Digets

Teamworks Interactive, the new media agency, has completed the second phase of the Novartis’ “Feel Free” Nicotinell Website (www.nicotinell.co.uk). The personalised site is designed to target professionals with regular access to the Web and invites visitors to input details of their smoking habit to help generate a personalised quit programme.

Female Web users are accessing financial services sites more regularly than shopping sites, according to a survey commissioned by Legal & General (www.landg.com). Its “Women and the Web” survey suggests that half of women Web users access a financial Website every month, compared with a quarter of those surveyed who said they regularly visit shopping sites. However, from the half that reported they had made a purchase on the Web, 23 per cent had bought books, eight per cent entertainment, while only five per cent said they had actually bought a financial product.

Peugeot, the French-owned car group (www.peugeot.co.uk), has launched a Web-based service allowing customers to check online which models are available for test-drives at local dealers. The facility is part of an upgrade of Web activity by Peugeot, which involves each of its dealerships operating its own fully interactive Website. Eventually customers will be able to arrange servicing, obtain spare parts and learn of special offers through dealers’ sites.

24/7 Media Europe, the online sales house, is to handle all ad sales for the financial news and services site UK-iNvest (www.ukinvest.com), which launches this week. Banner advertising and sponsorship on site will be sold exclusively by 24/7 Media Europe alongside its other financial services sites WOQATS, EuropeanInvestor, Economy Web, Top Finance and IFNET.

Over 300,000 Sun readers have registered to access CurrantBun (www.currantbun.com), the newspaper’s free Internet access service, according to online sales house Real Media (www.realmedia.com), which is selling advertising and sponsorship opportunities on the site.

NetBenefit, the UK’s leading domain name registrar, has been confirmed as one of a limited number of accredited registrars by the World Wide Web’s main domain name authority, ICANN. The appointment is part of a move towards injecting more competition into the market for domain name registration by US authorities. Rival UK-based Virtual Internet (www.vi.net) has also been granted domain name registration status by ICANN.

The European Internet Service Providers Association (EuroISPA) is backing moves by the European Parliament to ban spam (unsolicited e-mail) in a vote by its legal affairs committee taking place this week. EuroISPA is calling on the committee, currently considering a draft directive on electronic commerce, to back an opt-in, rather than opt-out, system for consumers targeted by spam.