Mum was first women’s site

Mmm… it was an interesting ad campaign that Handbag.com ran in Marketing Week last week (MW July 6). Opening line: “Handbag.com was the first women’s website to be launched in the UK” – I think not.

Back in 1998, we identified the Internet as a key element of an integrated campaign to refresh the Mum brand.

Admittedly our strategy was to use the development of the Mum website as the central focus of creating on-pack and media-led promotions, but there is no doubt that www.mum-online.co.uk was the first UK website to directly target women, with Handbag.com trailing months behind. Marketing Week may even remember the extended (four-page) coverage we received in your newly-launched e-volve (back in the days when it was still a supplement). So what do you think my next steps should be: should I complain to the ASA or ask Handbag.com to justify its claims. Come to think of it, I’ll take the gracious approach and sit back with my colleagues with a smug grin on our faces, secure in the knowledge that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

Justine Koder

Board director

Ignition Marketing Group

London SE1