Revolution articles from September 2005

Revolution archives from September 2005

Letter from the editor.(web campaign analyzing)(Brief Article)
September 13, 2005... The figures you get back from your web campaigns could be wrong by as much as 30 per cent. So say the web analytics experts who are at the business end of a whispering campaign that could knock the foundations of digital's favourite pitching...

Royal Mail targets businesses with mixed-media campaign.
September 13, 2005... Royal Mail is backing its new above-the-line campaign targeting businesses with a digital branding push. Breaking in late September, digital activity will promote the firm's business-mail services. Creative will complement work by its...

DoT chooses web for shock safety video.
September 13, 2005... The Department of Transport is using viral for the first time to push a road safety message. A new site, Notlooking.co.uk, will host a home video-style clip that was created for TV by agency Leo Burnett. Teenagers are shown playing...

Sharp Electronics offers online shop.
September 13, 2005... Sharp Electronics has revamped its site to include e-commerce. The relaunch of the site (www.sharp.co.uk) coincides with a pounds 2.5m TV and print campaign, running from September. The firm also plans to back this with online marketing...

Deals: Trinity Mirror acquires Financial Jobs Online.
September 13, 2005... Trinity Mirror has acquired Financial Jobs Online, owner of GAAPweb.com, the online jobs site serving the accountancy and finance sector. GAAPweb.com will be cross-promoted on Trinity's portfolio of newspapers and web sites.

Deals: TuneTribe kicks off consumer marketing campaign.
September 13, 2005... TuneTribe, the digital download service backed by Tom Findlay of Groove Armada, is kicking off a consumer marketing campaign with a six-month radio promo on Xfm. Listeners will be directed to Xfm.co.uk to check out tracks on TuneTribe.com.

Deals: The Press Association signs deal with Tiscali.
September 13, 2005... The Press Association has signed a deal with Tiscali to provide digital-video bulletins on Tiscali.co.uk, which will offer news, sport and entertainment content, along with a 30-day archive.

Deals: Multimap provide Storefinder on Propertyfinder.com.
September 13, 2005... Multimap is providing its Storefinder on Propertyfinder.com. Visitors to the site, which sources residential properties from more than 2,400 estate agents, will be able to use the facility to find the locations of properties and estate agents.

Deals: Yahoo! and Boeing sign distribution agreement.
September 13, 2005... Yahoo! and aeroplane manufacturer Boeing have signed a multi-year, web and sponsored-search distribution agreement. Yahoo! will be the exclusive search engine on the Connexion by Boeing in-flight internet service.

Deals: DatingDirect.com seals deal with Sky One.
September 13, 2005... DatingDirect.com has sealed a deal with Sky One to provide dating services through Skyone.co.uk's homepage.

Deals: Video mobile network 3 signs agreement woth Sony Ericsson.
September 13, 2005... Video mobile network 3 has signed an agreement with Sony Ericsson to provide handsets with a video function. The K608i is the first model to be included in the agreement.

Deals: Barnardo's and fish4jobs combine to launch 'dreamjobs'.
September 13, 2005... Children's charity Barnardo's and online recruitment web site fish4jobs have combined to launch 'dreamjobs', which will offer people the chance to 'win' the job they've always wanted for a day. Companies and brands involved include MTV,...

Deals: PokerStars.com signs partnership with FLi.(FL Interactive)(Brief Article)
September 13, 2005... Poker tournament site PokerStars.com, has signed a six-figure partnership with FL Interactive (FLi), which holds the digital rights for 77 English and Welsh Football Clubs. It becomes the exclusive online poker partner of the FLi Network of...

Deals: Yell and Nokia collaborate.
September 13, 2005... Yell and Nokia have collaborated to include Yell.com's directory services within Nokia's new mobile-search application, which is included in its 6680, 6681 and 6630 smartphones.

Deals: Express Newspapers hires Miva.
September 13, 2005... Express Newspapers has hired Miva to handle search-related revenue across its portfolio of web sites, including the recently launched news and gossip digest Daily Snack. The deal follows a pitch that involved Yahoo! Search Marketing Solutions...

Sainsbury's to open new internet store.
September 13, 2005... Sainsbury's aims to claw back some online ground on rival Tesco with the relaunch of its core site and home-shopping service Sainsbury's To You later this month. Sainsburys.co.uk is being redesigned and the home-shopping service overhauled...

'Planet Cook' partners sign up with BBC.
September 13, 2005... Heinz, Universal Pictures and Trudeau-Euromark are to launch new product ranges and web sites to back their partnership with FreemantleMedia's Planet Cook show on CBBC. The brand-partner microsites will feed into the main site (www....

Poke named best interactive agency in Revolution survey.(Brief Article)
September 13, 2005... London-based digital hot-shop Poke has been named Best Interactive Agency in the UK in the first-ever Revolution Agency Survey, published this month. Following an online survey of client readers of Revolution and sister title Marketing,...

Good month/bad month.
September 13, 2005... A good one for lastminute.com as new owner Sabre Holdings is thought to be preparing to keep the brand and drop Travelocity in the UK. Sabre is merging the two operations, having bought lastminute for pounds 577m in June. Potentially good...

Just breaking: Top 10 breaking banners by impressions (1-31 July 2005).(Brief Article)(Illustration)
September 13, 2005... TOP 10 BREAKING BANNERS BY IMPRESSIONS (1-31 July 2005) 1 Ultralase WIN laser eye treatment worth up to pounds 3,000 2 Capital One Response in one minute. Guarantee 3 BSkyB ...

Ask Jeeves rolls out interactive campaign with adaptable ads.(Brief Article)
September 13, 2005... Ask Jeeves is embarking on a pounds 300,000 interactive marketing campaign to promote its search service. The aim is to push trials of Ask.co.uk and promote the brand's new ad slogan, 'Save time searching with the Find Engine'. For the...

Kenwood to offer online shop by Xmas.
September 13, 2005... Kitchen tools maker Kenwood is backing its seven-figure Christmas ad campaign with online marketing and an e-tail site. The retailer is playing on its roots as a devotee of in-store demonstration by building an online community for its...

Virgin Money pushes loans with 'trap' ads.
September 13, 2005... Virgin Money has unveiled an online ad campaign that 'traps' users' mouse cursors as they roll them over the executions. The aim is to push the idea that Virgin Money's loans will not trap borrowers with extra charges if they decide to pay...

Disney in six-figure rich-media promo.
September 13, 2005... The Walt Disney World Resort, better known as Disney World, has invested six figures in a web campaign to back the launch of a new TV push to attract visitors. The rich-media push, which is supporting TV work by Leo Burnett, will target...

Account wins.
September 13, 2005... Heineken (UK) has hired digital communications agency Skyron to build a site to back its UEFA Champions League below-the-line campaign. It will support the repositioning of the brand and an on-pack promotion, running from 15 September to March...

Owen on digital media: Advertisers bidding to make TV shows are losing the plot.
September 13, 2005... As traditional advertising loses more of its potency, the ad industry appears to be desperate to find alternative strategies. We have known about the problems facing us for a long time now. Consumers are becoming more ad-savvy, or...

Champneys boosts web booking facility.(Brief Article)
September 13, 2005... Upmarket health resort chain Champneys has overhauled its site to improve online booking, following a year-long project. The revamp, by digital agency Interdirect, enables visitors to check the availability of rooms at Champneys' four UK...

Conde Nast backs new title with site.
September 13, 2005... Conde Nast is launching a web site to support its new magazine, GQ Style. The bi-annual title will launch on 22 September, during London Fashion Week, at the same time as its site, GQstyle.co.uk, goes live. The web site aims to provide...

Betfair drive to push poker tournament.
September 13, 2005... Betfair is running a pounds 100,000 online drive to raise awareness of its Caribbean Poker Classic Tournament, which carries a dollars 1.5m (pounds 830,000) jackpot. The three-day televised event will be backed by an online campaign...

NME.com overhaul adds media player.
September 13, 2005... Music weekly NME is overhauling its site in a bid to increase its popularity and offer more opportunities for advertisers. NME.com editor Ben Perreau, who arrived at the magazine nine months ago, and Kevin Heery, head of online at IPC...

The Link hires Play for digital marketing.
September 13, 2005... Mobile phone retailer The Link has appointed Play as its first online marketing agency, having previously created its digital campaigns in-house. Play, the digital agency set up by M&C Saatchi and former itraffic directors Matt Gorzkowski,...

AirMiles offers Deal Finder in tie-up with BA.(Brief Article)
September 13, 2005... Loyalty scheme AirMiles has launched a web service in partnership with British Airways, called the BA Deal Finder. The facility allows AirMiles members to search for exclusive BA deals and last-minute fares on Airmiles.co.uk. It features a...

Griffiths on mobile: More than a money saver, mobile can take brands places.
September 13, 2005... This year, corporate mobile investment is set to increase eight times faster than IT spend, according to research from analyst Quocirca. From big blue-chips to the public sector, it is startling how companies invest hundreds of pounds per...

Time thief: Krishan Bodhani digital communications manager, Audi UK, on his day.(Brief Article)
September 13, 2005... 40% Agency meetings - BBH, goodtechnology and Mediacom are all pretty near each other, so I can do them all in a day in London. It's nice not to be in Milton Keynes all the time and be part of the buzz of the creative process - and watch as our...

Boots prepares for Xmas with internet investment.(Brief Article)
September 13, 2005... Boots is gearing up for the pre-Christmas rush having bought a new system to bolster its online shopping service at Boots.com. The company's investment in Endeca, a package to improve navigation and enable users to check if items are in...

Institute of Direct Marketing offers digital training courses.
September 13, 2005... The Institute of Direct Marketing (IDM) has launched five new training courses, starting in the next two months, in response to a surge in demand for specialist digital-marketing skills. The five are: search engine optimisation;...

Mforma drives mobile game with Hypertag.
September 13, 2005... Games developer Mforma is claiming a first by offering a preview of its new driving game for mobile phones via a link on a poster at Stansted Airport. The push for Gumball 3,000 follows a partnership between outdoor firm Mforma, mobile...

Totesport seeks out strategic partners.
September 13, 2005... Totesport.com, the online arm of the UK Tote, is aiming to strike more strategic partnerships with media owners after claiming success for its white-label deal with lastminute.com, which it struck in the summer. It is in discussions with...

Performance index.(Brief Article)
September 13, 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...

Gaffney on America: Too many voices leave me blogged out in cyberspace.
September 13, 2005... Welcome to the United States of Blogs where we've taken a perfectly good online marketing tactic and wrung it tighter than Hillary Clinton's facial skin. Over here, we hold this truth to be self-evident: people have taken their right to freedom...

Moving on up: Appointment at UpMyStreet.
September 13, 2005... UpMyStreet has recruited Jane Rich as editor. She will be responsible for adding news and features content, working with commercial partners and managing the editorial direction of the web site. Before joining, Rich worked at lastminute.com for...

Moving on up: Appointment at UK ISP Be.
September 13, 2005... UK ISP Be has appointed Tania Hannaford as marketing director. She will be responsible for managing all aspects of marketing strategy. She previously worked at McCann Erickson on accounts including Capital One, CadburySchweppes, Norwich Union...

Moving on up: Appointment at Syzygy.(Noah Koff joined)(Brief Article)
September 13, 2005... Syzygy has recruited Noah Koff as account director and Clare Midgely as project manager. Koff will head the Mazda UK account. He joins from good-technology where he was senior project manager and oversaw the redesign of Audi.co.uk's eCRM...

Moving on up: Appointment at Carlson Digital.(Tim Tribe joined)(Brief Article)
September 13, 2005... Carlson Digital has hired former E3 Media design director Tim Tribe as art director. He joins creative head Dan Hirons and head of copy Stephen Mulholland, who both joined in April. Tribe joined E3 in 2003 and has worked with clients such as...

Moving on up: Appointment at DoubleClick.(John Nugent joined)(Brief Article)
September 13, 2005... John Nugent has taken on the role of managing director at DoubleClick's email business, which provides services for AOL, P&G, Sainsbury's Bank, News International and BT. His remit is to manage and develop the business in the UK, France and...

Moving on up: Appointment at Holler.
September 13, 2005... Holler has recruited Tim Grout as senior creative. He moves from 27DC in Melbourne, Australia, where he worked on Mushroom Magic and Mushroom Pictures. He has also worked at London's Evolve Design, with clients including BMW UK, Levi's and the...

Moving on up: Appointment at All Response Media.
September 13, 2005... All Response Media has hired Mark Varley as head of digital. He moves from head of digital at Initiative, where his clients included Orange and Johnson & Johnson. Vishali Sharma has also joined the team as digital media planner and buyer.

Moving on up: Appointment at ClarityBlue.
September 13, 2005... Suzanne Bates has been recruited by ClarityBlue, the customer intelligence specialist, as client partner. She brings 20 years' experience in the field and will be responsible for building client relationships.

Moving on up: Appointment at MC&C.
September 13, 2005... MC&C has hired Steven Forde as manager of commercial services. Working on the Channel 4 business, his responsibilities will include driving traffic to the company's sites, as well as broadband, mobile portal and music-focused activities. Forde...

Moving on up: Appointment at Web Liquid.
September 13, 2005... Amrit Phull has been hired by Web Liquid to manage media investments for Hilton International, Excel Airways and Avis. He moves from Initiative Media, where he worked on accounts for the likes of Samsung, Tesco, Powergen and Air Miles.

Moving on up: Appointment at AKQA.
September 13, 2005... AKQA has appointed Mauro Alencar as creative director, to lead its creative efforts for the Microsoft Xbox business. The agency won the account to market the Xbox 360 globally, as well as launch all first-party titles for Microsoft Games...

Moving on up: Appointment at Nexus/h.
September 13, 2005... Former AKQA group account director Tracy Price has been recruited by full-service advertising agency Nexus/h to head up its newly created on-line division, nexus-h.co.uk. Price will work with clients such as Honda, Asahi beer, Sharp, Real...

Moving on up: Appointment at The Cloud.
September 13, 2005... James Saunders has been appointed as marketing director at The Cloud to drive take-up of Wi-Fi. He previously worked as a marketing consultant at Vodafone, where he helped launch 3G and Blackberry services across Europe. Prior to that, he was...

Shelter in six-figure online investment.(new web site )(Brief Article)
September 13, 2005... Homeless charity Shelter is spending a six-figure sum on a new site that will offer advice and support for 16 to 25-year-olds without secure housing. The web site will launch on 12 September, in conjunction with an email advice service...

Online push backs 2005 Fashion Week.
September 13, 2005... London Fashion Week, from 18-22 September, is being backed with a web site and email marketing campaign. The site (www.londonfashion week.co.uk), created by agency Tonic, aims to showcase the cream of British and global talent to an...

EMI launches The Magic Numbers site.
September 13, 2005... The Magic Numbers, the band that made headlines by walking off Top of The Pops following a jibe from presenter Richard Bacon, is being supported by a new web site. EMI Records has also launched an online game...

Pankhurst on dotcom life: How we're staying connected in this disconnected world.(Steve Pankhurst)
September 13, 2005... I've always been a great believer in the internet's power to be a substitute for the traditional community ties that no longer exist to keep people together, but it really comes into its own when connecting people around the globe as the...

Digital direct: The DMA needs to pay more attention to the rise of digital.
September 13, 2005... I wonder if it's time that the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) embraced the digital industry as its own. As we are all aware, it's worth millions today. The fastest rising star within the sector is undoubtedly search marketing, which is...

Thomson to join the pay-per-call players.
September 13, 2005... Thomson Directories is to join the new search battle alongside MIVA (formerly Espotting) and Yahoo! as all three reveal plans to launch pay-per call services. The model, which MIVA chief marketing officer Seb Bishop says 'has the potential...

Direct Stats.
September 13, 2005... This month E-consultancy discovered that online ad networks accounted for one in five online ads in 2004, Philip Buxton reports. The study said these networks, which place banner ads on web sites' unused ad inventory, were worth pounds...

Glamour.com serves up a fashion finder.(Conde Nast Publications Inc. introduced a new website)(Brief Article)
September 13, 2005... Conde Nast is adding an online shopping service to its fashion and beauty web site for women, Glamour.com. The Fashion Finder, launching in the first week of September, aims to bring the high street to users online. It will initially offer...

Vital statistics: Web site failures.
September 13, 2005... This month - Three quarters of web marketing campaigns are hampered by web site failures. A survey investigating campaign effectiveness on the internet by web analysis firm SciVisum has found that 14 per cent of site failures are so severe...

TK Maxx site seeks to raise awareness.
September 13, 2005... Discount chain TK Maxx has unveiled a new web site to support its expansion drive, which will increase its 185 stores to about 300. The web site aims to raise brand awareness and attract new customers to its labelled menswear, womenswear,...

Analysis: Food brands urged to shape up.
September 13, 2005... Criticism is growing over the use of the web by food brands to push their products to children, without monitoring from advertising watchdogs. A report by the Food Commission, published in Food Magazine, accuses brands like Panda Pop,...

Analysis: Pay-per-call services arrive in UK.
September 13, 2005... Yahoo! UK & Ireland and search rival MIVA (formerly Espotting) are the first to bring pay-per-call to the UK, which Seb Bishop, chief marketing officer at MIVA, says 'has the potential to be bigger than pay-per-click'. They will be joined...

Analysis: C4's core focus is firmly on digital.(Channel 4 Television Co.)
September 13, 2005... The recent appointment of Tracy Balcher as head of marketing, new media, as well as that of agency Profero, proves the focus is on digital at Channel 4. The moves follow the arrival of Andy Duncan as chief executive, says Andy Taylor,...

Vox pop: Does search marketing need a dedicated trade body?(Search Marketing Association)
September 13, 2005... Will the new Search Marketing Association do anything useful? The Search Marketing Association (SMA-UK), the UK's first trade body devoted to search marketing, has launched. It says its aims are to: improve search engine relationships;...

Quotes of the month.(Aegis Group Inc. acquires Glue London, digital marketing in demand)(Brief Article)
September 13, 2005... 'Digital is the new area of marketing and candidates can effectively future-proof their careers by becoming an expert in this field' - Nick Backhouse, managing partner at McCann-Erickson Manchester, on his agency's backing of the first degree...

Editorial: Time to take the web out of its box.(online shopping promoted)
September 13, 2005... Consider this: internet penetration is upwards of 90 per cent in the UK and broadband about 50 per cent. At work, the proportion of broadband users is even higher, especially among the sought-after ABC1s. Now consider how those people go about...

Comment: Mobile is the ticket to the future for merchants.(mobile commerce in europe and UK)
September 13, 2005... When it comes to mobile commerce, we're told that Europe and the UK are way behind the Japanese market. Long considered to be the centre of development for hi-tech gadgets, it's no surprise that Japanese consumers are using their mobile phones...

Shopping: Review - Forget Abba, find me some snus.(food in Sweden and United Kingdom)(Brief Article)
September 13, 2005... It's not easy being a Swedish expat in the UK. You try to fit in, drink your tea and eat salt and vinegar crisps. You take the jokes about Volvos and Abba on the chin. Nothing you can't handle. But, every now and then I get the urge for...

Shopping stats: Argos first for e-tail brand awareness.
September 13, 2005... Price and secure payment are the key differentiators for online shoppers. E-tailers are improving their web offer to combat falling sales on the high street, according to a survey by ValueClick-owned shopping-comparison service...

Sector checker: Pigsback.com helps you find where to spend your cash.(websites help us to know where to invest)
September 13, 2005... Jeremy Hill checks out Pigsback.com, and while he found it intriguing, the idea of a consumer broker was something that made him uneasy. Web: www.pigsback.com Developer: In-house I'll be upfront. I'm not a big collector of points...

Boots: Web helps fuel Boots' recovery.
September 13, 2005... Boots.com's Brian Linnington tells Philip Buxton how the firm plans to integrate its web site more fully with its stores and revolutionise the way prescriptions work. The sign on the way into Boots' frankly enormous head-office complex...

Traffic counts.(list of audited sites)
September 13, 2005... Six months since Revolution published the first list of ABCe-audited site audience figures, the latest numbers are in. Reaching the right audience is rarely just a question of scale, especially online. Relevance is often more significant,...

Conference preview: London stage for AD:TECH.
September 13, 2005... What's on offer for digital marketers at this month's AD:TECH conference? Philip Buxton takes a look. AD:TECH, the world's largest conference devoted to marketing technology, comes to Europe for the first time this month with a two-day...

The Revolution Interactive TV Report: Still waters hide real action in iTV.
September 13, 2005... Without doubt, 2004 was a loud year for interactive TV advertising. The launch of the Zip TV consortium is said to have sparked not only debate but also a drop in prices over at Sky. Suddenly, iTV was back on the agenda and causing a...

iTV advertising: The state of iTV.
September 13, 2005... 2005 is turning into the best year so far for interactive TV advertising, reports Deborah Bonello. 'People simply need to compare interactive advertising to where it was two years ago to see how far it has come,' says Peter Birch, head of...

Creative review: Gemma Dodd brand & communications consultant, Rufus Leonard.
September 13, 2005... Dodd's background is in media planning and strategy. She headed BHO's interactive arm before its merger and worked at Euro RSCG Wnek Gosper before joining Rufus Leonard last year. Her key clients include BT, the COI, National Portrait Gallery...

Interactive campaigns: Brands leading the push.
September 13, 2005... What makes a great iTV campaign and how can brands track who decides to press the red button? Dave Howell takes a look. When newly arrived BBC chairman Michael Grade said last year that the BBC would be delighted to open its doors and tell...

Data accuracy: Can you trust your online data?
September 13, 2005... Doubts rage about the reliability of online data measurement, but experts argue it still produces the best information we've ever had, finds Emma Rigby. Experts agree that there are more holes in a data measurement report than a...

Blog marketing masterclass: The Revolution Masterclass on marketing with blogs.(companies develop a blog site in their parent company site)
September 13, 2005... Blogs offer a powerful way for brands to create a dialogue with users and seek their opinions, as long as they are transparent, says Emma Rigby. Cast your mind back, if you dare, to the darkness of the pre-internet world. On its own, a...

Campaign of the month.(Comic Relief and charities campaigns for making poverty a history)
September 13, 2005... Comic Relief teamed with a host of charities and used a mixed media push to gain support for Make Poverty History. Background: Comic Relief joined the Trade Justice Movement, Christian Aid, Save the Children, Oxfam, CAFOD and the World...

Trailblazer: Heroes to hand.(Nobok Sports launches internet service)
September 13, 2005... Nobok's Chris Hughes tells Emma Rigby how sports fans can get up close and personal with Ian Botham and Jonny Wilkinson. Back in the day, many an awestruck admirer might have cherished a poster of Ian Botham, but sports fans can now get...