New Media Age articles from September 2004

New Media Age archives from September 2004

TV producers sidestep mobile content portals.(Brief Article)
September 2, 2004... Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? and Big Brother are likely to be among the first TV brands to launch Java mobile content portals enabling consumers to interact without going through an operator portal. Broadcasters are looking to...

Pioneer Becker departs Flytxt.(Brief Article)
September 2, 2004... Flytxt founder Lars Becker, one of the pioneers of the UK mobile marketing industry, is leaving the company to pursue other interests. Although Becker will no longer have direct management involvement with the four-year-old firm, he will...

Fremantle allows viewers to bet on TV talent search.(Brief Article)
September 2, 2004... TV production giant Fremantle has struck a deal with bookmaker Blue Square to allow viewers of its new Simon Cowell talent search co-production The X Factor to bet on the outcome of the ITV series. It's the first time Fremantle has provided...

Wippit launches wireless music and video services.(Brief Article)
September 2, 2004... Wippit, the independent digital music services specialist, has launched a wireless service offering full music and video downloads. The new offer sees the small player leapfrog bigger rivals including Napster, iTunes and OD2. The last two...

Channel 4 offers to work with BBC on new media.(Brief Article)
September 2, 2004... Channel 4 believes it could help the BBC build greater public value for its new media activities by working with it on the development of services such as the Interactive Media Player, which the Corporation finished trialling this week. ...

3 reveals six-way agency pitch for its Web business.(Brief Article)
September 2, 2004... 3G operator 3 has confirmed a six-way agency pitch has kicked off for its Web business. The pitch is for work on its Web strategy, believed to be planned for the New Year. The company, which last month broke the 1m subscriber barrier with...

Public denied online access to British Library's archive.(Brief Article)
September 2, 2004... The British Library won't be able to make the Web content that it's collecting for the nation available to the public over the Internet. The Library says copyright laws will stop it providing widespread access and the same fate awaits its...

Web design to get accessibility test.(The Usability and Accessibility Working Group)(British Web Design and Marketing Association)(Brief Article)
September 2, 2004... The Usability and Accessibility Working Group (UA-WG) plans to launch the first accessibility accreditation scheme for suppliers of Web design services. The non-profit group, founded a year ago by the British Web Design and Marketing...

Two way TV wins funding as investors warm to iTV.(Brief Article)
September 2, 2004... Two Way TV has become the latest iTV firm to see its fortunes improve due to an apparent uplift in investor sentiment towards the sector. The firm, which put itself into administration almost a year ago (NMA 30 October 2003), secured 1.8m...

UCI and Pepsi run Free Kick mobile ads.(Pepsi Free Kick challenge)(Brief Article)
September 2, 2004... UCI Cinemas and Pepsi have kicked off a mobile marketing push to promote the Pepsi Free Kick challenge. The campaign uses Enpocket's database to target consumers living near the UCI cinemas across the UK where the events will take place....

Scotsman takes on Unanimis to boost online sales revenue.(Breaking)(Brief Article)
September 2, 2004... The Scotsman Publications Limited (TSPL) is looking to boost online ad revenue from its portfolio of online newspaper sites, including flagship portal scotsman.com. The publisher took on Unanimis Consulting to exclusively handle ad sales and ad...

Radio 4 to launch HitchHikers Guide game online.(Breaking)(Hitchhiker's Guide)(Brief Article)
September 2, 2004... Radio 4 Interactive has developed an online version of the classic adventure game based on the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy to celebrate its 20th anniversary and the return of the series on 21 September. Players can take on the guise of...

FT to build online subscription service for The Banker.(Breaking)(Financial Times Business)(Brief Article)
September 2, 2004... Financial Times Business plans to develop a new online subscription service for investment and retail banking journal The Banker. The group has appointed Web design agency Fortune Cookie to develop the new Online Rankings Database service,...

Lycos Europe buys Tiscali Sweden for 13m [euro].(Tiscali Sweden)(Brief Article)
September 2, 2004... Lycos Europe has bought Tiscali Sweden for 13m [euro] (8.8m [pounds sterling]). This increased customer numbers at local subsidiary Spray by 75% for broadband and 110% for narrowband customers. Spray will now be the third largest ADSL provider...

PlayJam confirmed to supply ITV's 24/7 TV games service.(PlayJam)(Television)(Brief Article)
September 2, 2004... PlayJam has been confirmed as the supplier for ITV's 24/7 interactive TV games service, called GTV. NMA revealed in April that the OpenTV-owned interactive games developer had been selected by ITV (NMA 8 April) from a field that included Sky...

Victor Chandler Games to start first online ad campaign.(Brief Article)
September 2, 2004... Victor Chandler Games, the bookmaker's skill-based and virtual gaming arm, is launching its first online ad campaign. A mix of email marketing, banners and Web editorial will be used, with users directed to a special promotion page to drive...

DfES to launch rights advice site for young people.(Department for Education and Skills)(United Nations Convention on the Rights of a Child)(KMP Interactive Marketing )(Brief Article)
September 2, 2004... The Department for Education and Skills is planning to launch a new Web site that enables children and young people to find out more about their rights. The site is being developed in response to a United Nations Convention on the Rights of a...

Eyeconomy launches into user-initiated ad market.(Gaming Corp)(Brief Article)
September 2, 2004... Digital media agency Eyeconomy, a division of Gaming Corp, has garnered support from a number of online media owners and advertisers for its new Sublines format which officially launches this week. The company describes Sublines as a...

Poker set to rival sports bets for Ladbrokes online.(Brief Article)
September 2, 2004... Poker could soon overtake sports betting in importance for Ladbrokes on the Internet, according to the company, marking a hugely symbolic shift in its business. There are several hundred online poker rooms, with around $125m (70m [pounds...

Advice site unveiled for young carers.(The Princess Royal Trust for Carers)(Youngcarers.net)(The Pears Family Foundation)(Brief Article)
September 2, 2004... A new online support site aimed at young carers has been launched by The Princess Royal Trust for Carers. Youngcarers.net allows those who need help or advice to email trained case workers, and talk to people in similar situations using...

Performics to track natural search listings.(Brief Article)
September 2, 2004... Performics, the search marketing firm acquired by DoubleClick in May, plans to boost its offering with tools that enable marketers to track clicks from natural search listings. The company currently offers technology that enables marketers...

Community Channel allows donations via interactive TV.(The Community Channel)(The Home Office Active Communities Unit )(Brief Article)
September 2, 2004... Fundraising via interactive TV is now within most charities' reach, with the Community Channel yesterday launching the UK's first 24-hour interactive donation service, funded by the Home Office. National charities including Save The...

O2 confirmed for mobile National Lottery contract.(National Lottery)(Brief Article)
September 2, 2004... Camelot this week made the formal announcement that 02 has won the contract to provide infrastructure for a mobile version of the National Lottery, as first revealed by NMA in May (NMA 20 May). The lottery operator will launch a mobile...

Paddy Power reveals Web ads for casino campaign.(Brief Article)
September 2, 2004... Paddy Power is launching a new online ad campaign for its casino, designed by London-based agency TBG. In line with its well-established marketing strategy of having ads with a lighter tone, the latest campaign is based around cartoons of...

William Hill to extend Happy Hour.(Happy Hour campaign)(Brief Article)
September 2, 2004... Bookmaker William Hill this week relaunched an extended version of its Happy Hour campaign, moving it online for the first time. The move follows a trial promotion during the Euro 2004 championship which operated via the firm's 1,630 high...

Response Republic reports 200% growth in H1 of 2004.(Brief Article)
September 2, 2004... AdLINK announced that its pan-European digital direct marketing arm Response Republic has achieved more than 200% growth in the first half of 2004. Response Republic, which was set up at the beginning of 2003, works for a number of blue chip...

Cosmopolitan launches money channel on Web site.(The CosmoMoney channel)(Brief Article)
September 2, 2004... Women's magazine Cosmopolitan has launched a new money channel on its Web site. The CosmoMoney channel has been developed with uSwitch.com and includes a range of the latter's calculators for users to work out which are the best deals for them...

Mediasurface makes positive entrance on stock market.(Brief Article)
September 2, 2004... Online content management specialist Mediasurface has made a positive debut on the stock market, with its share price rising in the first few days of trading. The company listed on AIM towards the end of last week, raising 2m [pounds sterling]...

I-D Media London develops Flash game for boy-band.(Phixx)(Brief Article)
September 2, 2004... I-D Media London is developing a Flash-based game for boy band Phixx. Players will be able to enter their game scores onto a leader board for the chance to win signed CDs, memorabilia, concert tickets and a meeting with a band member. New...

Cahoot and Ikea put Creative Virtual's Lingubot to the test.(Technology)(Creative Virtual)(Brief Article)
September 2, 2004... Cahoot and Ikea are the first UK organisations to trial on their Web sites virtual assistant technology developed by software firm Creative Virtual. The Lingubot software is programmed to converse in natural language and, it's claimed, can...

TextPremium bills for mobile content.(Technology)(TextAnywhere)(Brief Article)
September 2, 2004... Mobile service provider TextAnywhere has launched an SMS reverse-billing system for premium content providers. The application, TextPremium, can be used to charge mobile users for content such as horoscopes, weather updates, news and jokes....

IconZest creates media events tool for MOD staff.(Technology)(Ministry of Defence)(IconZest)(media events tool )(Brief Article)
September 2, 2004... Web consultancy IconZest has created a media events tool for the Ministry of Defence (MOD) communications team. The database will assimilate news from within the government department alongside that generated externally. The tool will aid...

DA Group develops avatar to support Glasgow City Council.(Technology)(Brief Article)
September 2, 2004... Virtual software firm DA Group has developed a public servant avatar for Glasgow City Council to host eight Internet-linked kiosks around the city. The interactive character, called Heather, speaks five different languages and will help...

Nativ and Dicas link up to solve video integration.(Technology)(Nativ)(Dicas)(Brief Article)
September 2, 2004... Nativ, the broadcast business consultancy and Dicas, a specialist in standardised video compression, have formed a partnership to address the technical inability of broadcasters to integrate the latest standardised video compression...

Portuguese mobile operator launches Music Wizard.(Technology)(Brief Article)
September 2, 2004... Portuguese mobile operator Optimus has launched a technology that offers instant identification of music via a mobile phone by capturing only a few seconds of the audio. Known as Music Wizard and based on Musi-wave technology, it compares the...

3Sixty takes on Tim Wootton as non-executive chairman.(Agencies)(3Sixty)(Brief Article)
September 2, 2004... Emarketing agency 3Sixty has appointed Tim Wootton to the new post of non-executive chairman to assist with strategic development. He has held several non-executive positions, including chairman of design agency Lambie Nairn, which he helped...

Digital Public expands team to handle new business wins.(Agencies)(Brief Article)
September 2, 2004... Digital media consultancy Digital Public has expanded its team following several new client wins. The company, which focuses mainly on the public sector, has taken on three new staff including Liz Brown, former sales and marketing director of...

Cancer Research UK has appointed Gurus to deliver its new Web site project following a multiple agency pitch.(Agency Wins)(Brief Article)
September 2, 2004... Cancer Research UK has appointed Gurus to deliver its new Web site project following a multiple agency pitch. Key objectives include delivering cancer awareness messages and offering cost-effective fundraising initiatives. gurus.co.uk ...

Sport information provider FixturesLive, which provides real-time data feeds on sports fixtures.(Agency Wins)(FixturesLive)(Brief Article)
September 2, 2004... Sport information provider FixturesLive, which provides real-time data feeds on sports fixtures, results and league tables for the amateur sports sector, has outsourced its Web design to digital agency Nemisys Enterprises. nemisysuk.com...

DNA splits business into four to clarify its offering.(Agencies)(Brief Article)
September 2, 2004... DNA, the full service agency, has restructured its business into four distinct divisions and unveiled a new brand as part of its drive to better explain its offer to clients. The agency, which moved from London Bridge to Soho this month,...

Splendid to set up digital and interactive TV division.(Agencies)(Brief Article)
September 2, 2004... Design agency Splendid is planning a new unit that will be dedicated to providing digital and interactive television services. Paul Bishop, MD at Splendid, said the move was in response to increasing demand for the agency's experience in...

Squeeze targets blue-chip clients.(Agencies)(Squeeze Digital)(Brief Article)
September 2, 2004... New digital direct marketing agency Squeeze Digital is backing its official launch this week with an email push to potential blue-chip clients. The agency was set up by two former executives of email marketing firm Inbox, Nik Margolis and...

Kellogg's steps up activities online for Breakfast Week.(Marketing)(Brief Article)
September 2, 2004... Kellogg's is stepping up its online activities over the next few weeks, taking its annual National Breakfast Week promotion onto the Web and supporting its William Shatner-fronted All-Bran Challenge with emails from the ex-Star Trek star. ...

Makeup.com runs 3m [pounds sterling] launch push.(Marketing)(Makeup.com)(Brief Article)
September 2, 2004... US cosmetics firm Makeup.com is preparing for its transatlantic launch at the end of this month with a 3m [pounds sterling] digital media marketing push. The firm is opening for business in the US and UK simultaneously, launching a new Web...

Columbia targets young men with 'Hellboy' ads.(Marketing)(Brief Article)
September 2, 2004... The online campaign to promote today's release of Columbia TriStar film Hellboy sees the comic book character turned movie star take to the Web, with major splashes on sites including Kerrang and Xfm. Streamed video trailers will also...

Lloyds TSB extends sponsor deal with Tiscali UK.(Marketing)(Brief Article)
September 2, 2004... Lloyds TSB General Insurance has reinforced its existing relationship with Tiscali UK with a six-figure online media campaign running between now and the end of 2004. The two companies signed a two-year deal in January and the latest phase of...

Mercedes launches microsite campaign for C-Class and SLK.(Marketing)(Brief Article)
September 2, 2004... Mercedes-Benz has launched an online campaign promoting its new generation C-Class and SLK models. Syzygy has created a Flash-based microsite on the company's behalf, in keeping with its current 'Drive the elements' TV commercials. The site...

MSN makes commission-free currency deal with Travelex.(Marketing)(Brief Article)
September 2, 2004... MSN.co.uk has struck a year-long deal with Travelex, which allows its 15.7m users to purchase commission-free foreign currency through the online foreign exchange ordering service. The deal is aimed at increasing Travelex's brand awareness...

Travel sites show strong growth in summer months.(Trends)(Brief Article)
September 2, 2004... Traffic to travel sites continues to show strong growth, according to research firm Hitwise. Between June and July 2004, visits to travel sites grew by 18%, compared with just 3.7% growth between May and June. Hitwise says the rise is a result...

Silver surfers happy to click on rich-media ads.(Trends)(Brief Article)
September 2, 2004... Silver surfers are happy to view rich-media ads, according to data from ad agency Lawton eMarketing. It employed the format for a campaign for cruise line service Celebrity Cruises. Click-throughs on rich-media banners had an overall action...

MDA revises text numbers.(Trends)(Mobile Data Association)(Brief Article)
September 2, 2004... The Mobile Data Association (MDA) has revised its estimate of the number of text messages sent in 2004, from 23bn to 25bn. Around 2bn texts are sent in the average month. MDA puts this down to the added convenience of text messaging,...

Interactive TV voting gets people talking and paying.(Trends)(Brief Article)
September 2, 2004... Use of interactive TV services is encouraging social interaction and debate, says a survey by MORI. Over a third of people questioned said they discussed their responses with family or friends before using the red button to vote in shows...

Etailers offer poor customer service.(Trends)(Brief Article)
September 2, 2004... Online retailers have a way to go to match their high street counterparts when it comes to customer service, according to Accenture. Only 37% of consumers surveyed were generally satisfied with etailers' customer service. ISPs fared...

Broadband makes users less patient with slow sites.(Brief Article)
September 2, 2004... Broadband users are less patient when using bank, retail and government sites than those who have a dial-up connection, a survey by Cable & Wireless has found. Web sites are failing to keep pace with consumer needs for fast access and...

Sites contribute to excess of junk mail.(Brief Article)
September 2, 2004... Web sites aren't including advanced address authentication software that could reduce the amount of junk mail UK consumers receive. Company data specialist GB Group surveyed 350 sites and found that almost 60% of those in the financial...

Storage is just one part of tomorrow's TV.(Analyst Speak)
September 2, 2004... James Murdoch's assertion at Sky's most recent results presentation, 'Storage trumps bandwidth', that improved local storage rather than widespread broadband deployment will define the future of TV wasn't necessarily wrong, it just misses the...

Overture.(Brief Article)
September 2, 2004... www.uk.overture.com Search statistics for Education The information below represents searches carded out through July on Overture's search network, which reaches 88% of the UK online population *. The beginning of the academic year is...

Competition hots up in the online DVD rental market: while online DVD rental firms anxiously await the arrival in the UK of Neflix, is the US giant the real long-term threat?(News Analysis)
September 2, 2004... Video Island merged with ScreenSelect last week in the biggest deal yet in the nascent area of online DVD rental. But everyone in the sector thinks there are many similar deals to come, fuelled by the worry of competition from the likes of...

Getting over the final hurdle for broadband Britain: LLU.(Leader)(Editorial)
September 2, 2004... In this country you could be forgiven for thinking that local loop unbundling (LLU) is the broadband technology that never was. Four years ago NMA regularly reported stories of would-be broadband suppliers lobbying for the Government to speed...

Helping new students to settle in.(Letters To The Editor)(Letter to the Editor)
September 2, 2004... I was disappointed to see your Site Inspection of NewStudent.org (NMA 29 July) contained several inaccuracies, was negative in tone and ended with the line "it's barely worth registering for". I know the vast majority of the tens of...

The benefits of catching a virus.(Letters To The Editor)(Letter to the Editor)
September 2, 2004... In response to last week's Gadfly piece about the Resident Evil: Outbreak viral campaign we've been running on mobile, email and Web, I think it's important to point out that it's not strictly true that the "publisher CE Europe didn't take the...

Changing strategies to make TV accountable.(Walley on media)(Television)
September 2, 2004... A few months ago Nick Smith. the marketing and strategy director of British Gas, stood up at a conference and announced that he'd taken 6m [pounds sterling] out of his TV ad budget because he couldn't prove its effectiveness to his finance...

Is the use of video finally coming of age?(Opinion)
September 2, 2004... Video was always seen as one of the killer apps of the Internet but it's somehow never quite managed to fulfil its initial promise. The complexities of varying standards and players, the slower-than-expected take-up of broadband and, in many...

Staying in the loop: Eric Abensur: determined that Wanadoo will gain control of its own telecoms network, CEO Eric Abensur is prepared to wait to for BT to speed up its local loop unbundling, but only for so long.(Wanadoo UK)(local loop unbundling (LLU))
September 2, 2004... Three words are guaranteed to crop up in any conversation with Eric Abensur: local loop unbundling (LLU). Two years into his post as CEO of Wanadoo UK, Abensur is determined to gain total control of his telecoms network, and he's openly...

Wippit.(Moves)(Brief Article)
September 2, 2004... Russell Cook has joined music download service Wippit as label liaison manager, with responsibility for musical content acquisition and maintaining relationships with record labels. He has 15 years of music business experience, having...

Box.(Moves)(Brief Article)
September 2, 2004... Interactive consultancy Box has taken on two new members of staff. Lara De Angeli has been appointed as a senior accounts manager, while Stelios Bekiros takes the post of designer. De Angeli will manage relationships between Box's internal team...

Espotting.(Moves)(Brief Article)
September 2, 2004... Paid-for listings provider Espotting has promoted Chrys Philalithes to European marketing director and Max Moore to director of syndication and traffic. Both Philalithes and Moore are founding team members of the company. Chris Mills has been...

Million-2-1.(Moves)(Brief Article)
September 2, 2004... Former sales and marketing director of Lotto operator Camelot lan Milligan has been recruited by Million2-1, the mobile gaming company, to lead the company's commercial operations. He will focus on growing Million-2-1's partner base and it's...

Lightershade.(Moves)(Lighter-shade)(Web designer)(Web developer)(Brief Article)
September 2, 2004... Edinburgh-based agency Lighter-shade has recruited Ion Grant as a Web designer and Marc Atkins as a Web developer. Grant previously worked on a project for Intelligent Finance, while Atkins joins from NPlusOne Telecoms where he was a Web...

Guava.(Moves)(Guava)(Brief Article)
September 2, 2004... Berkshire-based Guava, the full service online communications agency, has appointed technology specialist Jonathan Keeping as a developer. He previously developed solutions for clients including Motorola and HP.

Imano.(Moves)(Imano)(Tribeka/Softwide)(Prism Entertainment)(Brief Article)
September 2, 2004... Imano, the Internet consultancy, has hired Neil Sait as business development director. He will be responsible for overseeing new business and building Imano's client base of consumer, industrial and finance companies. Salt was most recently...

Actinic.(Moves)(Brief Article)
September 2, 2004... Ecommerce software specialist Actinic has appointed Phil Rothwell as MD. Formerly business development director of the company, he will be responsible for sales, support and administration.

Digivate.(Moves)(Abacus Direct UK)(Brief Article)
September 2, 2004... Ecommerce solutions company Digivate has appointed Shareen Campbell as head of sales and marketing. Campbell was formerly head of online marketing at Abacus Direct UK, and will focus on email and online marketing.

Smooth flight: the pressure on BA to make full use of online may have come from outside, but the company has certainly taken to interactive media wholeheartedly.(Strategic play: British Airways)
September 2, 2004... For many players in the travel industry, the last few years have been a difficult time. But at British Airways that period has been particularly trying. The airline, which has just finished contending with the threat of another major staff...

Has branding got lost amid search?(NMA Advertising)(IPA Digital Marketing Group)(Online advertising analyst)
September 2, 2004... Has the phenomenal growth in pay-per-click search advertising overshadowed what the medium can do in terms of branding, and has it been at the expense of growth in branding spend? JOHN OWEN Chairman, IPA Digital Marketing Group ...

Crisis in Sudan email campaign.(Case Study)
September 2, 2004... Client: Oxfam Agency: in-house, Agency Republic BACKGROUND: Oxfam began working in Sudan at the beginning of the current humanitarian crisis, in camps set up for thousands of displaced people fleeing pro-government Arab militias. The...

Margaret Manning, CEO, reading room.(Ad Watch)
September 2, 2004... O2's new Happy Hour campaign uses the increasingly popular over-the-page style of online advertising. The ads take the same format as its high-profile TV ads--shot at unconventional angles, they show prominent national landmarks such as the...

Top ten new campaigns: August 2004.
September 2, 2004... 1 HOUSE.CO.UK Advertiser: British Gas Creative: WWAV Rapp Collins Timing: 9 July-9 August 2004 Placement: Anorak, Baby World, Britannia, BT Openworld, Channel 4, Crash.net, Cyber Britain, DailyMail, Dooyoo, Ebay, Equestrian,...

Top ten viral campaigns: 24 July-24 August 2004.(Brief Article)
September 2, 2004... 1 CLEARASIL Clearahill Creative: Jaildog 2 AGENT PROVOCATEUR She's Lost control Creative: in-house 3 ANN SUMMERS Need Directions? Creative: US London 4 COMIC RELIEF Naked Celebrity Creative:...

Back to life: having got customers to sign up to e-banking, the banks are now having to find new ways to keep them using the services.
September 2, 2004... The latest headache for banks is not how to get online customers but how to keep them using the service. Analyst firm NOP World recently stated in NMA that for every active online banking customer there's another who's lapsed (NMA 1 July). It's...

Northern star: Accenture's fifth study of global e-government has ranked Canada as the world leader. What lies behind its success and what can it teach the UK?
September 2, 2004... Which country is leading the way with e-government? Is it the US, Sweden, Singapore or the UK? In fact it's none of these. According to Accenture's fifth annual global study of e-government, Canada is in the top spot. For the fourth consecutive...

Gadfly.
September 2, 2004... Gadfly has spent most of the last week fighting off juicy bribes from the agency world ever since the story about British Airways looking for a new digital team broke. It seems the lucky person in charge of deciding who will win the 5m [pounds...

Diary.(Directory)(Calendar)
September 2, 2004... 6 SEPTEMBER 2004 * The Know How Exchange Hensol 02920 444777 atwales.com 7 SEPTEMBER 2004 * Copywriting for Digital Media London 020 8357 7349 nmk.co.uk 8 SEPTEMBER 2004 * Great Online...

Sylvia Jensen: director of marketing for EMEA, WebEx.(New Media People)(Brief Article)(Interview)
September 2, 2004... What does WebEx do? It's a Web conferencing company. We set up virtual meetings. Users can share documents on their desktop PC via the Internet while using Webcams to see each other. I deal with the marketing side of things, like coming up with...