Revolution articles from June 2005

Revolution archives from June 2005

3G marketing: Brands wait for 3G opportunity.
June 21, 2005... The next big thing in mobile services is just around the corner, but how prepared are the operators and brand marketers? Adam Woods takes a look. Over the past year, 3G services have brought the promise that brand marketing can reach...

Letter from the editor.(Brief Article)(Editorial)
June 21, 2005... For a sector that spends so much on advertising, and where marketing is at the centre of all business, it is ironic that one of the major uncertainties online surrounds FMCG brands. This is not a new issue but, like so many things, its roots...

Deals: Framfab acquires Oyster Partners.(Framtidsfabriken AB)(Brief Article)
June 21, 2005... Interactive agency Framfab has acquired London-based Oyster Partners in a pounds 12 million deal; pounds 10m in cash and pounds 2m in shares. The move fully integrates their operations and will create a new company of 460 staff, 200 in the UK....

Deals: T-Mobile and Kodak in joint venture.
June 21, 2005... T-Mobile and Kodak have joined forces to let customers store, edit, share and print photos. Users can register at T-Mobile's WAP site, t-zones, or online at t-mobile.co.uk/kodakmobile. First-time users of the T-Mobile Kodak Mobile service...

Deals: Thomson joins PC World in promotion.
June 21, 2005... Holiday firm Thomson has partnered PC World for a seven-week online and in-store promotion. The 'Hot Shots' push, targeting customers for the summer season, will give shoppers who spend more than pounds 50 a Thomson discount voucher with their...

Deals: Opodo signs partnership with OTEDIS.(Brief Article)
June 21, 2005... Online travel company Opodo, has signed a partnership with global reservation provider for the hospitality industry, OTEDIS, part of Amadeus group. Opodo's 10 million monthly visitors gain access to independent hotels, mainly in France, Spain...

Deals: European Interactive Advertising Association announcement.(Brief Article)
June 21, 2005... The European Interactive Advertising Association, the trade body for interactive media owners, announced that AD Europe (composed of European portals Wanadoo, WEB.DE and Libero) is joining its ranks. The group aims to develop the European...

Deals: Thomson Directories signs deal with Google.(Brief Article)
June 21, 2005... Thomson Directories has signed a deal with Google to sell its AdWords targeted pay-per-click text ads service to UK SMEs. It will offer Google AdWords as part of ThomsonLocal.com.

Deals: Strongbow in online and radio media-deal.(Alliances and partnerships)(Brief Article)
June 21, 2005... Cider brand Strongbow has partnered virtualfestivals.com, Chrysalis and Emap Advertising for online and radio media-deals. The Strongbow Rooms and their annual music campaign will be promoted across the biggest UK summer festivals, including V....

Deals: PhotoBox signs with LX Direct.(Brief Article)
June 21, 2005... Online photo service PhotoBox has signed with Littlewoods' online shopping arm, LX Direct, to offer its services to online users of lxdirect.com. Customers can view and order prints online.

Deals: Wanadoo signs deal with Northamber.(Brief Article)
June 21, 2005... Wanadoo has signed a UK distribution deal with Northamber to promote and supply Wanadoo Broadband-to-go boxes across its network of more than 6,000 different sellers.

Deals: Correction.(Correction Notice)
June 21, 2005... In last month's issue, we stated that clients of 24/7 Search included dgm and ValueClick Search. The two companies are separate providers of search marketing services and not 24/7 Search clients. Clients of 24/7 Search include ntl and we are...

Land Rover pushes new model through mixed-media campaign.(Brief Article)
June 21, 2005... Land Rover is supporting the launch of its Range Rover Sport with online activity and a suite of interactive software. The company will be posting 65,000 interactive DVDs from Freestyle New Media across Europe, as well as USB memory sticks...

3 adds online fighting game to its 'critters'.(Hutchison 3G UK Ltd.)(Brief Article)
June 21, 2005... Mobile network 3 has unveiled an online 'fighting' game to encourage audiences to bond with its Japanese-style 'critters'. The King of the Planet game (www.welcometoplanet3.com) is the latest extension to 3's online presence, following its...

USwitch hires new agency after pitch.(Starcom Direct)(Brief Article)
June 21, 2005... USwitch, the online utilities comparison and switching service, has hired a new agency for its media account, thought to be worth seven figures. The firm, which launched its first TV campaign earlier in the year, appointed Starcom Direct....

Pigsback enters UK with pounds 6m budget.(www.pigsback.com)(Brief Article)
June 21, 2005... An Irish consumer web site that includes Kellogg's, Lever Faberge, Coca-Cola and Guinness among its partners, is opening in the UK, supported by a pounds 6 million launch budget. Pigsback.com, which enables brands to put offers and...

Auto Trader emphasises range online.(www.autotrader.co.uk)(Brief Article)
June 21, 2005... Car site Auto Trader (www.autotrader.co.uk), which has earmarked pounds 7 million for online advertising in 2005 (Revolution April p9), has launched a 12-week online branding campaign to demonstrate the breadth of vehicles it offers. ...

More Than targets lifestyle entrepreneurs with web site.(www.alterpreneur.co.uk)(Brief Article)
June 21, 2005... More Than Business, the small business arm of Royal Sun&Alliance's direct insurer, is spearheading a PR campaign though the launch of a microsite. The site (www.alterpreneur.co.uk) will promote a range of commercial insurance products...

Good month - bad month.(Lastminute.com PLC)(Channel 4 Television Co.)(Google Inc.)(Brief Article)
June 21, 2005... Its great news for George Lucas, maker of the Star Wars films. Hitwise said that Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith was the most searched-for film among internet users in the UK. 'Star Wars' claimed almost one per cent of all searches for web sites...

Wanadoo promotes broadband services in 'grab life' online ads.(Incumbent)(Brief Article)
June 21, 2005... Wanadoo has unveiled an online acquisition campaign to push its broadband services. Creative urges users to 'grab life' while they can. The agency filmed events that have a short lifespan and embedded them in rich-media ads to push the...

Entries invited for this year's BIMA awards.(British Interactive Media Association )(Brief Article)
June 21, 2005... The 2005 British Interactive Media Association awards (BIMAs), which will be 21 this year, launch this month. The deadline for entries is 21 July. The event, organised in association with Revolution, is set to take place in late November...

AA backs pounds 18m TV ad campaign online.(AA Road Services )(Brief Article)
June 21, 2005... AA Road Services has launched a microsite and banner promotion to support a pounds 18 million through-the-line campaign introducing its new 'You've got AA Friend' strapline. The whole campaign has been created by DLKW, with media planning...

Just breaking: Top 10 breaking banners by impressions (1-31 April 2005).(Brief Article)
June 21, 2005... 1 Travel Magnet Attracting the best deals on the net 2 O2 Only online. Click now 3 Expedia.co.uk Book together for less 4 PhatPlay.com Win an iPod mini 5 The National Lottery...

Fiat Panda partners Emap for car promo.(Emap Advertising )(Brief Article)
June 21, 2005... Fiat Panda has partnered Emap Advertising to promote its new range of cars in the motor manufacturer's first cross-media deal, focusing on a special campaign microsite. The six-figure campaign aims to push its female-targeted new Dynamic...

Owen on digital media - The IAB's five-point proposal is a route to further growth.(Interactive Advertising Bureau UK Ltd)
June 21, 2005... How refreshing it is that none of the five points in IAB chief executive Guy Phillipson's new Five Point Plan for the online advertising industry is to 'improve online creativity'. Always a bugbear and still seen by many as one of the...

Account wins.(ViaMichelin)(British Sky Broadcasting Group PLC)(Pricerunner AB)(Brief Article)
June 21, 2005... ViaMichelin.co.uk has signed up AdLINK as exclusive global sales partner. Its task is to drive users to its site, which it says attracts some two million users and 47 million page impressions a month. The agency has devised banners, skyscrapers...

Smirnoff site backs music programme.(www.smirnoffexperience.co.uk)(Brief Article)
June 21, 2005... Drinks giant Diageo has unveiled a new web site for vodka brand Smirnoff promoting its music events programme in the UK. The web site (www.smirnoffexperience.co.uk), which is set to launch in June, will support the Smirnoff Experience music...

Columbia TriStar in kung fu web trailer.(Manning Gottlieb OMD)(Brief Article)
June 21, 2005... Columbia TriStar, the film company owned by Sony Pictures, is supporting its new martial arts action comedy Kung Fu Hustle with an online campaign. The push will back the film's release, on 24 June, with a variety of media buys that use...

Tracker: About IPT.(Interactive Prospect Targeting)(Brief Article)
June 21, 2005... 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, Email-Bureau, sent more than 135...

Unilever in Sun link for Peperami snack.(Sun Online Ltd.)(Brief Article)
June 21, 2005... Unilever has partnered The Sun to push its new Peperami Noodles snack via an innovative online ad campaign. Visitors to Thesun.co.uk from late May will be able to 'peel back' the homepage to reveal campaign content underneath, enhanced by...

Halo Group looks at web sales in revamp.(magneticNorth Interactive)(Brief Article)
June 21, 2005... Upmarket furniture retailer, Halo Group, is overhauling its site as part of a strategy that could eventually include online sales. Kate Hardcastle, marketing director at Halo, has appointed agency magneticNorth Interactive to rebuild the...

Cricinfo lines up sponsors for the Ashes.(Brief Article)
June 21, 2005... Major sponsors, including Nat-West, Malaysia Airlines, Npower and Standard Chartered Bank, are lining up to sponsor cricket site Cricinfo's coverage of the Ashes, which starts in July. Cricinfo (www.cricinfo.com) is in talks with brands...

Griffiths on mobile: O2 and NTL set to bring live-broadcast digital TV to mobiles.
June 21, 2005... It's no secret that the web has changed the way we consume media. Just look at any teen on their PC or the millions being invested in digital by traditional publishers. And we are set to see a new contender in the battle this summer when...

Toni&Guy rolls out new site with e-commerce facility.(Brief Article)
June 21, 2005... Hair salon group Toni&Guy is embarking on a new, global web strategy that will include a new transactional site. The group, which operates its own media - Toni&Guy TV and Toni&Guy magazine - is launching the web site in June in 30...

The Times brings cult number craze Su Doku to mobile users.(Brief Article)
June 21, 2005... The Times has brought cult gaming craze Su Doku to mobile phones with an offer promoted through the newspaper. Fans of the brain-teaser, which involves filling in an unfinished grid of numbers, can download 10 puzzles to their mobiles for...

Vodafone has online promo for F1 games.(Brief Article)
June 21, 2005... Vodafone, sponsor of the Ferrari Formula One team, is launching a pan-European campaign to promote its suite of F1 games for mobiles. The rich-media push aims to entice users to try out its 2.5G Ferrari Manager and 3G Ferrari Experience 3D...

Time thief: Ruth Brownlee, sales director of handbag.com.(Brief Article)
June 21, 2005... Ruth Brownlee, sales director of handbag.com tells us how she spends her day. 25% Meeting key clients and suppliers This can be anything from a short, sharp, 10-minute call to a more relaxed relationship-building lunch. 20% Staff...

Friends Reunited to consider classifieds.(Brief Article)
June 21, 2005... Friends Reunited is considering classified advertising as the next area in which to extend its brand following successful launches into dating, jobs, genealogy and communities. The firm is examining small ads as a potential growth area,...

Gaffney on America: Three simple steps to long-term growth second time around.
June 21, 2005... I used to work for the chief executive officer of an entertainment firm who had strange but accurate sales-forecasting rules. He told me: 'Whenever you get an extremely successful product and the sales guys come back with some huge number that...

Performance index.(Brief Article)
June 21, 2005... 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...

Moving on up: Appointment at Yahoo! Europe.(Jon Gisby appointed)(Brief Article)
June 21, 2005... Yahoo! Europe has made Jon Gisby managing director of Yahoo! UK & Ireland and vice-president of media, Europe. He has been acting MD since December. The new European responsibility means that Gisby will also head the content and product...

Moving on up: Appointment at Dgm.(Siyenne Dourado appointed)(Brief Article)
June 21, 2005... Dgm has appointed Siyenne Dourado as business development manager. She will join the newly created dgmAdNetwork team, which aims to drive ad sales for the firm. Her remit includes raising dgmAdNetwork's presence in the market.

Moving on up: Appointment at McCann-i.(David Crawford appointed)(Brief Article)
June 21, 2005... McCann-i, the interactive division of McCann Erickson Manchester, has hired David Crawford as client services director. Crawford held the same position at Yorkshire-based design agency Pilot Interactive. Prior to that, he worked in senior...

Moving on up: Appointment at Free-style New Media Group.(Phil Morton appointed)(Brief Article)
June 21, 2005... Phil Morton has joined Free-style New Media Group as operations director, responsible for operations across design, development and project management. He reports directly to the managing partner, Suzanne Linton. He leaves his position as head...

Moving on up: Appointment at MSN.(Michael Steckler appointed)
June 21, 2005... Michael Steckler has been appointed head of sales and commerce in MSN's sales restructure. He reports directly to Chris Ward, commercial director of MSN UK. His role includes growing revenue and recruiting clients, especially by raising...

Moving on up: Appointment at JPMH.(Josh Jones appointed)(Brief Article)
June 21, 2005... Josh Jones has joined JPMH, the online FMCG specialist as lead writer on Pernod's Martell and Duracell brands. He leaves AKQA, having worked on various campaigns, such as Peperami's Too Hot for TV push as well as clients including Nike, Xbox...

Moving on up: Appointment at Eyeblaster.(Maria Hercules appointed)(Brief Article)
June 21, 2005... Maria Hercules joins the UK support team of Eyeblaster as agency account director. Hercules previously worked at Yahoo! Europe as pan-European direct-marketing co-ordinator and trafficker. In her new role, she will work alongside the UK client...

Moving on up: Appointment at Edengene.(Chris Robson appointed)(Brief Article)
June 21, 2005... Agency Edengene announces Chris Robson as its new chief executive officer. He was previously CEO of Syzygy and, prior to that, new business director at DMB&B. He succeeds Tim Thorne, who steps down from the day-to-day running of the business to...

Moving on up: Appointment at Agency Republic.(Adam Johnston appointed)(Brief Article)
June 21, 2005... Agency Republic has hired Adam Johnston as technical director. He moves from his position as senior consultant at DoubleClick. In his new position, Johnston will work with clients including O2, Parcelforce and Dunlop.

Moving on up: Appointment at Zip TV.(Richard Adams appointed)(Brief Article)
June 21, 2005... Richard Adams is the new creative director at Zip TV. Previously creative director at YooMedia, Adams has more than 10 years' experience in interactive TV and mobile entertainment. He is a published author on interactive media and a visiting...

Fantasy game puts emphasis on clubs.(Brief Article)
June 21, 2005... Email marketing and online advertising will be at the heart of a campaign to launch a new pay-to-play 'fantasy' soccer game. Fans will interact with Fantasy Club Football through a new site to be launched in July. It is effectively a...

Travelocity looks at multi-brand strategy.(Brief Article)
June 21, 2005... Travelocity is considering a multi-brand strategy for the UK after its proposed acquisition of lastminute.com for pounds 577m. The firm said it would evaluate its brand strategy in Europe on a country-by country basis following the deal,...

Sony pushes Walkman MP3 player online.
June 21, 2005... Sony has launched a pan-European online-branding campaign to promote its new Walkman MP3 players and boost sales of other new handheld devices. It will target style-conscious 18 to 34-year-olds in a push across 14 European markets on...

Pankhurst on dotcom life: The only field where you expect to lose your best players.
June 21, 2005... One of the great sources of pride for me, aside from Barnet FC's promotion, is the fact that, not only am I one of the founders of Friends Reunited, but I'm also one of its keenest users. Like many successful enterprises, this venture could...

Digital direct: Just what should a digital marketer call a real response?(Brief Article)
June 21, 2005... It is important for agencies and their clients to go back to grassroots and understand both the objective of the ad campaign and core values of the brand. Marketers have spent a lot of time measuring clicks as they believed this to be the most...

BBC offers users its world service direct.
June 21, 2005... The BBC has launched its first major direct e-marketing promotion of the English-language radio and online output of the BBC World Service. From 6 May, the overhauled BBC World Service E-Network will send weekly newsletters, with...

Direct Stats: This month.(Brief Article)
June 21, 2005... A survey for AOL finds that almost half of users had been tricked by email into revealing their bank details. Emma Rigby reports. More than five per cent of users have lost cash to online scams such as phishing, which tricks them into...

ITV in major ad push for new reality show.(Brief Article)
June 21, 2005... ITV is running an extensive ad campaign online to raise awareness of its new prime-time reality series, Celebrity Love Island. A range of rich-media ad formats, a viral game, HTML and video emails, and a desktop 'screen-mate' have been...

Xbox invests pounds 1m in online TV promotion.(Brief Article)
June 21, 2005... Xbox has spent more than pounds 1m to promote its new game, Forza Motorsport, on a full-screen 'TV channel' online. Gamers visiting the web site (www.fmc.tv), which is launching in 11 European countries, will be able to spend 30 minutes...

Vital statistics: This month.
June 21, 2005... It's hard to hijack a brand when it comes to user search on the internet, as Emma Rigby discovers. Internet measurement firm Hitwise carried out research across the five leading brands in the most successful e-commerce sectors: shopping,...

Analysis: Online enriches newspaper offers.
June 21, 2005... Last month, at a Washington conference for editors, News International boss Rupert Murdoch warned that newspapers that fail to solve the issue of the web do so at their peril. He told news providers they need to offer places for consumers...

Analysis: Be creative, but make it relevant.
June 21, 2005... Last month creative heads from the big agencies gathered once again with plenty to talk about. May's Creative Social think-tank event, in its fourth year, gathered creative directors from across Europe in Stockholm to share ideas on...

Analysis: Key brands need help with digital.
June 21, 2005... In a survey of some of its most senior clients, OglivyOne, the direct arm of agency O&M, found that, despite powerful figures pointing to its growth, internet ad budgets will remain small unless brands can be helped over some major obstacles....

Vox pop: How do we avoid boom and bust as VC cash pours back online?
June 21, 2005... How can the sector benefit from a new wave of investment? Recently, there have been a number of venture capitalists pouring money into high-profile ventures on the web - does this mean we are in danger of entering a new period of...

Editorial: Why optimism could last this time.
June 21, 2005... That rustling you can hear is the sound of money on its way. There's anticipation in the air and venture capitalists (VCs) are licking their lips. Sabre Holding's takeover bid, which values lastminute.com at more than pounds 500 million,...

Comment: The left brain should know what the right is doing.
June 21, 2005... Left-brain people are logical, rational and analytical. Just the sort to be interested in web analytics. Right-brain people are intuitive, subjective and focused on the emotional. Just the sort to manage the corporate brand. Put the two in a...

Shopping Review: How to get from the Tube to Peru.
June 21, 2005... Day after day of Tube commutes have been good for something. Apart from getting me to work, of course. Reading an ad by Opodo, listing the five worst places to be without your contact lenses, got me thinking. One was watching the sunrise...

Shopping stats: Retailers slow to integrate platforms.
June 21, 2005... Many retailers could get more out of their web sites and boost sales through a multi-channel approach. Retailers are slow to adopt a multi-channel approach. Even though stores are increasingly using more than one channel to sell their...

Sector checker: Napster's site shines but still needs to shed geek heritage.
June 21, 2005... Cxpartner's Giles Colborne is impressed by Napster's offer, but thinks some users may be put off by the techno-babble and a lack of simplicity. Web www.napster.co.uk Developer Napster The original Napster changed the way we listen...

Digital make-up.
June 21, 2005... LancOme's Raffaella Geddes tells Emma Rigby how beauty giant L'Oreal is facing up to marketing opportunities online. It's a giddying outlook from the eighth floor of cosmetics conglomerate L'Oreal's UK HQ. The same could be said of the...

Affiliate model set for further growth.
June 21, 2005... The Revolution Affiliate Marketing Report sponsored by TradeDoubler. Sales via TradeDoubler's European network in the first quarter of 2005 show the leap in online spending seen last year is set to continue. Sales volumes were up 75...

Marketing broadband: How to sell broadband.
June 21, 2005... Is the web the best channel for providers to push broadband access and what influences buyers? Thanks to the increasing acknowledgement of digital's brand building potential, even FMCG brands, which have been slow to adapt to the medium,...

Show preview: Internet World show preview.
June 21, 2005... Philip Buxton takes a look at what visitors to June's Internet World show in Earls Court, London, will find of interest. This year, Internet World is characterised by a greater focus on offering real-life experiences and expertise for...

How to solve the search problem.
June 21, 2005... The Revolution Affiliate Marketing Report sponsored by TradeDoubler. When travel firms First Choice, Thomas Cook and Thomson announced steps to manage how their affiliate partners bid on brand terms on search engines, it highlighted a...

Top affiliates: Look after your favourites.
June 21, 2005... How can affiliate managers keep all their partners happy while rewarding the top performers? If it's true that 10 per cent of a brand's affiliates bring in 90 per cent of their marketing revenues, it seems obvious that those top performers...

Offline events: Events support.
June 21, 2005... Web communities are great marketing tools, but users want more. Dave Howell finds interaction is going offline. Marketing aims to make a strong connection with consumers. One way in which brands have achieved this over the last few years is...

Online sponsorship: The Revolution Masterclass on online sponsorship.
June 21, 2005... The web can offer richer sponsorship opportunities for companies to engage users and provide a positive brand experience, says Philip Smith. As the growth and progress of technology such as rich-media formats promote diversity in online...

Creative review: Jonny Watson creative director, dais.
June 21, 2005... At dais, the digital platform of integrated agency Archibald Ingall Stretton, Watson works alongside Dan Harrison on accounts including Skoda, O2 and BMW. Previously at Agency.com, he likes to remind Harrison that his campaign beat Dan's...

Campaign of the month.(Flora Family Marathon)
June 21, 2005... To push its link with the London Marathon, Flora encouraged families to sign up to run and join in through the web. Background: Flora wanted to bolster perceptions that it supports 'a healthy heart' and push its 10th sponsorship of the...

Trailblazer: Fan power.(directory service Business Finder from HI Group)
June 21, 2005... 2 cents - standfirst. Style for standfirst for this page. Names to be picked out, as character styles in 100% Black or Red 100m 100y as per the usual Revolution edit convensions. Directory service Business Finder has been incubating quietly...

Terminator 1: I'm a new media creative judge, get me out of here.
June 21, 2005... When you've finished polishing your trophies, consider for a second the blood, sweat and tears that put them into your hands. I'm not talking about your firm's creativity and vigour. It's about the endeavours of the jury. At first, an...

Terminator 1: Burnley sells its old mudrucker for chunky sum.(Brief Article)
June 21, 2005... Readers may recall how George Michael sold his black Range Rover, registration JS STUD, of course, to a fan in the name of 'Michael' for pounds 11,600. Complete with a 'massive' stereo and a dent on the rear bumper, the car was described...

Terminator 1: Noddy revs up online with his Toyland friends.(Brief Article)
June 21, 2005... Digital is home to cutting-edge creativity, futuristic technology and... Noddy. Yes, the loveable, blue-capped kids' character - best mates with a hirsute chap called Big Ears - has been around far longer than the web. But now his site...

Terminator 1: Mook guy takes on Mt Everest for Diabetes UK.(Brief Article)
June 21, 2005... Count how many keys you've tapped today at your computer. Thousands of thousands? And sometimes it can be tiring, even though you're sitting down. Now think about the effort required to get close to Mt Everest. Add to that the fact that...