Revolution articles from January 2006

Revolution archives from January 2006

Letter from the editor.(Brief Article)(Editorial)
January 25, 2006... If ever an award existed for the most difficult job in marketing, Rebecca Morgan, head of marketing communications at BT and star of this month's cover story (p30), could give the heads of corporate social responsibility at Texaco and Total a...

Topshop in talks about revamp of transactional online service.
January 25, 2006... Arcadia-owned Topshop is in the early stages of developing an e-commerce site, expected to roll out in the middle of the year. The high-street fashion retailer has been in talks with Progenit, the consultancy set up by AKQA founder Matthew...

Boots targets users' - New Year resolve.(Brief Article)
January 25, 2006... Boots is encouraging people to 'Change one thing' in the new year as part of an integrated campaign that embraces TV, online, SMS, email and press. The promo, created by Mother, is based on the idea that people overstretch themselves with...

Agencies fight for Vodafone's UK web brief.
January 25, 2006... Modem Media and Agency.com are among the digital agencies battling it out for Vodafone's UK digital marketing account. The mobile operator put the account up for pitch last month and is expected to overhaul its online strategy. ...

Deal: 02 partners with Rightmove.co.uk.
January 25, 2006... O2 has partnered exclusively with property site Rightmove.co.uk to offer its property-finder service on i-mode-enabled mobiles. Rightmove claims this will give O2's i-mode users access to more than 660,000 properties to buy or rent in the UK...

Deal: Avenue A/Razorfish buys DNA.
January 25, 2006... Avenue A/Razorfish has bought UK full-service digital agency DNA for an upfront payment of pounds 2.8m, with more to come, based on its performance over the next three years. DNA will keep its brand identity and operate as a subsidiary of...

Deal: Blinkx launches a co-branded toolbar.
January 25, 2006... Search technology provider blinkx has launched a co-branded toolbar with the Times Online in its first major distribution deal. Times Online users will be able to search their PCs for information, as well as the web, and receive Times content...

Deal: BiBC signs an agreement.
January 25, 2006... Online video download service The British Internet Broadcasting Company (BiBC) has signed an agreement to provide services to Tiscali UK. Tiscali will offer its own-branded version of BiBC's BoxOffice365.com to broadband customers.

Deal: Daily Mail and General Trust buy Primelocation.(Brief Article)
January 25, 2006... Daily Mail and General Trust has bought Primelocation, one of the leading UK property sites, for pounds 48 million. The portal, which focuses on the upper and middle segments of the UK residential market, was set up by 50 leading estate agents,...

Deal: FIFA strikes a deal with Kitbag.
January 25, 2006... World football governing body FIFA has struck a deal with online sportswear specialist Kitbag to operate the official e-store for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, outside Germany. A full range of kit from the 32 competing nations, as well as other 2006...

Deal: Cricinfo.com signs a deal with Yahoo!
January 25, 2006... Cricket site Cricinfo.com has signed a deal with Yahoo! to offer new search facilities. The deal will see a Yahoo! search box being featured on every page of the site and allow visitors to download a co-branded Cricinfo.com/Yahoo! Search...

Deal: Mirror.co.uk teams with Fish4jobs.
January 25, 2006... Mirror.co.uk has teamed with Fish4jobs to provide users with access to its claimed 40,000 UK job vacancies. Fish4jobs also claims to attract 1.3 million jobseekers each month.

Deal: Saga begins a partnership with MSN Money.
January 25, 2006... Saga began a partnership with MSN Money, the portal's finance site, to offer a channel dedicated to offering information and advice on financial services for the over-50s. According to the two firms, 38 per cent of people aged over 45 have...

Deal: Two Way TV and Celador International announce a deal.
January 25, 2006... Two Way TV and Celador International has announced a deal under which Two Way TV will create and launch the first interactive cable version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? on NTL and Telewest. UK cable viewers will be able to compete...

Heinz shuts central team after review.(Brief Article)
January 25, 2006... Heinz is to give its agencies greater responsibility, including digital, following a UK restructure involving 70 redundancies. As part of a review conducted in October, Heinz has dropped its 11-strong central consultancy team, comprised of...

Estee Lauder opens two online stores.
January 25, 2006... Estee Lauder has taken a bold step into e-tail with the launch of two web shops for its Estee Lauder and Clinique brands. The beauty giant has added an e-commerce facility to the relaunched Esteelauder.co.uk and Clinique.co.uk in a move...

Mercedes-Benz plans mobile site and more integrated focus.(Mercedes-Benz UK )(Brief Article)
January 25, 2006... Mercedes-Benz UK has committing itself to mobile marketing following successful trials of mobile web sites last year. The car firm is planning its first permanent mobile site, which will act as the destination for its WAP and text-code...

Good month/bad month.(Brief Article)
January 25, 2006... Good news for three digital agencies - Agency.com, Goodtechnology and Wheel - which were elected into the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising at its quarterly council meeting last month. It takes the number of digital, specialist agencies...

Volkswagen entices women to Polo with online 'angel' promo.
January 25, 2006... Volkswagen is targeting young, independent women with a major integrated campaign for the Polo, which heavily pushes its safety features. Creative for the campaign, which includes a substantial online element developed by digital creative...

Revenue push reminds Child Trust parents.
January 25, 2006... The Government's HM Revenue and Customs department has kicked off an online campaign to remind parents to redeem their Child Trust Fund vouchers. Banner ads are being run across sites like Thesun.co.uk, Itv.co.uk and Ebay.co.uk. ...

Corgi celebrates 50 with interactive site.
January 25, 2006... Corgi has launched a microsite and online marketing push to celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2006. The landing page of the model toy brand's microsite (www.corgi50.co.uk) has been designed as a dashboard on which users can move knobs and...

Just breaking: Top 10 breaking banners by impressions (1-30 November 2005).(Illustration)
January 25, 2006... 1. Ultralase Get the look you've dreamed of 2. Vodafone For the best Vodafone Christmas deals 3. Warranty Direct Get it covered 4. BP Discover more 5. Eurotunnel ...

Masterfoods boosts Dolmio pouch range.
January 25, 2006... Masterfoods is embarking on an email campaign and site promotion for a new ready meal for its Dolmio pasta sauce brand. The product, which is still being tested and has yet to be named, will be an addition to Dolmio's pouch-product range...

Account wins.
January 25, 2006... Expedia has awarded its pounds 14 million creative account to DFGW, after a pitch against VCCP and Delaney Lund Knox Warren & Partners, managed by AAR. It followed Clenmow Hornby Inge's resignation of the account. James Villa Holidays has...

Owen on digital media: Let's enjoy the fun while the digital sector's still young.
January 25, 2006... If you've never seen the documentary The Men From The Agency, you really should keep an eye out for the next repeat. It documents the early careers of Charles Saatchi, David Puttnam and Alan Parker at Collett Dickenson Pearce in the 1960s....

Holmes Place joins Handbag for promo.
January 25, 2006... Holmes Place has linked with women's portal Handbag.com for a promotion aimed at driving memberships at the fitness chain's gyms in January. The 'Make a Promise' online push coincides with a door-drop campaign and is designed to help...

Yahoo! UK offers free online house search.
January 25, 2006... Norwich Union is sponsoring a new, free house-search service on Yahoo! UK & Ireland. It enables UK house-hunters to source the sale price of any house or flat sold in England or Wales since 2000, and in Scotland since 2003. The House...

Tracker: About IPT.
January 25, 2006... IPT is a supplier of email marketing data and services, with brands such as MyOffers and OK-mail providing permission-based data to advertisers every quarter. IPT's low-cost managed email-delivery service, EmailBureau, sent more than 190...

Siblu signs partners to promote rebrand.(contracts with Netmums)(Brief Article)
January 25, 2006... Siblu, formerly Haven Europe, is pouring half of its marketing budget online this year - 30 per cent more than in 2005 - and has signed several online sponsorships to raise awareness of its new name and drive sales. The travel brand is...

Buycosmetics urges users to kick habit.
January 25, 2006... Buycosmetics.com is to run an online push, fronted by model Sophie Anderton, as part of a pounds 1 million campaign to push its quit-smoking product SOS. The campaign comes as the company, which makes pounds 5m a year online, has doubled...

BA launches 'Londoner's London' site.(British Airways)(Brief Article)
January 25, 2006... British Airways has launched a site as part of its new 'London is closer than you think' integrated campaign, aimed at driving European bookings to London. Londoniscloser.com was developed by brand-response agency Lida to provide 'a slice...

Griffiths on Mobile: I forecast a winning year for the industry, but not for England.
January 25, 2006... Twelve months ago, I made my predictions for 2005. Now it's time to see how I did and to make my forecasts for 2006. 1) In 2005, the UK mobile population rose to a staggering 63 million (I estimated 58m), while text volumes were 32 billion...

BT to boost brand spend in new online media strategy.
January 25, 2006... BT is planning to overhaul its online marketing strategy and dedicate more of its substantial budget - thought to be the biggest in the UK - to building its brand online. The move comes after it hired Zed as digital media agency last July,...

Sony rolls out digital promo for PSP version of Lemmings game.
January 25, 2006... Sony has launched an extensive pan-European web marketing push to promote the launch of its PSP game Lemmings. The campaign includes a microsite (www.yourpsp.com/lemmings), viral marketing and banner advertising. The viral shows a...

The Barbican unveils new look web site.
January 25, 2006... The Barbican has relaunched its site in a bid to make online a key focus of its marketing strategy. Barbican.org.uk has been redesigned to attract more revenue by building stronger relationships with both new and existing users. The...

Time thief: Dan Brown - CRM manager at Mazda, tells us about his day.
January 25, 2006... 20% I get up and make salad for the day and then I head off for work. I drive the MXi brand new model. I just enjoy the car. Sometimes I take myself off around the B roads to enjoy the roads and think a bit. It's a good way to collect my...

Avon devises mobile drive and site refit.
January 25, 2006... Avon plans to overhaul both its reseller site, which accounts for more than pounds 100 million annual sales, and its consumer presence in early 2006. The main focus will be to re-develop the B2B site for its 160,000 reps (www.avon.uk.com),...

Gaffney on America: The power of brand images should not be lost on the web.
January 25, 2006... I have a Google problem. It's not the inflated stock price or the digital book initiative. It's an image problem. With all the attention we pay over here to contextual ads and micro-targeting, I think we need to remember the power of the...

Performance index.(Brief Article)
January 25, 2006... 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 month, and the worst performing...

Moving on up: Appointment at Egg.
January 25, 2006... Egg has appointed Alison Wright as chief marketing officer. She joins from WCRS where she was business director on the Abbey account. In her new role, Wright will take on responsibility for brand marketing, sales and research and sit on Egg's...

Moving on up: Appointment at Times Newspapers.
January 25, 2006... Times Newspapers has hired Simon Bell as sales and marketing director, with responsibility for all marketing for The Times, The Sunday Times and Times Online. He joins from Hachette Filipacchi. Bell spent the first 12 years of his marketing...

Moving on up: Appointment at The Cloud.
January 25, 2006... Wi-Fi provider The Cloud has hired ex-BT global VP of service delivery Bobby Sarin as chief operating officer. As a senior executive at BT Global Services, he was responsible for a pounds 9bn revenue stream from over 120 countries.

Moving on up: Appointment at Cheapflights.
January 25, 2006... Cheapflights has promoted Shahin Fard from online marketing manager to head of online marketing and global SEO. He will report to commercial director Rob Passmore and work closely with Andrew Canellos, director of marketing.

Moving on up: Appointment at Dog Digital.
January 25, 2006... UK digital marketing consultancy Dog Digital has hired Robert Johnson as an animation designer. He will carry out projects for clients such as Edinburgh International Conference Centre, Scottish Enterprise and Scottish Life.

Moving on up: Appointment at Mook.
January 25, 2006... Lex de Wynter has joined Mook as head of strategy. He brings eight years' experience of digital, most recently at ID-Media.

Moving on up: Appointment at Clayton Graham e-Business.
January 25, 2006... John Muir has joined Clayton Graham e-Business as business development manager and Nigel Hume as interactive designer, leaving Mammoth in Northern Ireland. Iain Simpson has joined the programming team.

Moving on up: Appointment at Sportingbet.
January 25, 2006... Sportingbet's board has made David Hobday chief operating officer. He moves from his previous role as HBOS managing director, direct, in the consumer division. Earlier, he was deputy MD of the consumer division at Telewest Communications. He...

Moving on up: Appointment at Yahoo!
January 25, 2006... Yahoo! has hired Mitch Lazar as VP, business development, Connected Life. Lazar will be based in London and report to Jim Schinella, global VP, business development, based in the US

Moving on up: Appointment at Modem Media.
January 25, 2006... Gareth Mulryan has moved from Proximity to join Modem Media as VP, AD Media, working across all accounts. He spent five years as director of online media at Proximity, where he worked with Shell, Sainsbury's and Save the Children.

Moving on up: Appointment at Opera Telecom.
January 25, 2006... Mobile services company Opera Telecom has appointed Mark Sawyer as sales manager for network operators and platforms. His responsibilities will include developing relationships with network operators.

Moving on up: Appointment at Framfab.
January 25, 2006... Framfab, has made two appointments: Julie Lane (left) as marketing director and Jonathan Axworthy as media director at Framfab's UK office. Lane previously held the business development position for Organic in San Francisco, while Jonathan was...

Moving on up: Appointment at WDMP.
January 25, 2006... Integrated agency WDMP has appointed Gary Newbury as a senior account manager to work on retention work for Carphone Warehouse Mobile and the TalkTalk brand.

Moving on up: Appointment at Shazam.(Jonathan Symons)(Brief Article)
January 25, 2006... Jonathan Symons has been appointed business development director at mobile music recognition service Shazam. He will be responsible for the global development of the company and drive uptake of new services among Shazam's current customers....

Moving on up: Appointment at Greenlight.
January 25, 2006... Search engine marketing specialist Greenlight has hired Joy Remuzzi as business development and marketing manager.

Moving on up: Appointment at swamp.(Peter Ebsworth)(Brief Article)
January 25, 2006... Peter Ebsworth, former marketing services manager at Heinz, has moved to its digital agency, swamp, as business development consultant after taking early retirement. He worked at Heinz for 24 years and with swamp's CEO, Simon Wadsworth,...

More Than hunts for extra site partners.(Brief Article)
January 25, 2006... More Than plans to increase its digital marketing spend by 15 to 20 per cent in 2006, and is negotiating major sponsorship deals with media owners in a bid to focus more on branding. The insurance company spent about pounds 6 million on the...

Europeans flock to web rather than TV.(Brief Article)
January 25, 2006... The amount of time European consumers spend on the web is growing at a faster rate than any other medium, according to the European Interactive Advertising Bureau (EIAA). Its research, involving 7,000 interviews from September to October...

Revolution to stage search conference.(Brief Article)
January 25, 2006... Hilton, Interflora, More Than and Lastminute.com are among the brands to have signed up to share their expertise at Revolution's first conference dedicated to search marketing. Lucrative Search Marketing, which takes place at The Dorchester...

Pankhurst on dotcom life: Sadness and pride as we wave farewell to Friends Reunited.
January 25, 2006... It has been a weird week for us, and in some ways you could say it has been a weird five years. What started off as a simple idea and was never imagined to be anything more than a hobby for my wife, Julie, has ended up as a vast collection of...

Digital direct: RSS offers users and marketers what they want.(Really Simple Syndication)(Brief Article)
January 25, 2006... Online marketers share many of the same concerns as the consumers they want to reach. Both groups want better control over the communications process, which RSS (Really Simple Syndication) can deliver. Often associated with blogs, RSS is...

Ford changes tack after e-zine success.
January 25, 2006... Ford is to ramp up its pan-European email-marketing plans in 2006 after running a series of trial campaigns, including a customer e-zine, last year. The car maker is expected to send up to 60 marketing emails per month to customer groups...

Direct Stats: Research into paid search.(Brief Article)
January 25, 2006... This month: Research into paid search shows 23 per cent of conversions are latent, reports Philip Buxton. The study by agency Spannerworks analysed 22,000 conversions, including e-sales, airline bookings and form sign-ups. Using...

Lastminute unveils new brand strategy.(Lastminute.com Plc)(Brief Article)
January 25, 2006... Lastminute.com is launching a major content-led brand strategy for 2006 that includes book publishing, online content development, films, and TV, following its acquisition by Sabre Holdings last year. The Lastminute Living project, which...

Gossard backs new sports bra on web.
January 25, 2006... Gossard is launching a new web site and online marketing campaign to support its Shock Absorber range of sports bras. The site, which will form the focus of an integrated campaign in January, represents the first major online presence for...

Vital statistics: Consumer-facing sites.
January 25, 2006... This month: Many firms lack control over the content of their consumer-facing sites. Susie Harwood reports. Large companies are losing grip of their brands as the number of sites they own spirals out of control, according to research...

Analysis: ASA takes charge over viral ads.(Advertising Standards Association)
January 25, 2006... The Advertising Standards Association (ASA) has confirmed that viral marketing will come under its remit and be covered under the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) code in the new year. The body is drafting a document that treats...

News Analysis: Vodafone to raise its profile online.
January 25, 2006... Vodafone is in the final stages of picking a digital agency to work alongside its above-the-line agencies, JWT and Bartle Bogle Hegarty. Modem Media and Agency.com are known to be pitching against one another as the operator aims to...

News Analysis: Analytics market moves up a gear.
January 25, 2006... When Google made its analytics package free to businesses last autumn, it added pressure to a sector already on the move. Analytics firms responded to competition with new products or by joining with other firms to offer in-depth services....

Vox pop: Does email marketing still offer value to advertisers?
January 25, 2006... As open rates slide, what's the future for email marketing? DoubleClick's latest report shows email open rates falling for the fifth consecutive quarter. One reason is that ISPs' filter devices are making it harder for emails to reach...

Quotes of the month.
January 25, 2006... 'My first thought was that it wasn't a fair fight as 'The Office' is shown in 80 countries around the world. Steve (Merchant)'s first thought was 'why aren't we charging for it?', and Karl (Pilkington's) first thought was, 'Is a chimp allowed...

Editorial: Proof of brand is vital for growth.(Editorial)
January 25, 2006... It's not often these days that the digital industry has criticism to face. Indeed, as clients and media owners queued up to say how much they dislike online brand-research tools for our feature this month (p58), it would have been easy to...

Comment: Is the UK punching below its weight in usability?
January 25, 2006... World Usability Day last November was a seminal day for usability in the UK. This gathering of usability and human computer-interaction (HCI) professionals was a real sign that the sector has truly come of age. A wide range of topics affecting...

Shopping Review: An Alpine tour de force for charity.
January 25, 2006... One glass of Rioja too many on a Wednesday evening and I signed myself up to a mini Tour de France charity event in aid of The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association. The itinerary, as explained by Peter, was not too taxing, just a week cycling...

Shopping stats: Good news for online financial services.
January 25, 2006... More people use the web for financial services than ever, but fears remain. More than half of UK internet users use online financial services - 15.3 million. This marks a rise, from 21 per cent of UK users in the 12 months ending July...

Sector checker: Barclays' web site strategy could do with more thought.
January 25, 2006... Buy3Cows.com's Jeremy Hill says Barclays has some good ideas, but could do more to exploit them and improve the user experience. Web: www.barclays.co.uk Developer: Dare Barclays has replaced its old strapline 'Fluent In finance'...

A voice for digital.
January 25, 2006... BT's Rebecca Morgan tells Susie Harwood that online is key if the firm is to shed its image as a telecoms giant and become the UK's principal digital provider of tomorrow. As the UK's number one broadband player, it is perhaps no surprise...

Sector plans for days ahead.
January 25, 2006... Susie Harwood asks Revolution's 2005 cover stars and other experts about their predictions for 2006. If someone had predicted 12 months ago that UK online ad spend would overtake radio, outdoor and consumer magazines, few in the industry...

The Revolution Affiliate Marketing Report: Sponsored by TradeDoubler.
January 25, 2006... Relevant content is key for 2006. Throughout 2005, online advertising once again experienced significant growth, leading Jupiter Research to predict that 3.8 per cent of total ad budgets in Europe would be spent online by the year-end,...

The Revolution Affiliate Marketing Report: Thomas Cook gets it right.
January 25, 2006... Sponsored by TradeDoubler. Realising the benefits of online, the travel brand has turned its affiliate marketing programme around, finds Suzy Bashford. In April 2004, the words 'Thomas Cook' were dirt in the affiliate world. It closed...

Affiliate networks: How to find your perfect partner.
January 25, 2006... With so many new players swelling the sector, how should clients go about choosing a network? Affiliate marketing has come a long way. E-consultancy predicts that UK sales generated by affiliate networks in 2005 will be pounds 1.1 billion...

Campaign measurement: Brand research under fire.
January 25, 2006... Many marketers are still not convinced that online ads are a good investment, but better, cheaper measuring tools could help win over the sceptics, says Emma Rigby. Like the fabled emperor persuaded that he looked great in his new clothes,...

Masterclass: The Revolution Masterclass on campaign microsites.
January 25, 2006... A dedicated micosite can add crucial depth to a campaign, but it is vital that marketers consider their aims carefully, says Suzy Bashford. Nowadays, it's rare to see any traditional advertising, be it TV, outdoor or press, that doesn't...

Trailblazer: A higher level.
January 25, 2006... I-level co-founder Charlie Dobres tells Emma Rigby how the agency's spin-off business plans to help digital clients. Given the success he's already had in helping brands make sense of the internet, Generator Consulting's new chairman,...

Creative review: Daniel Bonner, executive creative director, AKQA.
January 25, 2006... Bonner joined AKQA in 1997 to partner its executive creative director and co-founder James Hilton. Bonner has been central to building the company into the independent global network it is today, and has developed award-winning brand campaigns,...