Revolution articles from July 2004

Revolution archives from July 2004

Letter from the editor.(Alliance and Leicester Commercial Bank PLC)(Brief Article)(Cover Story)
July 28, 2004... Alliance & Leicester raised more than a few eyebrows when it announced that it intended to spend some pounds 10 million on online marketing this year. The internet is often seen as a cost-cutting tool by the High Street banks, and most are...

Heinz relaunches Salad Cream site with TV sponsorship links.(Brief Article)
July 28, 2004... Heinz has relaunched its Salad Cream site to support its sponsorship of ITV soap Emmerdale and in an attempt to promote the brand's 'versatility'. The new site (www.saladcream.com), developed by digital agency Swamp, carries the 'It's All...

Kellogg's add Kogs to Kplay games site.(Brief Article)
July 28, 2004... Kellogg's has launched a new games service, especially for kids, that allows them to create their own character and compete against other children. The new service uses a set of characters called 'Kogs', which kids can create from a choice...

Whizz-Kidz reaches teens on web forum.(National disabled children's charity)(Brief Article)
July 28, 2004... National disabled children's charity Whizz-Kidz has launched an online forum for disabled young people. Aimed at teenagers, the site provides a secure destination to socialise online, swap views and find out about local activities and...

Deals: handbag.com strikes deals with Durex.(Brief Article)
July 28, 2004... Women's lifestyle portal handbag.com has struck a 12-month deal with condom brand Durex. Offering Durex a presence on the site's relationships and health and fitness channels, the campaign will run under the theme 'Let's Play' and include...

Deals: Xbox joins forces with lastminute.com.(Brief Article)
July 28, 2004... Xbox, the Microsoft games console, has joined forces with lastminute.com to promote Ibiza club nights. Xbox is supporting 'We love...' parties via dedicated microsite www.welovexbox.com, using lastminute.com's white-label technology platform...

Deals: Emap Advertising signs deal with Electronic Arts.(Brief Article)
July 28, 2004... Emap Advertising and Electronic Arts have signed a cross-media deal to promote the launch of Need for Speed Underground 2 across Max Power magazine, Maxpower.co.uk, live events and SMS. Brokered by MediaCom, the deal follows on from last year's...

Deals: MSN deal with Encarta.(Brief Article)
July 28, 2004... MSN search users can search the whole of Encarta's range of online encyclopaedia after a deal between the two companies to boost the overhauled MSN search service (see p14). Encarta will feature on a drop-down menu next to MSN's new search box...

Deals: Experian credit monitoring service.(Brief Article)
July 28, 2004... Business service provider Experian is the exclusive provider of integrated consumer credit reporting services on Yahoo! Personal Finance (www.yahoo.co.uk/personalfinance). Users can now sign up for access to Experian's credit monitoring and...

Deals: ntl and Napster join up.(Brief Article)
July 28, 2004... Broadband provider ntl and online music service Napster have joined up to offer high-speed music downloads to broadband users at home. Napster's music service will be bundled with ntl's Broadband Plus premium content package, and offered as...

Deals: Wanadoo and Evesham Technology sign deal.(Brief Article)
July 28, 2004... Wanadoo has signed a distribution deal with IT services firm Evesham Technology. Wanadoo Broadband and Narrowband access software will be loaded on all PCs shipped by Evesham in the UK. The partnership includes print, online and direct...

Deals: The Ritz Club London Online announces agreement with Betfair.(Brief Article)
July 28, 2004... Online gaming company The Ritz Club London Online has announced a two-year agreement with online betting exchange Betfair, to develop and market a Ritz Club London Online branded version of Betfair's service. Players will be able to access the...

Deals: Correction.
July 28, 2004... In Revolution, June, p13, de-construct was referred to as the digital gaming agency behind Radio 1's Chris Moyles online game. Actually, de-construct is a digital creative agency.

Barclays raises web profile in brand push.(Brief Article)
July 28, 2004... Barclays is committing to online marketing as it looks to support its multi-million pound brand campaign starring Gary Oldman and Donald Sutherland. The bank's brand communications team has isolated web marketing as the third key step in...

Lever Faberge opens Lynx creative portal.(Brief Article)
July 28, 2004... Lever Faberge has launched UK and European portals for Lynx and its continental version, Axe. The brand portals (www.thelynxeffect.com and www.axeeffect.com) showcase new and archived creative content devised for the brands. The...

Zip TV debuts with interactive content for Honda campaign.(Brief Article)
July 28, 2004... Zip TV, the interactive TV platform backed by 11 major advertisers, has launched its first campaign - on Channel 4 only. The campaign, for car manufacturer Honda, will feature an eight-minute video, available when viewers press their red...

Good month/bad month.(for commercial critics of the British Broadcasting Corporation, internet advertising)(Brief Article)
July 28, 2004... It has been a good month for commercial critics of the BBC after the broadcaster agreed to shut down five web sites and draw up a new remit for its online activities in the wake of the Graf review. Internet advertising finally made it into...

Just Breaking: Top 10 breaking banners by impressions (1-30 June 2004).(Brief Article)(Illustration)
July 28, 2004... 1 Big Gay Out London - The Official Gay Pride Party 2004 2 Green Flag - Pay less for your breakdown cover 3 More Th>n - Save up to pounds 70 on car insurance 4 Orange - 500 free texts a month 5 ING Direct - It's your money...

Sony backs The Getaway game sequel with internet promotion.(Sony Corp., PlayStation2 games console release)(Brief Article)
July 28, 2004... Sony is backing its biggest release this year for the PlayStation 2 games console with a comprehensive online campaign. The Getaway: Black Monday is a sequel to PS2 hit The Getaway and, although set for release in November, online promotion...

BK joins Sony Pictures for Spider-Man 2.(Brief Article)
July 28, 2004... Burger King has partnered Sony Pictures to promote blockbuster Spider-Man 2 online. The fast-food chain is promoting Spider-Man-related toys and meals at www.burgerking.co.uk from 5 July to tie-in with the film's release on July 16. ...

Aegis unveils global digital agency brand.(Brief Article)
July 28, 2004... Aegis, owner of the Carat media network, has unveiled details of its new global digital marketing network, isobar, which will bring all Aegis's digital assets under one umbrella brand. Isobar will operate in 19 markets with billings of...

Post Office ant ads march onto web.(Brief Article)
July 28, 2004... The Post Office is taking its 'ant' campaign online, using new ad executions to promote its travel services. The campaign will include a new set of ad banners - including standard horizontal, vertical skyscraper and pop-up formats - and...

Account wins.(Capital Radio, Flytxt, ad 2-one, Shazam Entertainment)
July 28, 2004... Capital Radio has retained mobile technology service Flytxt. Flytxt will support mobile strategy across Capital's portfolio, including Capital FM and Capital Gold, XFM, Choice FM and the Century FM Network using the Flytxt Direct mobile...

Owen On Digital Media: Online flexibility will force marketers to rethink boundaries.
July 28, 2004... It's a question to which marketers demand an answer - but all too often the answer disappoints: 'What is the role of online?' The problem lies not with the question itself but with the assumption behind it - that there is only one answer....

Oyster appointed to redesign Abbey site.(Brief Article)
July 28, 2004... Abbey has appointed digital agency Oyster Partners to redesign its web site in line with the bank's new branding. The site, www.abbey.com, will focus on providing a platform for Abbey customers, to make applying for accounts and other...

Lastminute.com to offer DVD rental link.(LOVEFiLM contracts)(digital video disks)(Brief Article)
July 28, 2004... Lastminute.com has joined forces with online DVD rental service LOVEFiLM in an exclusive three-year deal. The jointly branded DVD rental service will appear on lastminute.com's UK homepage, where customers can click to search the 20,000...

Tracker: Politics web sites, week ending 26 June 2004.(www.machaelmoore.com, www.johnkerry.com, Fahrenheit 9/11)(Brief Article)
July 28, 2004... Traffic to UK sites 41.3% Average session duration 4 mins 36 secs Methodology: Data produced by Hitwise, which claims to monitor more than 32 per cent of all UK internet traffic through its partnerships with...

John Lewis launches credit card online.(Brief Article)
July 28, 2004... John Lewis and Waitrose have launched a credit card in collaboration with banker HSBC through a web site and integrated marketing campaign. The online campaign will promote the Partnership Card, which can be used in more than 22 million...

Yahoo! signs up for WSPS search tool.(Brief Article)
July 28, 2004... Search marketing consultancy WSPS has named Yahoo! and First Choice - huge spenders on paid-for search terms - as the first two clients of its new search marketing tool. The service, BidBuddy Suite, builds on WSPS's automated keyword...

Duffer debuts with branded web presence.(Brief Article)
July 28, 2004... Fashion label The Duffer of St George is to launch its first web site in August. The site, designed by digital creative agency de-construct, aims to explore the potential for the brand online, and is launched as the label marks its 20th...

Griffiths on mobile: Providers must iron out 3G and WLAN compatibility issues.(3rd Generation Wireless Format, wireless local area networks, General Packet Radio Service )
July 28, 2004... With all of the mobile operators queuing up to launch their 3G offerings, the noise created by the industry is set to become deafening. Couple this with the fact that the major players are touting WLAN services (last reviewed in this column in...

Time thief: David Soskin, CEO of Cheapflights, talks us through his average day.(Brief Article)
July 28, 2004... 30% Internal meetings Everyone who has been at Cheapflights for a while is a shareholder so I tell them what the company is doing over coffee and pastries. 20% External meetings There are 700 advertisers on our site, and I see the...

EuroMillions draw launches onto interactive platforms.(lottery draws, interactive television and internet services )(Brief Article)
July 28, 2004... Camelot has launched its EuroMillions Friday night lottery game on interactive platforms. Tickets for the EuroMillions draw, claimed to be Europe's biggest lottery game, can be bought online at www.national-lottery.co.uk, or via the Sky...

Vodafone asks staff to send pictures online.(Vodafone Group PLC, staff competition)(Brief Article)
July 28, 2004... Vodafone has launched a staff competition to celebrate its internal culture through images. Staff can enter digital photos that reflect the Vodafone culture or their identity as a Vodafone person. Employees will view and vote for their...

Old Git takes to the web with cheeky new gift-themed site.(wine, viral game)(Brief Article)
July 28, 2004... Irreverent wine brand Old Git has launched online. The new site, at www.oldgitwine.com, builds on the brand's success as a cheeky gift. The brand sells about 750,000 bottles on Father's Day each year, according to parent company Boutinot. ...

AOL offers pounds 238m for Advertising.com.(America Online Inc., Advertising.com Inc.)
July 28, 2004... AOL is buying Advertising.com, the online ad specialist and network which is based in the US and Europe, for dollars 435 million (pounds 238m ) in cash. The ISP and new media giant claims the deal will allow advertisers to reach some 140m...

Gaffney on America: Interactive channels must work to live up to advertiser hopes.(problems related to interactive marketing)
July 28, 2004... We're halfway through a new Summer of Love - the Summer of Internet Love. Statements that can only be described as blissful are being made by executives who once shunned the medium. Internet advertising is starting to look - and I hate to say...

Performance index.(websites ranking)(Brief Article)(Illustration)
July 28, 2004... Rank Site Performance Availability (secs) (per cent) 1 Google.co.uk 0.27 99.68 2 BBC.co.uk 0.58 ...

Moving On Up: Appointment at ASOS.com.(Jonathan Lee Jones )(Brief Article)
July 28, 2004... ASOS.com has appointed Jonathan Lee Jones as marketing director at the online fashion retailer. Jones joins from online CD and DVD store CD WOW! where he was affiliate and marketing director. He helped launch the company in Australia to achieve...

Moving On Up: Appointment at Midasplayer.com.(Mel Morris)(Brief Article)
July 28, 2004... Mel Morris, founder of online dating site Udate.co.uk, has joined gambling site Midasplayer.com as chairman. He joins ex-Udate director Toby Rowland. Midasplayer is Rowland's first start-up venture since health and beauty e-tailer clickmango,...

Moving On Up: Appointment at i-vu.(Fiona Fahy)(Brief Article)
July 28, 2004... Interactive screen media company i-vu has named Fiona Fahy as business sales consultant. She will be responsible for expanding i-vu's portfolio of clients in the UK and US. Fahy's background is in technology advertising and public relations,...

Moving On Up: Appointment at WSPS.(Jim Brigden )(Brief Article)
July 28, 2004... Jim Brigden has been appointed new chief operating officer at search engine marketing company WSPS. Formerly sales director at Overture, Northern Europe, Brigden helped to launch its services in six European countries. In his new role, he will...

Moving On Up: Appointment at Arnold Interactive.(Brief Article)
July 28, 2004... Susanna Hurley has been chosen by digital agency Arnold Interactive as client services director. Hurley joins from digital agency Wheel, where she was group account director, with clients including Unilever, Laura Ashley, Bank of Scotland and...

Moving On Up: Appointment at Skinkers Communications.(Rob Noble )(Brief Article)
July 28, 2004... Rob Noble has joined Skinkers Communications as chief operating officer. He was previously MD and founder of Assured Medical, supplier of private practice management to consultant surgeons and doctors in London. He is also former European...

Moving On Up: Appointment at Commission Junction.(Brief Article)
July 28, 2004... Jonathan Forster has been named Commission Junction's UK country manager. Forster will lead UK growth of the ValueClick-owned company's affiliate marketing and help local managers across Europe implement client programmes. Forster joined...

Moving On Up: Appointment at Orange UK.(appointments)(Brief Article)
July 28, 2004... Orange UK has appointed Alexis Dormandy as chief marketing officer, Shaun Orpen as business marketing director and Angela Hall as director of small business. Formerly development director, Dormandy joined Orange as executive vice-president of...

Moving On Up: Appointment at Video Island.(Tony Kane )(Brief Article)
July 28, 2004... Tony Kane has joined online DVD rental service Video Island as advisory board member. He will be advising on company strategy including working with partners such as Tesco, MSN, Toys 'R' Us and Comet. Kane was previously MD of Universal Music...

Moving On Up: Appointment at Times Online.(Brief Article)
July 28, 2004... Peter Bale is the Times Online's first editorial director. A former Reuters journalist and senior editor for FT.com, Bale will be responsible for the paper's online editorial team.

Moving On Up: Appointment at Kelkoo UK.(Brief Article)
July 28, 2004... Greg Grant is the new UK marketing director of Kelkoo UK. Grant replaces Dorothea Arndt who moves on to a new pan-European role. Grant previously headed marketing at PropertyFinder.co.uk and Assertahome.com and will be responsible for traffic...

02 launches mobile music downloads.(website, Siemens SX1)(Brief Article)
July 28, 2004... 02 is offering music downloads direct to mobile phone handsets. The operator will exclusively launch a limited edition Siemens SX1 handset with an integrated 02 Music Player on 1 August. The device will give music fans the choice of using...

Postwatch site gets accessible upgrade.(www.webcredible.co.uk)(Brief Article)
July 28, 2004... The UK watchdog for postal services, Postwatch (www.postwatch.co.uk), has unveiled a fully accessible web site, following a project with web accessibility specialist Webcredible (www,webcredible.co.uk). The new site aims to conform to...

Young Scot site adds fun and features.(www.youngscot.org)(Brief Article)
July 28, 2004... Young Scot, the information agency for Scottish youth, has launched a new-look web site. The site www.youngscot.org, which receives 0.25 million page impressions a month, the agency says, has been updated to boost interest. It...

Pankhurst on dotcom life: Know the true value of your services and get the pricing right.(bargains on internet)
July 28, 2004... Now that the doom and gloom surrounding technology and, in particular, internet businesses seems to be lifting, it is safer to start talking about money. I don't mean anything too vulgar, but you can see - particularly in online publishing...

Digital Direct: Advertisers should push for more from search providers.(Google, Yahoo, Microsoft Network L.L.C.)(Brief Article)
July 28, 2004... By the end of this year we'll see the search duopoly become the triumvirate as Google, Yahoo! and MSN square up to win the title of World Heavyweight Search Champion. As the previously perceived technology companies continue to...

MSN alters search to improve results.(Microsoft Network L.L.C., search engine )(Brief Article)
July 28, 2004... MSN's new-look search pages are hoped to deliver better advertising return rates from sponsored listings. Matt Whittingham, head of information services at MSN UK, said that, although paid inclusion links had been removed from its main...

Direct Stats.(index of products and subjects used by spammers to entice users)(Brief Article)
July 28, 2004... This month Software firm Clearswift has indexed the products and subjects with which spammers try to entice users. Philip Smith reports. Healthcare-related spam continues to dominate our inboxes, Clearswift said when unveiling its Spam...

COI promotes Frank in first online push.(government's communication arm, youth drugs awareness brand)(Brief Article)
July 28, 2004... The Government is to use online marketing to promote its youth drugs awareness brand, Frank, for the first time. The two departments responsible for Frank, the Home Office and the Department of Health, have appointed digital creative agency...

Fish4 sets out huge offline ad campaign.(Fish4 Ltd.)(Brief Article)
July 28, 2004... Online classifieds site Fish4 is launching its biggest offline advertising campaign to date. More than 40 different creative executions will appear in more than 600 regional newspapers, as the company aims to reach at least 38m local...

Vital statistics.(online marketing evaluation)
July 28, 2004... This month, UK advertisers want independent third-party verification of web site data . Emma Rigby has the figures. Measurability and accountability have been claimed as benefits of online marketing, but, increasingly, media buyers are...

Analysis: Search sector responds to ASA.(Wanadoo, online search, advertising standards authority)
July 28, 2004... One internet portal might be feeling somewhat chastened after falling foul of the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) last month, but the body's ruling could have implications for more than just Wanadoo. Following a complaint from a...

Analysis: Zip launch shows faith in iTV ads.(Zip Television)
July 28, 2004... Zip TV is causing a stir in the interactive TV market, with even its likely competitors working hard to welcome its arrival. A consortium of major brands, iTV specialists and data experts, Zip is aiming to invigorate advertising on the...

Analysis: Digital business comes together.(Revolution Forum)
July 28, 2004... Big brands and a number of key digital marketers were out in force for the first Revolution Forum of the year, which was held on 19-21 May at the Cheltenham Park Hotel. Delegates commanding digital marketing budgets of more than pounds...

Vox Pop: What will develop digital as an advertising medium?
July 28, 2004... The digital sector has to do more to prove its value to advertisers. Consumers are spending more online and so are blue chip brands and advertisers. Famously, the IAB has announced that more than two per cent of all advertising spend goes...

Editorial: Alienate online users at your peril.(customer relationship management)(Editorial)
July 28, 2004... Second-guessing the consumer can be a tricky proposition for an online business. This is part of the reason why personalisation is such an aspiration for many e-tailers and digital marketers. It is also why truly successful CRM has been an...

Comment: Clear thinking will help to focus your web strategy.(internet marketing)
July 28, 2004... The first annual Emetrics Summit in London is over and I don't think I've experienced such a grand epiphany since my brother told me how babies are made. I know this subject pretty well. I lecture about it all over the world and I've written a...

Shopping: Review - Beer site gets straight to the pint.(Beersinabox.com)
July 28, 2004... Ever spent an afternoon at work, slaving over a hot PC, and started fantasising about beer? Me too. So under the guise of 'research', I searched for 'beer of the month' on Google. Yorkshire-based Beersinabox.com came seventh in the organic...

Shopping: Shopping Stats - British taste for online shopping grows.
July 28, 2004... A surge in sales of food and drink have helped to double UK spending online. The British public's passion for shopping online is growing, and looks unlikely to stop. At the start of 2004, we spent twice as much as we did at the same time...

Sector checker: Daily Mail's late-developer site makes a solid start.(www.dailymail.co.uk)
July 28, 2004... Readers of the Daily Mail may have waited, and waited, for its web site to appear, but they will find plenty to like online, writes Philip Smith. Web www.dailymail.co.uk; Developer In-house For a company that invested so heavily in the...

A&L banks on the web.(Alliance & Leicester Commercial Bank PLC)
July 28, 2004... Stephen Leonard justifies to Philip Buxton a quadrupling in A&L's web marketing budget as it promises to spend pounds 10m online. The Alliance & Leicester is a bank caught between a rock and a hard place, and it is counting on the internet...

DM integration: Two channels better than one.(Direct Marketing and online marketing)
July 28, 2004... In a well integrated marketing campaign, DM and digital work can work together to achieve more than the sum of their parts. Philip Smith reports. Believers in the power of digital marketing have several good reasons to feel vindicated, not...

Working with agencies: Optimise your agency.(advertising agency, online marketing)
July 28, 2004... With the right strategy in place, Emma Rigby discovers, trusting an agency to handle your online branding can bring results. When marketers hold on to a paternal vision of how their brand should look and feel, it seems particularly tough to...

The Usability Report: Putting content in context for users.(online advertising)
July 28, 2004... Online customers are becoming more sophisticated and demanding. They can more clearly describe problems they are experiencing as well as cite examples of where they have had 'better online experiences'. But do these descriptions provide a real...

The Usability Report: Accessibility - Can one size fit all?(disabled Web users)
July 28, 2004... Many users surf the web via technology other than PCs. Could firms better cater to them with a device independent plan? Philip Buxton reports. Following the Disability Rights Commission's report on the failure of Britain's companies to...

The Usability Report: Marketing and Usability - Usability can work for all online marketers.(websites usage analysis)
July 28, 2004... Brands are wasting money on their online ad campaigns simply because they fail to test the effectiveness of advertisements before they go live. Emma Rigby reports. Brands would not launch an expensive TV ad without extensive testing on...

Online dating: Love and money.
July 28, 2004... As the online dating industry hots up, Emma Rigby finds digital brands are confident enough to step offline. If the course of true love never did run smooth, it's a very different story for the industry that steers internet-savvy singles...

Viral masterclass: The Revolution Masterclass on viral marketing.(viral marketing)
July 28, 2004... Viral marketing has caught on fast as an effective but less expensive way of reaching an audience. But marketers must tread warily, says Emma Rigby. In a sea of advertising formats, and with multiple media channels fragmenting audiences,...

Trailblazer: Search patterns.(Blinkx software, internet searching methods)(Interview)
July 28, 2004... Blinkx co-founder Kathy Rittweger tells Emma Rigby how her company is planning to revolutionise the way computer users look for information. Blinkx, a start-up based in both London and San Francisco, reckons it has developed a new way to...

Creative Review: Omaid Hiwaizi, director of difference, hhm ..
July 28, 2004... Omaid Hiwaizi says that he is an 'agent provocateur who promotes new thinking' for direct advertising agency hmm... Experience designing style magazine i-D has given him the analytical skills and love for creativity to do this. Hhm's online...

Campaign of the month: Citroen C2 GT.
July 28, 2004... Campaign: Citroen C2 GT Client: Citroen Agency: Syzygy Background Citroen had seen success from previous online work. It launched its C3 across the AOL Time Warner network, targeting mums with a Summer Fun-themed microsite from July...

Terminator 1: New trade body will lend weight to viral and buzz marketing.(viral and buzz marketing association)
July 28, 2004... It feels strange to be telling you in print about the arrival of the Viral and Buzz Marketing Association. It might be more natural that its formation is telegraphed via a video email in your in-box or something a good friend wants to bore you...

Terminator 2: Digital players debate best way to achieve goals.(online marketing, Euro 2004)(Brief Article)
July 28, 2004... It wasn't just Terminator who went soccer-crazy, with the football fest that was Euro 2004 hogging the nation's attention. Plenty of major brands got involved in digital marketing surrounding the tournament, as Revolution will showcase in...

Terminator 2: Bob the Builder lookalike wins MMS Mess prize.(Henry Pepper, worst dressed digital workers)(Brief Article)
July 28, 2004... Terminator's money was on an inappropriately dressed football fan taking the prize, but as you can see from this picture, Henry Pepper, winner of our inaugural MMS Mess competition, has come up with a deeply unsuitable ensemble for this hot,...

Terminator 2: Webbiatrics get funky portal to call their own.(Brief Article)
July 28, 2004... If you talk to the digital stars of demographic marketing, you find that certain age groups can be touchy about what they are called online. Everyone wants to be seen as an individual. That is why there is nothing so bad as personalisation gone...