New Media Age articles from September 2008

New Media Age archives from September 2008

Vodafone bids to become major online destination.(Brief article)
September 4, 2008... Vodafone is preparing to extend its multi-million-pound mobile portal online to position itself as a leading destination site. Speaking about its plans for the first time since the formation of its online business unit in January,...

ITV to up broadband video spend.(Brief article)
September 4, 2008... ITV is to ramp up investment in made-for-broadband content after the early success of an online series for its football site. The investment continues ITV's plans to grow online revenues to #150m by the end of 2012. ITV said...

iVillage data offer attracts Unilever brand ads.(Brief article)
September 4, 2008... Women's portal iVillage has developed a reporting and analysis tool to encourage brands to advertise across the site, as it identifies a lack of effective online measurement. The NBC Universal-owned site has begun offering advertisers a...

Adidas serves site to support expanding tennis range.(Brief article)
September 4, 2008... Adidas has unveiled a campaign site to be used as the central platform for its growing tennis ranges under the tagline: 'Shape the game. Impossible is nothing'. Beginning with the US Open, the site follows the major tournaments and...

Bebo updates mobile alerts to meet adhere to best practice.(Brief article)
September 4, 2008... Bebo has updated its mobile alerts for interactive web drama Sofia's Diary after NMA revealed it was breaking best-practice guidelines. The social network has been running a free campaign for several months that allows fans of Sofia to...

Infectious wins Football Superstars work.(Brief article)
September 4, 2008... Newly formed digital media agency Infectious has won its first major client with an appointment to handle the seven-figure media account for virtual world Football Superstars. Appointed by game developer Cybersports, the agency - founded...

Playboy plans ad-funded model as it evolves into a key lifestyle brand.(Brief article)
September 4, 2008... Playboy, one of the world's highest-profile brands, is to adopt an ad- funded model online as it moves towards becoming a key lifestyle brand on the web. Playboy will also launch an ad-funded mobile site before the end of the year and...

Agency Republic opens in New York for global presence.(Brief article)
September 4, 2008... Agency Republic has opened its first international office in New York in an attempt to expand itself into a global digital agency. Initially launched as a small satellite office, the division is quickly being grown, with Jane McNeill, the...

Pfizer uses viral marketing to press quit-smoking message.(Brief article)
September 4, 2008... Pharmaceutical brand Pfizer has rolled out a pan-European digital campaign encouraging people to stop smoking. The Serious Quitters' Arcade marks the brand's first venture into viral marketing. The games site is being pushed through...

British Gas revamps site to boost sales.(Brief article)
September 4, 2008... British Gas is planning to overhaul its site as it looks to grow online sales and improve customer acquisition. The Centrica-owned energy supplier is testing landing-page quality and online ad quality with Steak Creative, the creative arm...

Metro launches shopping portal as it looks to boost online revenues.(Brief article)
September 4, 2008... Metro, the free morning London newspaper, is to launch an online shop this month as it looks to significantly increase online revenues. Metro will use a white-label shopping portal from Affiliate Window, which will give its users access to...

E4's Fonejacker plans mobile push ahead of second series.(Brief article)
September 4, 2008... E4 comedy series Fonejacker is preparing for a digital push, including mobile, ahead of a second series. The broadcaster is planning a Bluetooth campaign and online widget to promote the new series. James Tatum, business manager for...

Google roadshow drives mobile sales.(Brief article)
September 4, 2008... Google has embarked on an agency roadshow in a bid to drive sales on its mobile platform. The move follows comments last month from CEO Eric Schmidt that he expects that the company will make more money from mobile than online ads in the...

Boomerang and Piczo create interactive hub.(Brief article)
September 4, 2008... Kids' TV channel Boomerang has tied up with teen social network Piczo for an interactive campaign around TV show The Latest Buzz. Piczo will host an interactive hub for fans of the US TV show, which airs from next month on the...

Kiss FM puts seven-day catch-up service at centre of web overhaul.(Brief article)
September 4, 2008... Bauer-owned radio station Kiss FM is to overhaul its website and add extra interactivity in a bid to engage the station's listeners. As part of the site revamp, which is planned to move into beta by the end of September, it will launch...

Tribal DDB plans social media division to expand client offer.(Brief article)
September 4, 2008... Tribal DDB is planning to launch a social media division, Radar, to expand the agency's client offering. The division, which extends a similar concept from DDB Canada, is to be made available for new and existing Tribal clients. It's...

Regus appoints Inbox Digital to run global email push.(Brief article)
September 4, 2008... Regus Group, the office space company, has appointed Inbox Digital as the lead agency for its global email marketing programme. The programme, which kicks off this month, aims to drive new business and will cover the Asia Pacific, EMEA...

Argos and Google investigate how search drives customers to stores.(Brief article)
September 4, 2008... Google and catalogue retailer Argos have launched an initiative to understand how search campaigns can drive footfall in-store. Argos has launched the project with Google and its agency Summit Media, looking into how an effective search...

LV= to advertise on Click4Carbon site.(Brief article)
September 4, 2008... LV= is one of the first advertisers on Click4Carbon, the energy-saving- focused search engine. The insurance specialist, formerly Liverpool Victoria, has launched a display campaign across the search site, which uses profits to help fund...

Marie Claire develops virtual makeover salon with Clinique.(Brief article)
September 4, 2008... Marie Claire has extended its online beauty offering with a virtual makeover salon, to be launched with brand partner Clinique. The salon will encourage visitors to upload their photograph or use a model, which they will then be able to...

Sky adds bookmarking to its mobile TV service.(Brief article)
September 4, 2008... Sky is set to launch bookmarking functionality for its on-demand mobile TV service to help viewers watch longer-form programmes. The broadcaster is keen to make shows like 24, Lost and Ross Kemp on Gangs available and easy to access via...

Drum & Bass Arena revamps site to streamline web service.(Brief article)
September 4, 2008... Dance music site Drum & Bass Arena (D&BA) plans to revamp its site in a bid to streamline its online services. The ten-year-old site is being redesigned, with the addition of one unified login for the different areas of the site including...

Etailers must up their game in customer care.
September 4, 2008... The retail team at FreshMinds has recently completed an analysis of customer support strategies of the top ten UK online retailers. The research benchmarked the retailers on key criteria to identify the best performers. In the past, being...

Mobile ads can raise brand awareness by 24%.(Brief article)
September 4, 2008... Mobile advertising can raise brand awareness by 23.9%, according to a study by Dynamic Logic. The study compared awareness of 21 campaigns among respondents who had seen the ads on mobile and those who hadn't. Awareness was 23.9% higher...

ANALYSIS: BBC prepares to give ad-funded music a boost.(BBC Worldwide Ltd.)
September 4, 2008... With BBC Worldwide's plans to open its vast music archive on an ad- funded basis, there are hopes its entrance would encourage other asset holders to do the same The music industry has reacted with cautious optimism to news of BBC...

COMMENT: TV needs tailoring to where it's watched.(Column)
September 4, 2008... The world looks very different through different screens. The boom in online video has been the digital success story of the year. With the BBC's iPlayer leading the charge, broadcasters this year truly grasped the challenge of transferring...

Forecasts for on-demand feel like we've been here before.
September 4, 2008... Can you guess the missing word in the following phrase: 'In the near future, at least 40% of all TV output will be--'. This phrase was taken from a training document issued by one of the major broadcasters, but recently has been cropping up...

LETTER: Searching Flash files opens up host of issues.(Letter to the editor)
September 4, 2008... Liz Keller, senior SEO consultant, Conchango Now that Google spiders will be able to crawl the content of Flash files, there will be potentially enormous implications for the industry (NMA 31.07.08). It will certainly mean that Google's...

LETTER: Property market needs true local knowledge.(Letter to the editor)
September 4, 2008... Robert Ray, marketing director, The Newspaper Society Last week's Vertical Focus on property (NMA 28.08.08) certainly grabbed my attention. Independent research by Millward Brown in June showed that local media, local newspapers and...

LETTER: Make online ads work to grab attention.(Letter to the editor)
September 4, 2008... Steve Richards, MD, Yomego Confirmation that the vast majority of online users react negatively to brands if they appear alongside offensive content is exactly why I read about Facebook's imminent 'engagement ads' with interest (NMA...

OPINION: Music festivals get updated for the digital generation.(Column)
September 4, 2008... With today's consumer expecting instant access to everything, festival organisers have had to find new ways to satisfy the demanding festivalgoer. Many have tried jumping the fence over the years, but now there's a digital solution. Step up...

AD WATCH: Frijj uses horror movie theme to engage young consumers.
September 4, 2008... This month's Ad Watch is all about online video. Fortunately none of the campaigns for this month has a user-generated, 'send us a clip where you behave like an idiot' component. Quite the opposite, in fact - they're all well produced and...

AD WATCH: CAMPAIGN OF THE MONTH - SEPTEMBER.
September 4, 2008... Brief: To re-engage a core consumer base of 16-24-year-olds with a view to reinstating Frijj in the forefront of their minds Creative agency: Grey London Executive creative director: Jon Williams Head of planning: Neil Hourston...

PROFILE - ROD HYDE: Northern roots.(Biography)
September 4, 2008... Rod Hyde, CEO of Hasgrove, has a passion for building companies and plans to grow the biggest digital agency in Europe in two years. Michael Nutley reports Rod Hyde is a softly-spoken former chemical engineer, teacher and computer games...

BUSINESS DIRECTORIES: Directory enquiries.
September 4, 2008... Business directory services are dividing into two camps: those that help promote the businesses and those that offer customers' opinions. Sean Hargrave weighs them up BT intensified interest in local business directory sites in July with...

BUSINESS DIRECTORIES: Mapping giants join the list.(Brief article)
September 4, 2008... Spring saw MSN's Multimap follow Google Maps in offering a map-based rival to traditional directories online. Both mapping giants now sport 'Find a business' buttons that allow users to search for companies and get results on a map of their...

NMA MOBILE: Paying the price.
September 4, 2008... Has the mobile sector learned its lesson from premium-rate scandals? Not entirely, reports Stuart Dredge It might be young, but the mobile content industry has already racked up an unhealthy succession of scandals when it comes to ripping...

NMA MOBILE: Is more regulation the answer?(Brief article)
September 4, 2008... PhonepayPlus has made a series of proposals to counter the three key problems with the UK mobile content market, but Orange's head of mobile advertising and third-party services Steve Ricketts isn't sure more regulation is what's needed. "If...

NMA MOBILE: Mobile internet long way from matching up to PC access.
September 4, 2008... I'm internet-less this weekend, being between computers. Being of a less-than-decisive disposition, I'm still dithering over which laptop to buy two weeks after dragging my mother (not quite kicking and screaming) into the 21st Century by...

NMA MOBILE: Mobile Telegraph provides news perfectly for the iPhone.
September 4, 2008... Mobile Telegraph Telegraph.co.uk/mobile Text 'mobile' to 88008 Agency in-house The Telegraph's new-look mobile offerings were launched at the beginning of August, aimed at people who browse the web on their mobile devices and...

NMA MOBILE: TV switch-off.
September 4, 2008... The response to the BBC's trial of mobile TV suggests audiences aren't clamouring to watch TV on their phones. Nick Huber asks what's needed to encourage them The results of the BBC's mobile TV trial have raised fresh doubts over the...

MOVES: Steak Digital.(Jocelyn Bull )(Brief article)
September 4, 2008... Search and digital agency Steak Digital has appointed Jocelyn Bull as marketing director. She joins from digital performance marketing agency The Search Works where she was head of marketing. Copyright: Centaur Communications Ltd. and...

MOVES: Complete Control.(Anne Nailon )(Brief article)
September 4, 2008... Children's digital agency Complete Control has hired Anne Nailon as operations manager. Previously she was unit manager for BBC News 24 World Features and also CBBC. Copyright: Centaur Communications Ltd. and licensors

MOVES: Efficient Frontier.(Charlotte Rogers)(Brief article)
September 4, 2008... Search marketing specialist Efficient Frontier has appointed Charlotte Rogers as senior account manager. She joins from Thomson Directories, where she was product manager of search. Copyright: Centaur Communications Ltd. and licensors

MOVES: Endemol.(Tom Toumazis )(Brief article)
September 4, 2008... Global production company Endemol has appointed Tom Toumazis as chief commercial officer. He was previously at Disney-ABC-ESPN as television managing director EMEA and will lead expansion of Endemol commercial activities. Copyright:...

MOVES: Grand Union.(Martin Burford)(Brief article)
September 4, 2008... Interactive media agency Grand Union has appointed Martin Burford as UK technical director. He joins from Digitas where he was principal software engineer. Copyright: Centaur Communications Ltd. and licensors

MOVES: Duke UK.(James Martin, Kevin Harris and Damian Smyth )(Brief article)
September 4, 2008... Full service digital agency Duke UK has expanded its team with the appointment of James Martin as new business manager, Kevin Harris as head of planning and Damian Smyth as account director. Martin was previously head of new media at full...

MOVES: Guru.(Alison Penny )(Brief article)
September 4, 2008... Online recruiter Guru has hired Alison Penny to head its campaign management team. She joins from Elan where she was a business development consultant. Copyright: Centaur Communications Ltd. and licensors

MOVES: Haygarth.(Leroyson Figuiera )(Brief article)
September 4, 2008... Integrated marketing agency Haygarth has appointed Leroyson Figuiera as associate creative director digital. He joins from digital marketing agency Panlogic where he worked as head creative. Copyright: Centaur Communications Ltd. and...

MOVES: Bayswater Media Group.(Mark Cotton)(Brief article)
September 4, 2008... Mayfair-based media company Bayswater Media Group has appointed Mark Cotton as COO. He joins from Australia's Fairfax Digital where he was strategy and planning business director. Copyright: Centaur Communications Ltd. and licensors

SITE INSPECTION: In the Pink.(Website overview)(Brief article)
September 4, 2008... Breastcancercare.co.uk/Inthepink Owner Breast Cancer Care Agency in-house Content 18/25 Usability 18/25 Branding 22/25 Monetisation 22/25 Total 80/100 In the UK, every 11...

SITE INSPECTION: Wahanda.(Brief article)
September 4, 2008... Wahanda.com Owner Wahanda Agency in-house, SPF15 Content 22/25 Usability 22/25 Branding 18/25 Monetisation 10/25 Total 72/100 Fitness and wellbeing can be as frivolous and...

SITE INSPECTION: Tiger Tiger.(Novus Leisure)(Brief article)
September 4, 2008... Tigertiger.co.uk Owner Novus Leisure Agency Aardvark Media Content 18/25 Usability 16/25 Branding 17/25 Monetisation 15/25 Total 66/100 Tiger Tiger might be best known for...

FULFILMENT: homebase.co.uk.(Website overview)(Brief article)
September 4, 2008... Founded: 2004 Selection An enormous range of home and DIY products. Navigation Easy to get around but the search results resort to 'highest to lowest price' automatically with each new page, despite changing it. Also, my...

Broadcasters unite in bid to regain voting revenues.(Brief article)
September 11, 2008... Major UK broadcasters the BBC, ITV, Five and GMTV have formed an open coalition to restore public trust and protect revenues from interactive services like text voting. The Broadcast Interactive Forum (BIF) will ensure the broadcasters...

Burger King doubles digital spend.(Brief article)
September 11, 2008... Burger King has doubled its digital marketing budget following the success of a strategy to use online to drive visits to its restaurants. The fast-food brand has upped its online investment over the last year after its digital marketing...

IAB appoints first social media council chair.(Interactive Advertising Bureau UK Ltd.)
September 11, 2008... The Internet Advertising Bureau has put its social media council into action with the appointment of its first chairman and members. Lloyd Salmons, founder of digital agency Outside Line, will take the lead position, which will see him...

BBC trials QR code mobile downloads for top TV shows.(Brief article)
September 11, 2008... Clips from top BBC programmes including Fawlty Towers, Top Gear and Planet Earth are to be made available to download to mobile as part of a digital marketing trial from BBC Worldwide. The commercial arm of the broadcaster is to trial...

i-level plans content creation arm as it looks to widen offer.(Brief article)
September 11, 2008... Digital media agency i-level plans to launch a content creation arm as part of a strategy to expand beyond online media planning/buying. The agency - which in May 2008 sold a 60% stake to private equity firm ECI for #45.5m (nma.co.uk...

HarperCollins uses avatars in latest push.(HarperCollins Publishers Inc.)(Brief article)
September 11, 2008... HarperCollins has launched an online campaign in support of the paperback release of bestselling children's book Skulduggery Pleasant Playing with Fire. The campaign for the book will encourage children to join the Munchkin Army by...

Isobar UK agencies collaborate to create full-service powerhouse.(Brief article)
September 11, 2008... Isobar UK network agencies are to launch a formal joint pitching structure, creating a full-service powerhouse in the UK new media industry. The UK arm of the Aegis-owned network includes media agencies Carat Interactive, Diffiniti and...

P&O repositions digital as a central acquisition channel.(Brief article)
September 11, 2008... P&O has launched a viral campaign as part of the cruise provider's repositioning of online as a key acquisition channel. The viral, developed by digital marketing agency Steel, asks viewers to select what their idea of a perfect break is,...

Tesco Digital in talks to enter TV and film download arena.(Brief article)
September 11, 2008... Tesco Digital is in talks with content providers including BBC Worldwide, ITV Worldwide and Fremantle Media to launch TV and film content via its digital download store. The service, which is hoped to launch before Christmas, is set to...

Yahoo!'s Mark Connolly to join Adconion.(Brief article)
September 11, 2008... Mark Connolly, head of commercial development at Yahoo!, has left the internet giant to join online ad network Adconion. Connolly, who was at Yahoo! for two years, will take the role of commercial director for Adconion in a new position...

Hotels.com personalises search service with social network offer.(Brief article)
September 11, 2008... Expedia-owned accommodation site Hotels.com is to launch a social network to help users personalise their search for a hotel. It will be built on the Youniverse platform, the social network based on images or 'Visual DNA'. Users will...

Bacardi uses rich-media ads to promote link with live music.(Brief article)
September 11, 2008... Bacardi is to launch its most extensive rich-media ad campaign to date to promote its association with live music. The rum brand is to launch home-page takeovers across the MSN Network from today (Thursday), followed by a social media...

CBS Outdoor uses online to push power of bus ads.(Brief article)
September 11, 2008... CBS Outdoor has launched an online campaign to generate interest in its bus advertising medium. The campaign will drive users to website Talk To The Town, where they'll be invited to make their own ad and get facts on the effectiveness of...

Reebok builds on boxing tie-up with Amir Khan.(Brief article)
September 11, 2008... Reebok has unveiled a major campaign site focused on its sponsorship of Amir Khan as it seeks to build on its brand association with boxing. Reebokboxing.com is designed around the concept of a virtual gym, where visitors can watch Khan...

British Gas launches online game to push Generation Green project.(Brief article)
September 11, 2008... British Gas is to launch online games as part of its Generation Green project to encourage children to adopt environmental initiatives. An online game, Professor Green and the Eco-Rangers, created by digital agency LBi UK, will launch...

ITN Source overhauls site in bid to increase online sales.(Brief article)
September 11, 2008... News archive service ITN Source has overhauled its website to drive online sales, in a bid to reach digital targets within five years. The Clips On Demand service, which features 500,000 pieces of content from partners such as Channel 4,...

Pru Health revamps site to drive take-up.(Brief article)
September 11, 2008... Pru Health has overhauled its website as the health specialist looks to drive online take-up of its products. The company, a joint venture between Prudential and Discover Holdings of South Africa, has relaunched its own site as well as...

Dorling Kindersley reveals online initiatives to plug autumn releases.(Brief article)
September 11, 2008... Dorling Kindersley (DK) has unveiled a series of online initiatives to support the launch of its autumn catalogue of books. This week the publisher launched a games site in support of its new release for children Dr Frankenstein's Human...

Petplan launches marketing push.(Brief article)
September 11, 2008... Allianz Animal Health (AAH), the umbrella brand for pet insurance companies Petplan and Petplan Equine, is to launch a marketing push for its products. The digital side of the campaign will include a redesigned Petplan website, online...

National Theatre uses 3D site to build audience participation.(Brief article)
September 11, 2008... The National Theatre has launched a campaign site, Discover, as part of a major initiative to drive awareness and engagement with audiences. Discover is centred around a Flash-based 3D interactive map of the National Theatre where...

Music industry resource site Gigahitz pushes band signings.(Brief article)
September 11, 2008... Music industry resource Gigahitz has appointed digital agency Mailtrack to drive registrations to its site. The site is looking to achieve 500,000 user registrations and sign up 5,000 bands within two years. It's embarking on a series of...

More women are going to social sites for help.
September 11, 2008... Around 71% of adult women in the UK are online at least once a month, 55% via home broadband. On average online women spend over nine hours a week using the internet. They're keen shoppers, with 48% having bought online in the past three...

One in three consumers in favour of mobile ads if they reduce bills.(Brief article)
September 11, 2008... Some 34% of mobile users are in favour of mobile advertising if it reduces the cost of their bill, according to research by Nielsen Mobile. The survey of more than 15,000 mobile users also revealed that while 18% expect to see more mobile...

Digital is viewed as most effective ad channel.(Brief article)
September 11, 2008... Digital media is a more effective ad channel than traditional media but advertisers are being held back by lack of experience and budget, according to RedShift Research A survey on behalf of new interactive communications company Oxygen8...

ANALYSIS: Media agencies take a shine to google chrome.
September 11, 2008... Google's high-profile entrance into the web browser market, going up directly against Microsoft, has raised opportunities and fears for agencies and advertisers Google last week unveiled Chrome, its first play in the web browser space...

COMMENT: Yahoo! now needs to present a single front.(Column)
September 11, 2008... A few facts. If Yahoo!'s unique monthly visitors banded together to form their own country, it would be the third largest in the world. Yahoo! Mail is used by almost a third of the online population. Photo- sharing site Flikr has 25m users....

Understanding your website requires knowing your goals.
September 11, 2008... "Rehearsals are over; this is the real thing." That was what one agency head said to me recently about the state of the agency sector. His argument was that in the past couple of years brands have recognised that people's consumption of...

LETTER: Private equity wakes up to marketing services.(Letter to the editor)
September 11, 2008... Tim Evans, director, Catalyst Corporate Finance Michael Nutley's column on merger and acquisition activity (NMA 26.06.08) highlights the increase in interest in marketing services businesses from private equity houses. Historically,...

LETTER: Integration of online and offline inevitable.(Letter to the editor)
September 11, 2008... From Susan Griffin I read your piece on the trend to merge digital and offline marketing with interest (NMA 14.08.08). Working on the client side of digital marketing, I can see how essential it is that offline and online are brought...

LETTER: All aboard for Ruby on Rails.(Letter to the editor)
September 11, 2008... From Tom Beddard, technical director, Tictoc Family I'd like to echo David Heinemeier Hansson's words that Ruby on Rails is great for developing more than just community sites (NMA 10.07.08). At Tictoc we've used it to develop more than...