction of the cost of other...