Precision Marketing articles from March 2008

Precision Marketing archives from March 2008

DMA: Recycling targets 'miles away'.
March 7, 2008... The DMA (UK) is threatening to "kick some arse" to get companies to meet the next direct mail recycling target, conceding that unless urgent action is taken the industry risks "missing it by miles". The new target, agreed with the...

Npower hunts direct marketing agency.
March 7, 2008... Energy company Npower is understood to be hunting a direct marketing agency, to run a tactical direct mail customer acquisition programme until the end of the year. It is believed it has already held talks with a number of agencies. ...

Goldsmiths appoints Joshua G2 to CRM brief.(customer relationship management)(Brief article)
March 7, 2008... Goldsmiths, one of the largest quality jewellers in the UK, has appointed Joshua G2 to handle its customer management account. Aurum Holdings, owners of Goldsmiths, Watches of Switzerland and Mappin and Webb, has added the agency to its...

IN BRIEF: TfL hunts agency for Oyster brief.(Transport for London)(Brief article)
March 7, 2008... Transport for London (TfL) is hunting a direct agency to raise awareness of its Oyster services available in newsagents across London. The appointed agency will be tasked with creating direct material and identifying new marketing opportunities...

IN BRIEF: Littlewoods' profits to double.(Brief article)
March 7, 2008... Home shopping giant Littlewoods Shop Direct's mail order business could be a thing of the past as it rapidly becoming an Internet retailer with the company attributing a surge in profits to the Internet. The catalogue is set to double its...

IN BRIEF: Bell calls for online attack.(Brief article)(Conference notes)
March 7, 2008... Chime Communications chairman Tim Bell is urging the advertising industry to back the launch of a website to help consumers combat fears over what they eat and drink. Speaking at this week's Incorporated Society of British Advertisers' Annual...

'Sniper-like' direct marketing leads way for effectiveness.
March 7, 2008... Marketers still rank direct marketing as the number one channel for effectiveness, despite it capturing less than 25 per cent of all UK marketing spend. The '2007 Global Marketing Effectiveness Report', conducted by The Fournaise...

BBC hands Geronimo mag loyalty account.
March 7, 2008... BBC Worldwide has appointed Geronimo to launch a loyalty programme across its range of children's magazines, which includes Balamory, Bob the Builder, Teletubbies, CBeebies Weekly, Tweenies and All About Animals. The corporation has seen...

BHF scraps roles in marketing shake-up.(Brief article)
March 7, 2008... The British Heart Foundation has made a raft of redundancies in its marketing team as part of a departmental restructure. The heart charity has axed both the head of supporter acquisition role, held by Charlotte Guiver, and head of...

Direct marketers urged to follow COI plastic bag ban.
March 7, 2008... Environmental charity Waste Watch is calling on direct marketers to follow the Government's lead and ditch plastic bags in all their marketing campaigns. In a statement, the charity says: "Waste Watch is encouraging all organisations...

Peugeot in three-pronged drive.
March 7, 2008... Peugeot is ramping up its customer management programme by launching a major three-pronged direct mail push in an attempt to increase car repurchases. The 'repurchase' campaign, created by CMW, is designed to hit owners at crucial...

Parshotam nets OgilvyOne role.
March 7, 2008... Former DraftFCB creative director Arthur Parshotam has joined OgilvyOne as creative director on American Express, working on the brand internationally. Parshotam, who worked at Draft for nine years, quit last summer, following the...

IN BRIEF: Goldwag joins REAL Digital.(Brief article)
March 7, 2008... Ex-Airmiles chief Wanda Goldwag has been appointed a director of digital and new media solutions company REAL Digital International, following the company's rapid emergence in the UK as a provider of one- to-one communications. Goldwag brings a...

IN BRIEF: TV docs aid 'No Smoking' blitz.(Brief article)
March 7, 2008... The No Smoking Day charity is launching a campaign - fronted by GMTV and BBC TV doctors, Dr Hilary Jones and Dr Rosemary Leonard - to mark its 25th year anniversary. The Great No Smoking Day Challenge is the charity's first campaign since...

IN BRIEF: Domino's starts recycling push.(Brief article)
March 7, 2008... Domino's Pizza is launching an online campaign to encourage pizza lovers to recycle their leftover pizza boxes. The drive 'Think Outside the Box', created by BLM Quantum, asks customers to create an innovative way to recycle their leftover...

Jail threat to bosses who flout TPS rules.(Telephone Preference Service)(Brief article)
March 7, 2008... Marketers who flout the Telephone Preference Service and the Mailing Preference Service could face up to two years in prison when new legislation comes into force in May. The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (CPUT)...

RSPCA seeks shop for direct work.
March 7, 2008... RSPCA, the animal welfare charity, is understood to be hunting an agency to handle its #5m direct marketing account. The move follows the appointment of Mark Watts as chief executive. He replaced director general and former Liberal...

IN BRIEF: TalkTalk chief Thatcher quits.(Brief article)
March 7, 2008... TalkTalk managing director David Thatcher has quit after two years in the role. It is unknown whether he has another job to go to. He has been replaced by Wendy Becker, who joins from McKinsey.Thatcher, who has overall control for marketing,...

IN BRIEF: COI bans Govt use of plastic bags.(Brief article)
March 7, 2008... The Central Office of Information (COI) has banned the use of plastic bags in all of its Government marketing campaigns, in a bid to encourage the Government to become environmentally friendly. ISBA has welcomed the COI's plans to scrap the...

IN BRIEF: DM firms face 'green' ultimatum.(Brief article)
March 7, 2008... Direct marketing companies could soon be required to prove their commitment to the environment in order to comply with the DMA (UK) Code of Practice. Speaking at the DMA's 'Go Green and Save' conference this week, DMA director of media channel...

Facebook unveils new application for brands.
March 7, 2008... Brands will be able to interact with Facebook users via a new application which it is claimed turns the social networking site into a profitable enterprise for both retail brands and Facebook users. The application, entitled Wishlist, has...

Skoda rethinks online experience.
March 7, 2008... Car brand Skoda is overhauling its website and encouraging visitors to 'experience the happiness of Skoda online'. The website, designed by digital agency Reading Room and using technology by content management provider Immediacy, is...

Why digital is not just about fashion.
March 7, 2008... How many of us in our youth knew someone who was 'too cool for school'? You know, the kid who always sported the latest trainers (brought over from an uncle's trip to the US), who had a CD Walkman while the rest of us struggled with tapes,...

'Data crucial to brand extension strategies'.(Brief article)
March 7, 2008... One third of UK companies are able to successfully extend the reach of their brand through good customer intelligence, according to new research. The 'Building the Brand' report, carried out by database marketing company GI Insight,...

Hicklin Slade sets up Loyalty Practice arm.(Brief article)
March 7, 2008... Relationship marketing agency Hicklin Slade & Partners is launching the Loyalty Practice, a division which aims to reinforce the agency's commitment to a new approach to client servicing centred around 'collaboration'. Hicklin Slade &...

Experian offers brands data MOT service.
March 7, 2008... Experian is offering brand-owners a Data Healthcheck, to help them ensure their marketing databases are fit for purpose and in shape to deliver improved return on marketing investment. The scheme compares an organisation's customer and...

Planners enjoy role of question master.
March 7, 2008... When a brand gets to engage with its consumers in a question-asking environment, surely the best placed person to guide the question content is the same one who will be using the resulting data-capture for insight and analysis. Seems obvious,...

ANALYSIS: Can charities shake off accusations of donor bribery?
March 7, 2008... The Institute of Fundraising probe into the use of incentives in charity marketing has raised fears about how guilty the industry can make donors feel. Should there be cause for concern? As the Government discovered during the cash for...

ANALYSIS: Future of temporary workers hangs in the balance.
March 7, 2008... New legislation is threatening the direct marketing industry's traditional reliance on temporary workers. This has wide ranging implications for everyone in the sector The days when the industry could call on the army of temporary workers...

OPINION: Tapping into radio's 'technological rebirth'.(Brief article)(Column)
March 7, 2008... Years ago, when the prospect of my own column in Precision Marketing was a distant vision, I loved listening to the radio. Picture Sunday nights in the Ingall household: young Jon would be holed up in his bedroom with the Top 40 chart,...

LETTER: Blame bureaux for clean data 'smoke and mirrors'.(Letter to the editor)
March 7, 2008... I couldn't agree more with Charlie McKelvey's summary of the current quandary facing the third sector ('Why Third Sector is banged to rights', PM, February 22), but I'd suggest that perhaps there is a slightly simpler solution than he...

LETTER: Suppression cuts campaign costs.(Letter to the editor)
March 7, 2008... Charities need to change the way in which they view suppression and not see it as an expense, and rather as adding to a charity's potential budget as the cost of mailing a dead record is far higher than that of purging the record. The...

LETTER: Green repercussions.(Letter to the editor)
March 7, 2008... Reports that the charity sector is wasting #11.5m each year by mailing goneaways and deceaseds ('Charities blasted for #11.5m waste, PM, February 22) point to a classic case of 'you can't manage what you can't measure'. The root of the...

VIEWPOINT: Young and free, why not come and get me?(Viewpoint essay)
March 7, 2008... The 'yoof' market is claimed to be virtually impossible to reach because they are not receptive to traditional marketing messages. But is this just a myth? With my 18th birthday looming, I am, apparently, a great target for marketers,...

LEADER: Industry can't fight green battle alone.(Brief article)
March 7, 2008... So, the DMA (UK) has conceded that it is 'miles away' from hitting the next Defra target that requires 55 per cent of all direct mail to be recycled by 2009. To be fair, the fact that it missed the 30 per cent target in 2005 should have set...

Creative Critique: 07.03.08.
March 7, 2008... This week's theme is craft. A little TLC goes a long way. Although we all know there's still no substitute for a great idea. First, a pre-Christmas spending pack for Abbey's credit card (4). A sheet of red wrapping paper tells me that...

LIST DEVELOPMENTS: A positive approach.
March 7, 2008... Despite almost constant reports of impending doom and gloom for the economy as a whole, the list and data sector is maintaining a positive outlook David Reed Looking at the current economic climate, your business might be most...

LIST/INSERT FILE: Bonprix unveils mature buyers.
March 7, 2008... Clothing catalogue Bonprix has released its list of mail order buyers for rental through ActiMail UK. The company, which is part of the Otto Group, offers a range of clothing, jewellery, footwear, sportswear and lingerie for women, as...

LIST/INSERT FILE: File offers euro home-makers.
March 7, 2008... Pan-European e-commerce company Neckermann.com is unveiling its file of over 2 million Belgian and Dutch customers for rental through EDM Media. Neckermann.com operates in Germany, Switzerland and Austria, and throughout central Europe,...

LIST/INSERT FILE: ipoints releases member database.
March 7, 2008... Online loyalty programme ipoints is releasing its database of members for rental through HLB. With over 1.7 million registered members, ipoints.co.uk is the UK's largest online coalition programme. Members are recruited via partners'...

LIST/INSERT FILE: List ideal for business offers.
March 7, 2008... Intermedia Global is unveiling its E-Powerbase B2B email file for rental. The file contains over 460,000 contacts who work as managing directors, and in sales, human resources, finance and marketing. Contacts on the database have been...

LIST/INSERT FILE: Bauer unveils reader data.
March 7, 2008... Bauer Consumer Media has re-launched its Consumer Media Database of brands recently purchased from Emap, through Lloyd James Group. The file incorporates 1 million postal addresses and 600,000 email addresses of readers of magazines...

MOVING PEOPLE: John Brown poaches Henry from WWAV.
March 7, 2008... Publisher John Brown has appointed Caitriona Henry as its new chief strategic officer. She joins from WWAV Rapp Collins, where she was planning partner. She also previously worked at JWT, Wolff Olins and Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide. Henry will...

MOVING PEOPLE: Intermedia Marketing appoints head of sales.
March 7, 2008... Intermedia Marketing has hired Sarah Buttle as head of sales. She joins from The Trading Floor where she was business development manager. Her previous experience includes time at Millennium Direct and Response Advertising Media, where she...

MOVING PEOPLE: Mediaprisme duo start up new business.(Brief article)
March 7, 2008... Former Mediaprisme employees James Beasley and James Alexander have left the company to start their own business, SmartEdge Marketing, which will offer list broking services and work with B2C and B2B clients. Prior to Mediaprisme, Beasley held...

MOVING PEOPLE: Inbox boosts team with multiple appointments.(Brief article)
March 7, 2008... Digital Marketing Group agency, Inbox has boosted its team with a raft of recruits. Elizabeth Glaze-Brook joins the client services team as an account manager and will work across accounts including Blackberry, United Biscuits and Alliance &...

NICE WORK: Melanie Arnold.(Brief article)
March 7, 2008... Melanie Arnold Associate director Caspian Partnership Responsibilities: I play a key role in selling our data services to the direct marketing industry. I'm also responsible for developing client relationships, new business and...

Charities face hike in postage costs.
March 21, 2008... Charities are facing spiralling postage costs after Royal Mail warned it can no longer guarantee to reimburse them when donors put stamps on freepost envelopes. The move, which it is claimed could cost charities "millions", has been...

Disney Destinations chief Robertson quits.
March 21, 2008... Disney Destinations International (DDI) head of marketing UK and Ireland Adrian Roberston has left the company without a job to go to. Robertson joined Walt Disney, Theme Park Operator, in 2004 as head of direct marketing and new media...

Chelsea FC revamps CRM for global push.
March 21, 2008... Chelsea Football Club is poised to appoint SmartFocus to build a detailed picture of its fanbase, spearheading its strategy to turn the club into a major global brand. It is believed the company - which was recently appointed to handle...

IN BRIEF: Call centres face high churn rates.(Brief article)
March 21, 2008... British companies who outsource their call centre services to the Philippines are facing a staff turnover rate of 60 to 80 per cent as employees are replaced to keep workforces "fresh and motivated". According to the Call Centre Association of...

IN BRIEF: Asda moves affiliate to buy.at.(Brief article)
March 21, 2008... Asda has moved its affiliate marketing programme from TradeDoubler to Buy.at in an attempt to increase online sales via the channel. Buy.at will manage a combination of pay-per-click and search engine optimisation affiliates as well as...

IN BRIEF: Dr Pepper seeks new generation.(Brief article)
March 21, 2008... Coca-Cola brand Dr Pepper is launching an integrated campaign for the first time in four years in a bid to reach a new generation of drinkers. The What's the Worst that Could Happen campaign aims to highlight the cola brand's quirky,...

DoH anti-smoking blitz to target blue collar workers.
March 21, 2008... The Department of Heath (DoH) is ramping up its anti-smoking campaign by targeting hard to reach manual workers and has appointed Carlson Marketing to the #2m integrated account . Carlson was awarded the initiative through the Central...

Lexus pushes green credentials.
March 21, 2008... Lexus is bolstering its direct mail activity to promote the fact it has the world's first and only high performance hybrid range, in a bid to attract 'green' consumers. The drive, created by Partners Andrews Aldridge, aims to reiterate...

Hicklin Slade hires Wallinger.
March 21, 2008... Hicklin Slade & Partners has recruited Craik Jones data planning director John Wallinger to head up its data division. Wallinger will work alongside Louise Isaacs who joined from Dunnhumby earlier this month. Wallinger started his...

IN BRIEF: Vodafone rejigs customer policy.(Brief article)
March 21, 2008... Vodafone is overhauling its customer experience strategy with the introduction of new technology which will provide a unified offering across all its customer-facing channels. Staff in Vodafone's stores and call centres will now be able to...

IN BRIEF: B&Q in email shake-up.(Brief article)
March 21, 2008... B&Q is overhauling its e-marketing strategy with a root and branch review of its email activity. The company's head of online marketing, James Davey, has appointed digital agency Alchemy Worx to analyse past campaigns to establish the effect...

IN BRIEF: Disabled charity to relaunch.(Brief article)
March 21, 2008... National disability charity Grooms-Shaftesbury is relaunching its brand following the merger of John Grooms and the Shaftesbury Society last year. The charity has appointed Tangible Response to produce its brand launch strategy, and execute...

IN BRIEF: BT facing legal action over data.(Brief article)
March 21, 2008... BT is at risk of legal action following accusations that it sold customers' browsing history without their permission. The telecoms provider has admitted to conducting a technical trial last summer, relating to its deal with advertising company...

IN BRIEF: Parceline rebrands as DPD.(Brief article)
March 21, 2008... UK parcel carrier Parceline is rebranding itself as DPD, the name used by its European sister companies and international network. The company has launched its new name with an integrated B2B campaign, which has been developed by KHWS, that...

IN BRIEF: IoF backs decision to freeze Gift Aid.(Brief article)
March 21, 2008... The Institute of Fundraising (IoF) has welcomed Alistair Darling's first Budget which has frozen the 22 per cent Gift Aid rate until 2011, despite the basic rate of income tax being reduced to 20 per cent in April. The Budget also revealed...

Virtual skin clinic to promote anti-ageing.
March 21, 2008... Johnson & Johnson anti-ageing skincare brand RoC is embracing an online loyalty strategy featuring a virtual skin clinic. A campaign, developed by Wax Communications, creates a virtual skin care destination at www.rocskinclinic.co.uk,...

Brands sign up for new 'webkey'.
March 21, 2008... Shell, Sony, Vodafone and Travelex are among a number of leading brands that have signed up to a new marketing device which claims to bridge the gap between physical media and the digital world. The 'webkey' from Kyp Sytems, creators of...

A difficult birth for the digital world.(Column)
March 21, 2008... Back in 1996 when I first decided to jack in a good teaching career and starve to death learning how to be a (not particularly talented) Web designer, those of us in new media were generally greeted with a mixture of grunted disdain and...

Esure signs as first client for Quantium.
March 21, 2008... Leading Australian consultancy Quantium has joined forces with EMB LLP to launch a UK business, and has signed up Esure as its first client. The company, Quantium UK, has appointed former Grey Global Group chief Ian Liddicoat managing...

Amnesty takes donor management in-house.
March 21, 2008... Human rights organisation Amnesty International is taking control of its donor database with the appointment of data software company The Software Bureau. The organisation will use the Cygnus product to manage its vast donor database....

Data8 unveils Excel-based data solution.(Brief article)
March 21, 2008... Marketers will be able to clean their data within Microsoft Excel - with no need for any programming capability or IT knowledge - with the launch of an online solution from Data8. The Integr8 platform uses a postcode as a reference point,...

Why engagement is the only answer.
March 21, 2008... I believe that the key to avoiding channel fatigue is engagement; and ongoing success in email marketing is very much about engagement. As marketers we are also consumers, in both the B2B and B2C world. In this respect we are no different...

ANALYSIS: How much money are you wasting on email marketing?
March 21, 2008... Email marketing may be touted by many brand owners as the next big thing, but how effective is it? The latest figures suggest that marketers still have much to learn when it comes to improving deliverability Trying to find a brand owner...

ANALYSIS: The #1.6bn deal to give online ads a personal touch.
March 21, 2008... Google's acquisition of DoubleClick seems set to change the online display advertising landscape forever. But how will Google's expansion plans impact on consumers' privacy? Online display advertising is growing at 33 per cent year on...

ANALYSIS: Are you willing to tarnish your brand over sloppy data?
March 21, 2008... With the memory of data-gate still fresh in the mind, confidence in data security is at an all time low and consumers are showing that they are not prepared to take unnecessary risks With one in six UK consumers affected by ID fraud and...

OPINION: Why pull apart the perfect bedfellows?(Column)
March 21, 2008... The blurring of the lines between marketing disciplines has been well debated, but it still seems that many consider digital to be self contained. This was highlighted in the AAR report which revealed a dramatic dip in direct marketing pitches...

LETTER: Are incentives an act of irresponsibility?(Letter to the editor)
March 21, 2008... Your news analysis 'Can charities shake off accusations of donor bribery?' (PM, March 7) reignites the debate over charities' use of incentives. As you note, The Institute of Fundraising (IoF) will soon unveil the results of its review...

LETTER: Taking heed of green duties.(Letter to the editor)
March 21, 2008... Charles Ping recently pointed out in his profile ('Shooting from the lip', PM, February 22) that marketers need to be wary of the environmental aspects of direct mail, and rightly so with the Defra target looming. Of course, all business...

LETTER: Online is not the only solution.(Letter to the editor)
March 21, 2008... I agree entirely that the principal advantages online service providers enjoy are those of reduced cost and speed of turnaround ('An online solution', PM, February 22). However, our personal jury remains out as to how effective these...

VIEWPOINT: Charities must find new 'golden goose'.
March 21, 2008... As consumers increasingly reject cold mail, the charity sector must adopt more sophisticated methods to develop levels of support. The real challenge, though, is to find a long-term solution One of the main pillars of direct marketing's...

LEADER: Are you committing Facebook suicide?
March 21, 2008... Heard the one about the Facebook user who got dumped by her partner after he became heinously jealous because she was being bombarded by ex- boyfriends desperate to catch up? Or about the bloke who was fired from his job for slagging off his...

CONSUMER INSIGHT: A comfortable life awaits in suburbia.
March 21, 2008... Away from the hustle and bustle of the city, 'settled suburbanites' have created a comfortable environment for themselves Settled suburban communities are made up of empty nesters and retired older couples. Their homes tend to be...

Creative Critique: 21.03.08.(Chemistry Communications Group PLC)(Brief article)
March 21, 2008... Mike Cavers Executive Creative DirectorChemistry Communications In this very busy world of ours, it's hard enough trying to have a relationship with my wife and kids let alone with a myriad of brands that are trying to woo me via every...

PAPER & ENVELOPES: Pushing the envelope.
March 21, 2008... Why has Pricing in Proportion not delivered the move to more lightweight envelope formats and print solutions that many experts predicted? Steve Hemsley When Pricing in Proportion (PiP) was introduced more than 18 months ago,...

LIST/INSERT FILE: Database offers generous donors.
March 21, 2008... Christian organisation Hopegivers International is releasing its file of donors for rental through EDM Media. The charity provides hope for children in the world's poorest countries. This highly responsive list comprises over 4,500 active...

LIST/INSERT FILE: Catalogues unveil mature buyers.
March 21, 2008... Damart and Andre de brett lists have recently been updated through Millenium Direct. Combined, they now provide access to over 2.5 million mail order buyers. Damart is well known for its thermal underwear. The catalogue also contains a...

LIST/INSERT FILE: File ideal for family focused offers.(Brief article)
March 21, 2008... Mail order company 1st Class Celebrations has updated its file and is now offering over 25,000 buyers for rental through Fig Tree DM. The company sells a range of party products for birthdays, anniversaries, weddings and christenings via...