FC Barcelona has decided against signing online gambling company betandwin as its first shirt sponsor, according to sources close to the negotiations. It is understood the Spanish league-leader has decided not to sign with the Austrian company, which is already an official partner of the club, because it felt uncomfortable having a betting company as […]
Orange, Akai and Hewlett-Packard (HP) are the first brands to sign up to television auction channel iBuy Unique, which is set to launch within a fortnight. The home shopping channel operates on a “lowest unique bid wins” concept. The viewer who bids the lowest unmatched price for any advertised product or experience can walk away […]
UK search marketing agency Bigmouthmedia has been banned by Google – which means its own website has effectively disappeared from Google searches. It is understood the problem began on Friday last week and was not resolved until yesterday (Tuesday), because of the President’s Day public holiday in the US. It is believed that Google’s index […]
Sir Keith Mills, chief executive of London Olympics 2012, has denied that the current lack of funding for aspiring athletes will damage the event’s brand. Speaking at a Royal Mail-sponsored conference in London, Mills was challenged about the failure of gymnast Ben Brown, whom the bid team used in its ad campaign, to secure the […]
Motorola has signed up as the first client to take advantage of “wearable media” company Adwalker’s deal with airport operator BAA. The three-year contract will allow outdoor specialist Adwalker to sell space on LCD screens, worn by models who will patrol airports to increase campaign visibility. The agreement with BAA initially covers Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow […]
The news that the Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB) and the Commercial Radio Companies Association (CRCA) are to partially merge is seen as a positive but necessary step for a medium that has lost its sparkle with advertisers. The plans, which were first revealed in Marketing Week (February 2), aim to help the groups promote the […]
Fox International Channels (UK) has invited agencies to pitch for a project to revamp digital channel FX. The pitch follows an overhaul of FX’s marketing team as the channel looks to exploit new media platforms and tie its on- and off-air activity together. Red Bee Media (formerly BBC Broadcast), Addiction, Bruce Dunlop Associates and DED […]
Research from Dunnhumby reveals that 39% of women’s weeklies buyers do not purchase any other type of magazine. According to the July to December 2005 Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABCs) figures, the sector as a whole has seen sales rise in the period by 4.2% and 7.4% year on year. The growth in the sector […]
Powergen is promoting green energy by rolling out a poster campaign on billboards featuring mini-wind turbines. The fully operational machines will appear above the energy company’s outdoor execution “Positive Energy” on selected JC Decaux 48- and 96-sheet sites. JC Decaux’s Innovate division created the campaign, which will run in Manchester, Nottingham, Leicester and Coventry. The […]
Richard Collins, formerly global chief executive of WPP’s search marketing agency, mSearch, and UK chief executive of its digital media agency, mOne, has joined streaming video company Vividas as group chief executive. Collins, 33, has spent ten years in the digital industry, initially as managing director of recruitment advertising site, Jobsite.co.uk, then as founder of […]
Iconic 1970s board game Mastermind is being relaunched as a mobile phone game.
Marketers have to adapt to a “brave new world” where the balance of power has shifted in favour of consumers, who will be increasingly using technology – in particular mobile handsets – to control and comment on the media they consume, according to a new study from OgilvyOne. In Europe, the Middle East and Africa […]
After years of turning up their noses at the internet as being suitable for only mass-market brands, marketers of premium products are finally waking up to the opportunities it offers, according to new research. Marketing agency BLM has found that in 2003, 32% of premium brand buyers looked to the internet for information and to […]
I read with interest Martin Croft’s article about the allegedly fabricated Nestlé research (MW February 9). The intricacies of the Nestlé case are not for me to comment on, but it raises an interesting point about the frequent use – or rather misuse – of research as a marketing tool. “Research only tells us what […]
Speculation in the national papers surrounding this month’s 3GSM World Congress suggests the number of 3G users is set to snowball this year. Maybe its time has come, but historically we have seen that mobiles don’t become mainstream until the user experience is good enough, and whilst this is (almost) the case, 3G providers are […]