Revolution articles from February 2003

Revolution archives from February 2003

Letter from the editor.(Brief Article)(Editorial)
February 1, 2003... Welcome to Revolution's first issue of 2003. And, as you will doubtless have noticed by now, a brand new look. Certainly, there are plenty of new ideas, features and pages as we embark on a regular monthly schedule, but our key mission is still...

Auto Trader to let users send vehicle images to WAP phones.(new service from Auto Trader)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Motor classifieds company Auto Trader has launched a service on its web site (www.autotrader.co.uk) that allows users to send images of vehicles to their mobile phone. The offering, powered by technology from mobile software company...

Barclaycard in football tie-up with Freeserve.(Premiership web site 4thegame.com signs 1-year deal)
February 1, 2003... Barclaycard's Premiership web site, 4thegame.com, has signed a 12-month deal to sponsor Freeserve's football channel. 4thegame.com - the offical web site of the Premiership sponsor, currently Barclaycard - will provide content for the...

Top Opodo marketer exits for brand shop.(Nicolas De Santis joins Twelve Stars Communications)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Nicolas De Santis, marketing director of European travel portal Opodo, has left the company to join international branding and business consultancy Twelve Stars Communications as chief executive and vice-chairman. Twelve Stars clients...

DEALS.(several partnership deals, briefly noted)
February 1, 2003... - Priceline.com Europe has struck a deal with Online Travel Corporation (OTC), the online travel supplier and retailer. OTC will supply Priceline with e-travel services including flights, build-your-own holidays, package holidays, ferries, ski,...

L'Oreal builds colour clinic site for Fructis.(promotion of Fructis Color Last line of hair care products)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Cosmetics giant L'Oreal has created a microsite as part of an integrated campaign to promote its Fructis Color Last range of hair care products. The Colour Clinic site, designed by marketing communications consultancy Matinee, aims to...

Halifax creates site based on offline ad star.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Halifax has launched a microsite themed around Howard, the star of the bank's integrated advertising campaigns. The site, called Howard's Home, was created by DLKW Dialogue, the digital arm of ad agency Delaney Lund Knox Warren, which...

Government ploughs pounds 1.1m into bid to deter youth from crime.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... The Government has invested pounds 1.1m in a web site to deter young people from a life of crime. The site, which will launch in April, has been created by digital agency Digit, with content from the Citizenship Foundation charity. The...

Good month/bad month.(text messaging increases in popularity, while the U.K. government promotes child safety on the Internet)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... This has been a good month for text messaging. Brits saw in the New Year by sending 102 million text messages on New Year's Day - up 59 per cent on 2002, according to the Mobile Data Association. Comparison shopping also did well. Although...

JUST BREAKING.(Top 10 breaking banners by impressions (1 - 31 December 2002))(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... TOP 10 BREAKING BANNERS BY IMPRESSIONS (1 - 31 DECEMBER 2002) 1 Amazon UK Need inspiration for Christmas? 2 Dell Computer Corporation Exterminate granny this Christmas 3 Hewlett-Packard Shoot it, select...

Fox Kids Europe builds local sites for football tournament.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Children's entertainment company Fox Kids Europe is launching 10 localised web sites to promote its children's global six-a-side football tournament, Fox Kids Cup, as part of a multi-million-pound integrated marketing campaign. Sites for...

Munchsters in cartoon bid to stoke interest.(Glanbia UK updates Munchsters web site)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Food giant Glanbia UK has updated its Munchsters-branded web site (www.munchsters.com) with a Flash cartoon. The site, which was designed by brand consultancy Design Bridge, launched last year as part of Glanbia's pounds 2 million...

Government creates pounds 1m child safety ads.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... The Government has launched a pounds 1 million advertising campaign to promote child safety on the internet, as it tries to stop young people from giving away personal details to strangers. Advertising will run on teen web sites and...

Domino's promotes web ordering online.(online campaign from Domino's Pizza)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Domino's Pizza has launched an online campaign to drive sales through its web site (www.dominos.co.uk). The web push, which includes banners, pop-ups and small buttons, is part of a nationwide 'Any Pizza, Any Size, pounds 9.99' drive. ...

ACCOUNT WINS.(list of IT services contracts awarded)
February 1, 2003... Scottish Widows has appointed new-media publisher Scotland On Line to provide web hosting services. The two-year contract is worth more than pounds 500,000. Scotland On Line will provide account management, service management and full hosting...

OWEN ON DIGITAL MEDIA: Mobile marketers will find out how intrusive they can be in 2003.(Editorial)
February 1, 2003... Of all the forecasts made for 2003, the one I have the least doubt we will see is an enormous increase in marketing to mobile phones. Much has been written about the number of text messages people send each other, but only a handful contain...

Zurich UK overhauls commercial offering.(web site to be relaunched)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Zurich's UK commercial business is relaunching its web site (www.zurich.co.uk/commercial). The insurance brand has appointed interactive agency Fortune Cookie to design a new look and feel for the site, which is due to go live later this...

AOL signs retailers to push broadband.(deals with The Carphone Warehouse and Comet)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... AOL has teamed up with high-street retailers Comet and The Carphone Warehouse to promote its broadband service. Shoppers can sign up for AOL Broadband and buy an Easy-Install modem pack in the stores across the UK. Comet is promoting...

Orange to introduce WAP micropayments.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Mobile phone users on the Orange network are now able to pay directly to their bills using reverse SMS. Subscribers to Orange can make micropayments for any content by clicking a link on the screen of their WAP-enabled device, following a...

Which? Web Trader service set to close.(Consumers' Association to cease service)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Consumers' Association hopes to save 'hundreds of thousands of pounds' a year by closing its Which? Web Trader scheme. The scheme, a voluntary, consumer-focused code of practice for online traders in the UK, will close at the end of this...

Royal Mail launches DM service on web.(online direct marketing service)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Royal Mail is launching an online direct marketing service aimed at small- and medium-sized businesses. DM Online, which is accessed via Royal Mail's web site at www.royalmail.com/dmonline, allows users to undertake the whole process of...

Confetti.co.uk to unveil first men's channel.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Multi-channel wedding specialist confetti.co.uk is launching its first service dedicated to men. The Men at Weddings channel gives advice on speeches, stag parties, honeymoons and first-night hotels. It is based on confetti.co.uk's book of...

SQUIRES ON MOBILE: 3G technology must be sold in terms the user can understand.(Column)
February 1, 2003... If 2003 is set to be the year of the internet, as consumers have finally developed trust in speed of delivery and fulfilment when buying online, there are some key questions for the mobile market to answer. Particularly with the consumer...

Thomas Cook set to offer broadband kiosks in-store.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Travel company Thomas Cook plans to roll out an in-store kiosk system in 10 of its high-street shops to promote its new broadband web site. The site (www.thomascookbroadband.com), which cost 'a couple of hundred thousand pounds' according...

Centrum launches interactive microsite in brand loyalty drive.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Multivitamin brand Centrum has unveiled a microsite to raise awareness and encourage take-up of the brand. The site (www.centrum.co.uk/feelgoodfactor) will run for a year as a loyalty drive. Site visitors are greeted with an interactive...

O2 introduces Bollywood WAP news services.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Mobile operator O2 has unveiled a Bollywood service that aims to provide anyone interested in the Indian movie industry with news and information. Bollywood fans can access the latest celebrity news - updated daily - gossip and interviews,...

TIME THIEF.(Boaz Tal of Txt Me TV describes how he spends his time)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Boaz Tal, MD of iTV channel Txt Me TV, explains how his time is spent. 30% Management A lot of editorial decisions need to be made when you chat with people on-air. There is a lot of dialogue between the TJs (text jockeys) and myself,...

HarperCollins teams up with Nickelodeon.(partnership to promoted Angels Unlimited book series)
February 1, 2003... Publisher HarperCollins is partnering with Nickelodeon UK to promote its girls' book series Angels Unlimited online. HarperCollins hopes to build awareness and drive sales of Angels Unlimited, targeted at 9- to 13-year-old girls, via a...

PERFORMANCE INDEX.(top 10 web sites in terms of availability and speed for December 2002)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... The Revolution Keynote Performance Index measures the performance of 20 representative sites from across the digital economy in terms of speed of loading and site availability. The top 10 are featured each week, and the worst performing web...

GAFFNEY ON AMERICA: Focusing on basics means we can finally ignore 'bubble' talk.(observations about internet marketing)(Column)
February 1, 2003... If someone in the US talks about 'bubbles' - you know, the internet bubble, the post-bubble economy - I start thinking about the character from Absolutely Fabulous. Bubbles are gone over here. We're all back to basics. Hold the cliches about...

MOVING ON UP: Appointment at Proximity London.(new head of digital services)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Marketing agency Proximity London has appointed John Baker, former managing director of digital shop Organic, to the new role of head of digital services. Baker was managing director of Organic until it merged with Agency.com last July. He then...

MOVING ON UP: Appointment at Digital Interactive Television Group.(John Swingewood appointed director)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... John Swingewood has joined the board of the Digital Interactive Television Group as a director. He has also taken a stake in the privately owned company. He was formerly head of new media at Sky; prior to that, he was director of BT's internet...

MOVING ON UP: Appointment at e-relationship marketing.(Audrie Wells joins digital marketing firm)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Audrie Wells has left Royal Mail to join digital marketing firm e-relationship marketing (e-rm) as new-business development manager. Wells was at Royal Mail for nine years, advising clients on direct marketing strategy. In her new role, she...

MOVING ON UP: Appointment at Toffee-apple.(advisory creative director hired)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Digital-media company Toffee-apple has named Paul Bishop advisory creative director. Bishop joins from Atos KPMG Consulting, where he was creative director, working with clients such as ntl:business.

MOVING ON UP: Appointment at e-mango.(E-business application service provider hires Ben Sturt)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... E-business application service provider e-mango has hired Ben Sturt as business development manager. Sturt, whose experience includes two years as commercial head of Lycos UK, will be responsible for spearheading e-mango's sales and marketing...

MOVING ON UP: Appointment at BBC Broadcast.(new executive creative director)
February 1, 2003... Charlie Mawer has taken on the new role of executive creative director at BBC Broadcast. He will have overall responsibility for BBC Broadcast's creative output, focusing on major campaigns and new commercial opportunities in advertising,...

MOVING ON UP: Appointment at Weboptimiser.(new business director appointed)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Weboptimiser, the search engine optimisation specialist, has appointed John Guria as new business director. Previously business development manager at Centaur Communications, Guria's remit will be to develop client and agency relationships.

MOVING ON UP: Appointment at WeightWatchers.co.uk.(web site editor Trisha Brandon hired)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Trisha Brandon has joined WeightWatchers.co.uk as web site editor. Brandon has recently worked on a freelance basis for women's site handbag.com and other web sites, writing and consulting on content, production and syndication issues. Prior to...

MOVING ON UP: Appointment at Yahoo! UK & Ireland.(head of agency sales and head of client services)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Yahoo! UK & Ireland has made two appointments as part of a restructure of its sales department. Alex Khan (left) becomes head of agency sales, while Seamus Hunn joins as head of client services. Khan will work on interactive specialist and...

MOVING ON UP: Appointment at P&O Cruises.(in-house web site designer)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... P&O Cruises has appointed Matthew Storey as its first in-house web site designer. Storey joins from new-media agency One Bad Monkey, where he was a web programmer.

MOVING ON UP: Appointment at All-Hotels.(Jil Chalmers made managing director)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Jill Chalmers has been made managing director of All-Hotels, the operator of internet brand all-hotels.com. Chalmers was previously sales director at the firm, which she joined in September 2000. She will be responsible for integrating the...

MOVING ON UP: Appointment at glue London.(interview with Ken New of digital agency glue London)(Brief Article)(Interview)
February 1, 2003... Ken New has been named a non-executive director of digital agency glue London, whose clients include Channel 4 and Ford Europe. New is a former vice-chairman of ad agency Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO and ex-chairman of media agency New PHD ...

BT creates paid-for kids' learning site.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... BT is launching an online learning subscription service to give pupils at home similar content to that available in schools. Subscribers to the service, called BT Learning Centre, will be able to choose from several content packages, each...

Virgin activity brand overhauls web site.(Virgin Experience relaunches web site)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Activity company Virgin Experience, part of the Virgin Entertainment Group, has relaunched its web site in an attempt to be more accessible and appealing. The new-look site (www.virgin.com/experience) offers details of 120 experiences...

Rail enquiries service links to thetrainline.(appointment for thetrainline from the National Rail Enquiries Service)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... The National Rail Enquiries Service (NRES) has appointed train travel e-tailer thetrainline to supply a branded online and mobile journey planning service. The seven-year contract will let consumers access timetable information and view...

PANKHURST ON DOTCOM LIFE: Life's so good when your brand gets new life as a catchphrase.(reflections on expansion of Friends Reunited)(Column)
February 1, 2003... A year makes a big difference, particularly in the case of a dotcom like Friends Reunited. In a lot of ways, it's a matter of scale. We have doubled the number of users on the site to more than eight million, so all of the things that we...

Magnet relaunches consumer web site.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Magnet, the kitchen, bedroom, home office and bathroom manufacturer, has relaunched its consumer web site with a pounds 100,000-plus online spend. The site (www.magnet.co.uk) aims to be the first point of contact for consumers looking for...

Gradunet returns to student job arena.(studentUK relaunches graduate recruitment site)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Web publisher studentUK has relaunched Gradunet, the online graduate recruitment site it bought in 2001. The company, which is majority-owned by facilities management firm Jarvis, has integrated the site (www.gradunet.co.uk) with...

MY INBOX.(Nick McConnell weighs in on email spam and its possible banning)(Column)
February 1, 2003... Nick McConnell chairman of the DMA Email Marketing Council and UK country manager of Digital Impact, is hopeful that email spam will soon be ruled illegal. How many of the emails you receive are marketing-related? About 30 to 40 per cent....

Sony builds site for global game launch.(Sony Computer Entertainment Europe to promote Sly Raccoon via web site)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Sony Computer Entertainment Europe is launching a web site as part of an integrated global campaign to promote its new game, Sly Raccoon. The site (www.slyschool.com), created by integrated media agency Random Media, aims to generate...

Littlewoods to offer scratchcards via iTV.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Littlewoods is introducing a range of instant-win scratchcard games on its Play Littlewoods service from Sky Active. The interactive games are available through the Sky Active red button. Players have a one-in-three chance of winning...

VITAL STATISTICS.(trends in usage of travel web sites)
February 1, 2003... This week The weather may be driving people abroad, but are travel sites keeping up, asks Charlotte Goddard. The UK can be pretty grim in the winter, particularly as it always seems to catch transport and utility providers by surprise. Snow...

ANALYSIS: Libel ruling vexes web publishers.
February 1, 2003... Web publishers have been scuttling to their lawyers following a decision by the Australian High Court to allow an Australian citizen to sue Dow Jones in Australia over an alleged defamatory article on its web site, rather than in the US, where...

ANALYSIS: Comparison sites strive for growth.(Editorial)
February 1, 2003... More and more people are now shopping online. And many more use the web to research potential purchases - which may be made online or on the high street - before taking the plunge and pulling out their wallets. This Christmas, an annual...

ANALYSIS: Confidence in interactive media is marketing's real growth sector.(Editorial)
February 1, 2003... The media downturn has been the UK's hidden recession. But away from the pain of redundancies and cost-cutting, there are reports that confidence, if not business, in digital media is picking up. What's more, the changes seem to be part of a...

VOX POP: Which digital technologies will develop most in 2003?(experts discuss the upcoming digital technologies)
February 1, 2003... Broadband, SMS, MMS and interactive TV will vie for attention this year. With the seasonal jollities over and summer a long way off, it seems opportune to consider what 2003 might hold for all things digital. Broadband is an issue that...

EDITORIAL: Digital makes mainstream charge.(Editorial)
February 1, 2003... It is easy to object to the tag of new media and here at Revolution, we have taken every opportunity to do so on more than one occasion. Certainly, there are reasons to. For one, the digital arena is no longer particularly new. New media...

COMMENT: Keep it simple and let viewers have fun with iTV.(ineractive television)
February 1, 2003... The tired question that used to greet any advance in interactive TV was whether this was the year it proved itself. In 2002, you couldn't escape it. Not only were more shows of the Big Brother model spawned, with interactivity at their heart,...

SHOPPING: Review - Gobble mighty, a prize turkey.(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2003... I wasn't even thinking turkey at first - I thought maybe beef or pheasant for Christmas dinner - but my son came home from school with a carol sheet illustrated by a small boy carrying a massive turkey, like the one from A Christmas Carol, and...

SHOPPING: Shopping stats - Sainsbury's takes the music e-tail crown.
February 1, 2003... Sainsbury's for You surprisingly beat out the music specialists in a survey into how easy it is to buy CDs online, discovers Charlotte Goddard. While offline retailers complained that Christmas sales were disappointing, it was a different...

SECTOR CHECKER: Ifyouski.com has a lot to offer winter sports fans.(an evaluation of www.ifyouski.com)
February 1, 2003... ValueClick Europe's Carl White tries out the new features on ifyouski.com and takes a look at what its rival skiing-related web sites can offer. Web www.ifyouski.com Developer In-house As an almost complete beginner planning to go...

PERSIL GETS PLAYFUL.(Persil is working to develop a brand experience online)
February 1, 2003... Persil is seeking to create a real brand experience online to bond with consumers. Ounal Bailey tells Casper van Vark how detergent can be fun. Scan the average internet user's favourites list and you'll probably find links to news,...

SEARCH ENGINE - Integration is key to search success.
February 1, 2003... As a junior in a marketing agency, the first thing drilled into me was integration and targeting - the importance of making every part of the marketing mix work as hard as possible. While it is still critical to deliver a search...

SEARCH ENGINE MARKETING: Money is no object.
February 1, 2003... Using search engines as a marketing tool is gaining in popularity as firms find they can drive traffic to their web sites at prices that suit any budget, writes Stuart Derrick. Search engine marketing has often been something of an...

SEARCH ENGINE DEVELOPMENT: New arrivals. Charlotte Goddard discovers how search engines are improving the services they offer potential advertisers.
February 1, 2003... Thanks to competition and technological leaps forward, 2003 will keep search engines and marketers interested in using search on their toes. Search engines are expanding their range of products and services, from Google's e-commerce search...

WORKPLACE MARKETING: All in a day's work.(discussion of methods of marketing in workplaces)
February 1, 2003... With staff using work time to browse for holidays or goods on the net, Youatwork's Gerry Callaghan tells Robert McLuhan how employers can control the process to their advantage. Few businesses of any size can afford not to be online these...

LOYALTY STRIKES BACK. Big-name loyalty schemes have come and gone online, but now they're making a strong comeback, backed by tie-ups with offline promotions, writes Stuart Derrick.
February 1, 2003... Big-name loyalty schemes have come and gone online, but now they're making a strong comeback, backed by tie-ups with offline promotions, writes Stuart Derrick. Loyalty programmes have had a tough time of it in the past few years, both...

CAR MANUFACTURERS: Make your marque online. Car firms are now looking beyond their own web sites to push their latest offerings to potential buyers online.
February 1, 2003... Car firms are now looking beyond their own web sites to push their latest offerings to potential buyers online. Few purchases demand more careful consideration than a car. With so much money being spent, customers need to research their...

EMAIL MARKETING MASTERCLASS: The Revolution Masterclass on Opt-in email marketing.(extensive recommendations for conducting email marketing campaigns)
February 1, 2003... How can marketers make the most of email? Charlotte Goddard finds out whether it is best to rent, buy or create an email list and how to go about it. When you consider that email campaigns can provide clickthrough and response rates that...

TRAILBLAZER: A new ball game.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Fibonacci's desktop wall charts let fans interact with sporting events and in turn help marketers to use that relationship, Keith Williams tells Charlotte Goddard. It all seems a distant memory now but, just seven months ago, normally...

OPINION: Search ads must be self-regulated.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... As search engine marketing goes from strength to strength, Nick Hynes, president of Overture Europe, tells Charlotte Goddard why it is imperative that the industry maintains a strict code of self-regulation. Marketers are increasingly aware...

CAMPAIGN OF THE MONTH.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Campaign: Ralph first birthday campaign Client: L'Oreal Agency: Matinee Sound & Vision Background: Digital activity formed part of the first birthday campaign for Ralph Lauren's youth fragrance, Ralph, which is targeted at women aged...

TERMINATOR 1: Feel someone's hot breath on your neck? That'll be a marketer.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... The phone rings. There's heavy breathing. You struggle to hear the message. As it progresses, you realise it's not an obscene phone call; it's not a friend winding you up; it's not even that attractive person you met at a party the other night....

TERMINATOR 2: You said R2D2, but what did our survey say?(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Inspired by the number of retrospectives and lists prevalent in the run-up to the new year, Terminator decided to hand out some awards of its own. First up, Top Spurious Survey of the Year, sponsored by We asked three people in the office,...

TERMINATOR 2: Will rebranding Christmas help us? In a word, no.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... It happens every year - a branding agency thinks it would be funny to rebrand Christmas in an ironic fashion and send out the results as a Christmas card. This year DraftWorldwide London sent out a booklet about rebranding Christmas as...

TERMINATOR 2: Unanswerable question can't slow Shazam.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Mobile music recognition firm Shazam rounded off a successful 2002 by scooping the Best Innovation award at the BTopenworld Interactive Music Awards. Public Enemy icon Chuck D, who was on hand to host the awards in the BT Tower, showed...