This week’s movers and shakers in the digital industry: IPC | Buongiorno | QVC | Code Computerlove | Reevoo | Affilinet | IDM | nugg.ad | BT | Visit England and Lastminute | AudienceScience | Guava | Tug | Shazam | LBi and bigmouthmedia | I Spy Marketing | Carrentals | Webcredible | Capablue | Sitecore | Strongmail | Maxymiser | Auto Trader | Return Path | Tumri | MRM LOndon | Trivago | AOL | Clang | Coffee.net | IPC Inspire | Global Reviews | Awareness Networks | Baloon Dog | Epilepsy Week | Very.co.uk | Addictive Interactive | Admeld | Exalead | Blue Barracuda
IPC to introduce Facebook comments plugin
IPC Media has become the first publisher in the UK to introduce Facebook’s updated Comments plugin. The updated comments tool allows users to make comments on the host site and distributes and syndicates those comments to and from Facebook. It is integrated into www.nuts.co.uk and www.horseandhound.co.uk with immediate effect. Users of both sites – and their friends – can now easily participate in online conversations using their Facebook profile. When a person leaves a comment on the IPC site, a News Feed story is published to friends on Facebook with the comment, along with a link to the site where the comment originated. When friends comment on the News Feed story on Facebook, their comment can be syndicated from Facebook and published on the conversation thread on the brand website.
www.nuts.co.uk/film
Buongiorno revamps site to focus on “mobile connected life”
Buongiorno has revamped its website, that strengthens Buongiorno’s position as a global provider of services and content for mobile internet to Telcos, Brands and OEM. The new website structure reflects that of the Company’s enhanced service provision, dedicating a section to each one of B! core businesses: Mobile Connected Life; Mobile Marketing & Mobile Payments and Mobile Internet Apps and Solutions. Buongiorno’s evolved service proposition comes ahead of predictions by sector analysts that the time has come for the “perfect storm” given the growing smartphone penetration, coupled with the fact that 1 in 5 mobile users access wireless broadband with an internet enabled phone. Buongiorno delivers effective and scalable solutions to enable the mobile connected life by helping telecom operators, handset and connected device manufacturers to deliver customized mobile data experiences. With direct connections to more than 130 telecom operators in 57 countries, 10 years experience in the mobile ecosystem and a team of 1000 professionals, Buongiorno makes the mobile internet experience happen.
www.buongiorno.com
QVC updates iPhone app
QVC has updated its free iPhone app giving customers on the go access to its full range of more than 15,000 products. Customers can use ‘Buy Now’ to place an order within the app using their existing account number and PIN whilst new customers can use ‘Call to Order’ to contact QVC’s Customer Care team. The homepage features Today’s Special Value, One Time Only offers (when available), the current item being aired on the TV, and the last 25 on-air items. Product detail pages contain full information including Ratings & Reviews, zoom-able images, sizing and colours. The full-search capability allows customers to search by item number, product description, brand or phrase. There is a dedicated feature page highlighting key promotions and products such as new or top-rated products.
www.qvcuk.com
Oxfam Appoints Digital Agency
Leading international aid and development charity Oxfam has appointed Code Computerlove as its digital partner, following a four-way competitive pitch. Code will work alongside Oxfam’s digital, marketing and communications teams, providing strategic support and advice to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the charity’s digital activities and operations. Oxfam GB is a member of Oxfam International – an international confederation of 14 organisations working with partners and allies in 98 countries to find lasting solutions to poverty and injustice.
www.codecomputerlove.com
Online retail group JustShops goes social
JustShops, a collection of speciality e-commerce pet stores, is to add social commerce to all of its online stores with Reevoo. Social commerce will build greater trust, improve on-site conversion and make its sites more interactive and engaging. JustShops provide pet owners with handpicked products, ranging from dog beds to rabbit hutches and chicken coops to parrot cages. JustShops will measure the success of its social commerce solution by tracking review response rates, monitoring feedback on its products and services and, ultimately, by measuring the uplift in conversion rates that comes from providing impartial reviews to customers.
www.reevoo.com/b2b/social-commerce
http://www.justshops.com
Sage brings social media and iPhone integration
Sage has updates its CRM tool designed to give marketers a holistic view of their customer base and the freedom to choose how, where and when they access vital customer information. Social media integration and mobile access underpin the new Sage CRM solution, creating new levels of customer insight and empowering marketers with 24-hour access to business-critical information. With Twitter and LinkedIn integration, real-time synchronisation with MS Exchange and mobile deployment on iPhone and blackberry devices, Sage CRM v7.1 gives users fast and flexible access to customer and prospect data, contacts and communications, regardless of location, to provide a holistic view of customer interactions, enhance the customer experience and drive customer loyalty. Sage CRM’s new fully integrated e-marketing tool also enables marketers to quickly execute e-marketing campaigns and measure results without leaving the CRM system to automatically analyse effectiveness.
www.sage.co.uk/crm
Homeserve adopts integrated approach to affiliate marketing with affilinet
affilinet has been appointed by Homeserve as its affiliate marketing partner of choice. The programme will run on a twelve month basis and will exclusively use affilinet’s network of publishers to drive customers to Homeserve’s business. affilinet will run a traditional affiliate marketing programme for Homeserve, driving traffic and sales via affilinet’s network of online publishers. This part of the programme will principally support Homeserve’s emergency insurance products, increasing sales across the portfolio. The campaign will also use affilinet’s new call tracking technology to join Homeserve’s online marketing campaign to the offline world by working with affiliates to drive phone calls to the Homeserve call centre. To do this, affilinet will generate unique phone numbers relating to Homeserve’s callout service, which can be published by affiliates both online and offline. All the numbers are trackable, so that Homeserve and affilinet have visibility over which affiliate is responsible for each lead generated to the call centre. This allows the team to record which combination of affiliates are successfully driving online and offline business, while ensuring all affiliates are correctly attributed for sales and leads generated.
www.affili.net
Caroline Worboys elected Chair of the IDM Trust
The Institute of Direct Marketing (IDM) has elected former Callcredit Marketing Solutions MD and skilled entrepreneur, Caroline Worboys as Chair of the IDM Educational Trust. She replaces Professor David Miles who remains a trustee. The IDM Trust works with universities, educators and businesses with the mission to “educate and inspire the most talented students to enter the direct, data and digital marketing profession”. Caroline Worboys has worked closely with the Institute for many years, having been an IDM Trustee since May 2005 and is an active member of the IDM Data Council.
http://www.theidm.com/education.
nugg.ad launches office in Copenhagen
Targeting platform, nugg.ad, announces the opening of a new branch in Copenhagen. Alongside the locations in London, Paris and Warsaw, this is the fourth branch office in Europe outside of Germany. From Copenhagen, the new Managing Director Nordics, Thomas Schnoor, is responsible for the business development of the targeting service provider in all of Scandinavia.
Thomas Schnoor was previously Director of Digital Research at the market research company TNS Gallup A/S in Denmark. Dannie Nielsen, who was also employed at TNS Gallup A/S, supports him as Key Account Manager. nugg.ad has already been appointed by Berlingske Media, which recently formed the Predictive Behavioural Targeting (PBT) division of a targeting network alongside existing nugg.ad clients Ekstra Bladet and dba.dk. As a result, nugg.ad has already achieved market leadership in Denmark.
www.nugg.ad
BT invites the nation to be wedding planner for Adam and Jane
In BT’s latest Adam and Jane advert, the UK public have once again been asked to help determine the couple’s future – this time to plan their upcoming nuptials. In the latest instalment, which is live on the Facebook page and is being screened today (Wednesday, March 2), a heavily pregnant Jane suddenly goes into labour early. As a result, the couple don’t have time to plan their wedding, so the nation has been asked to help by voting for their favourite dress, car and first dance on the Facebook page. It’s also possible to vote by text – for details visit. The options that receive the most votes will be brought to life in the next advert, due to be screened in April. BT will select two lucky voters at random to become wedding guests*. They will be invited on set for filming and will be screened as part of the final advert. In August last year, 1.6 million people voted to decide that Jane would be expecting a baby.
http://www.btlife.bt.com/entertainment/help-plan-adam-and-janes-wedding
VisitEngland and lastminute.com join forces to boost travel within England this year
Leading travel and leisure retailer, lastminute.com, has partnered with England’s national tourist board VisitEngland, in a bid to encourage Britons to holiday in England rather than head abroad this year. The move comes as the country readies itself for a series of major events that have put it firmly on the destination hotlist for 2011. The partnership involves an integrated marketing campaign including advertising, PR and online activity which will launch on 28th February 2011 well ahead of the Royal Wedding and bumper Bank Holidays from April. Outdoor print advertising, with the strap-line ‘no passport required’, will urge Britons to explore weekend breaks, country retreats and trips to the capital when booking a holiday this year with key activity to roll out across London, Birmingham and Manchester. lastminute.com will host VisitEngland content on a specially designed page to highlight great events and trip ideas across England, closely aligned with lastminute.com’s best-selling destinations and experiences. The site will also feature a pop-up VisitEngland icon, to remind customers of the opportunities for great experiences within the country.
http://www.lastminute.com/site/commercial/travel/enjoyengland.html
Stuart Colman Promoted to Managing Director, Europe for AudienceScience
AudienceScience, a global online advertising technology company delivering digital marketing success, today announced that Stuart Colman has been promoted to the position of Managing Director, Europe expanding his current role to managing offices throughout Europe including London, Hamburg, Amsterdam, Paris, and Milan. In addition, he will be helping expand the business’ reach in Scandinavia, Russia, Poland, Austria, Switzerland and Spain. In his new role, Colman will work closely with country management, overseeing account management, business development and agency outreach as well as providing strategic and managerial leadership across Europe. Colman will be responsible for driving the development and adoption of audience targeting technology amongst publishers, agencies and advertisers throughout Europe.
www.AudienceScience.co.uk
Guava strengthens team with senior hires from Facebook and Fox Networks
Guava, the integrated digital marketing agency, today announced two senior appointments within its growing Facebook and Display Advertising division. First is Miyako Soeda, who joins as Facebook Product Manager, with responsibility for managing and innovating Guava’s Facebook portfolio. Prior to joining Guava, Miyako worked at Facebook Europe in Ireland, within its EMEA Sales department responsible for the Nordic markets. Guava is also pleased to announce the appointment of Tim Cross as Display Advertising Manager. Tim will be drawing on over a decade of experience to help create a product that allows clients to analyse and track campaign success across multiple platforms. Guava, as their extensive experience in Display and Facebook Advertising will help us to continue to develop our products, while delivering the levels of service and results our clients have come to expect.”
http://www.guava.co.uk/
Tug appoints former client relationship manager at Google
Tug, the search marketing specialist, has appointed Rachel Coate as account director. Coate, a former client relationship manager at Google also spent two years as sales and operations manager at travel portal Kayak. She will be using her extensive experience in strategic PPC and display advertising to grow the value of Tug’s travel brands. Coate will also be responsible for heading up Tug’s relationship with The Perth Mint as well as the recently won, Madame Tussauds account.
www.tugsearch.co.uk
Shazam Appoints MTV Co-Founder John Sykes to Board
Shazam has announced that John Sykes, co-founder of MTV Networks, has joined the Shazam Board. Sykes is a respected and popular industry pioneer who co-founded MTV 25 years ago and served as President of VH1, which he rebranded and lead to record audience ratings and profits, from 1994-2002. After a period as Chairman and CEO of Infinity Broadcasting overseeing 185 radio stations reaching more than 70 million listeners a week, he returned to MTV Networks in 2005 as President Network Development. In 2008 Sykes left Viacom to join former MTV colleagues Bob Pittman and Tom Freston at the Pilot Group.
www.shazam.com
LBi and Bigmouthmedia promote Lyndsay Menzies to duel global management role
Lyndsay Menzies, chief operating officer of bigmouthmedia, has been promoted to the dual role of Chief Executive of bigmouthmedia and Chief Media Officer of LBi Group. The appointment represents a key landmark in the continued integration of bigmouthmedia and LBi following the merger of the two businesses last year. Menzies will take overall command of bigmouthmedia, as well as heading up LBi’s media operations internationally. She will be responsible for ensuring that bigmouthmedia’s media and search capabilities blend effectively with LBi Group’s range of services to provide a best in class offering to clients including BT, Lloyds TSB, Play.com, IKEA and Electrolux. Menzies will also work to identify global growth opportunities for LBi Group and will further develop the operation’s media capabilities in territories such as the USA, Middle East and APAC.
www.lbi.co.uk
www.bigmouthmedia.com
iSpy hires new biz dev manager
I Spy, the UK’s award-winning digital marketing agency, has recruited high-profile online media specialist, Nishma Robb, for its newly created role of Business Development Director. The appointment further strengthens I Spy’s already experienced leadership team, which is driving the agency’s continued growth since its launch in 2005. Robb joins on March 7th and will be responsible for increasing new business wins across I Spy’s core services of natural and paid search, display, social media, mobile marketing and conversion optimisation. Nishma is a dynamic and commercially astute leader, with vast experience of the online marketing landscape, particularly in the travel sector. Her accolades include being listed in Travolutions’s 2007 Powerful People Edition; winning Asian Women of Acievement’s ‘Business Woman of the Year’ award in 2004 and being named as one of Media Week’s ‘30 under 30’ in 2001.
www.ispymarketing.com
Carrentals.co.uk Launches New People Carrier Price ComparatorCar hire price comparison website Carrentals.co.uk has announced the launch of a new service, which enables customers to compare the price and availability of 7 – 15 seat vehicles under a separate search function. With four different categories of results; compact, standard, intermediate and fullsize people carriers, each vehicle is displayed by supplier in order of price, with information on the number of seats, the type of transmission, the number of doors and whether it has air conditioning. Carrentals.co.uk’s people carrier comparator will search in the same way as its existing car hire option, comparing prices from up to 50 different suppliers in over 10,000 locations worldwide.
www.carrentals.co.uk/peoplecarrierhire
Webcredible chosen by Diabetes UK for usability testing
Webcredible, the user experience consultancy, today announces its appointment by Diabetes UK for a usability testing project on its website. The project is designed to identify immediate areas of improvement as well as recommendations that will feed into the charity’s next steps and wider strategic plans for the website over the next few years. Diabetes UK is the largest organisation in the country working for people with diabetes, funding research, campaigning and helping people live with the condition. With around 7,000 visitors to the website per day, the work with Webcredible is designed to help optimise the user experience of the site so that information is easy to find and supporters are continually engaged. Webcredible’s usability testing will consist of eight participants performing various tasks on the Diabetes UK website over the course of two days. These findings will then be analysed by Webcredible and used to provide recommendations regarding improvements to the site.
www.webcredible.co.uk
Playboy TV UK to deliver video on demand service to connected TVs
Capablue, the Web-TV convergence agency, announced that Playboy TV UK, a leading provider of high-quality entertainment for adults, will be using its Connected service to deliver Video on Demand to connected TVs in the UK. Connected is Capablue’s fully customisable portal platform for connected TVs. Playboy TV UK will be using the system to provide its VoD service to viewers using connected TVs. The Connected platform will also enable Playboy TV UK to deliver a discovery interface which is easy to use and navigate, while allowing viewers to personalise the site based on their preferences and recommend content to others. Playboy TV UK will be able to monetise their service through payments for pay per view (PPV) and subscription.
www.capablue.com
New Procurement Portal launched by the Prime Minister
A free new public sector procurement website, launched by the Prime Minister, has been delivered by award-winning digital agency Sequence using Sitecore Web CMS. The portal is the latest measure aimed at removing unnecessary obstacles that make government procurement difficult for small businesses. Designed and developed by Sequence for SERCO, who provide the Business Link site in which the new site is housed, Contracts Finder displays information on all new procurement opportunities, tender documents and contracts for central government that are valued at over £10,000. Targeted at businesses, government buyers and the public, the project forms a central part of the government’s new commitment to transparency and makes government procurement “more welcoming” for small and medium-sized enterprises. The service is built around Sitecore Web CMS, a leading Microsoft .Net-based web development platform. Sitecore’s feature-rich, easy-to-use structure keeps editorial quite separate from the technical side allowing non-technical staff to be responsible for keeping content up-to-date. Sitecore also has a comprehensive range of pre-built connectors and data abstraction layers that allow customers to easily extend the platform’s capabilities over time.
www.businesslink.gov.uk
www.Sitecore.net
European Flash Sale Site Privalia Sends Millions of Emails in Minutes with StrongMail
StrongMail, a leading provider of online solutions for email marketing and social media, today announced that Privalia, the leading private online sales club for fashion brands in Spain, Italy, Brazil and Mexico, is standardising its email marketing and triggered messaging on StrongMail. By switching to StrongMail, Privalia gains the data integration, performance and reliability that is required to deliver personalised flash sale event announcements to millions of members in a matter of minutes. Established in Barcelona in 2006, Privalia has more than 6 million members worldwide and is the leading flash sale site in every market it serves. Email is a key driver of sales for the company, with as much as 80 percent of its members accessing their daily offers through their email sales announcements.
www.strongmail.com/
PartyGaming teams up with Maxymiser to test content
PartyGaming, an online gaming business, has partnered with Maxymiser, the online conversion management specialist, to increase the number of visitors to the site and improve conversion uplift. Working with Maxymiser, PartyGaming is able to apply multivariate testing (MVT) methods to individual pages of its website in order to identify the best performing content, whilst removing the risk and subjectivity from website development. Within four months of working with Maxymiser, this has already resulted in an increase in completed downloads on the PartyCasino section of the website. Offering a variety of poker and casino offerings through an integrated Party-branded platform, PartyGaming provides a broad range of games to adults across the world, using a variety of languages and multiple currency options. The company has been listed on the London Stock Exchange since June 2005, and is regulated and licensed by the Government of Gibraltar. ParyGaming has recently merged with Austrian internet betting group Bwin to create the world’s largest online gaming business.
www.Maxymiser.com
Auto Trader revamps site as car buying online soars
Auto Trader has launched its ‘New Car’ site for UK consumers. The site (available at www.autotrader.co.uk) will give UK consumers access to a comprehensive end-to-end new car purchasing experience, based on the expertise and knowledge of the Auto Trader team. The service offers UK consumers independent advice and help at every stage of the buying process, from selecting the perfect car to driving it home. Research conducted by Auto Trader earlier this year showed that over half (53%) of UK car buyers would be interested in a digital new car service in the UK. Four out of five (83%) of consumers said that they were in need of more help deciding where to purchase a car. Auto Trader expects the New Car site to receive in excess of 350,000 unique users within one month of launch.
www.autotrader.co.uk
Return Path launches Domain Assurance anti-phishing service
Return Path has launched its anti-phishing service, Domain Assurance. Return Path is also announcing that Google has joined Yahoo!, Tucows, and Cloudmark in supporting Domain Assurance as an innovative way to reduce phishing and spoofing on the front line of the attacks. According to RSA, more than 260 million malicious emails are sent to consumers every day pretending to be from a trusted company in an attempt to lure them into downloading malware or inputting private account information into fraudulent websites. These attacks make the email channel less secure, decreasing consumer trust in all commercial email.
Domain Assurance helps protect companies from being spoofed and phished by blocking fraudulent emails before they reach the consumer’s inbox. With Domain Assurance, email senders first have their domains audited to be sure they are properly authenticated. Email authentication methods like SPF and DKIM are industry-accepted standards that confirm the identity of the sender of the email. In the Domain Assurance Dashboard, email senders can review authentication results from Return Path’s mailbox provider partners and the proprietary ISP-based Return Path Reputation Network. Senders can readily detect any malicious activity and initiate a proactive course of action to mitigate any damage. Additionally, senders can validate email authentication results across all the email sent under their domains, including transactional, marketing, and corporate.
www.returnpath.net
AudienceScience Selects Tumri to Power Dynamic Creative Solution for Display Advertising
AudienceScience has announced a global partnership with leading creative optimisation and personalisation company, Tumri, giving advertisers and agencies the ability to employ precision audience targeting with dynamically customised online creatives to deliver more relevant and effective campaign performance. It represents another milestone in the development of data driven display advertising, providing real time optimisation of key creative elements, including headline, offer, visuals and call to action. Tumri and AudienceScience entered a beta partnership in September 2010, and since then have worked together to develop a dynamic display ad solution that offers more advanced targeting options for global brands. After successful testing, the Tumri Ensemble Platform is now being rolled out across AudienceScience’s Audience Delivery System throughout the US and will be launched in the UK and across the rest of Europe in the coming months. With a comprehensive set of applications– including automatic display ad optimisation, dynamic product level retargeting and display ad personalisation, along with analytics and insights – Tumri Ensemble is helping AudienceScience to build more effective, scalable, audience-centric creatives.
www.AudienceScience.co.uk
www.tumri.com
MRM London appoints Richard Barker as Client Services Director
MRM London has today announced the appointment of Richard Barker as Client Services Director. He will also lead MRM’s EMEA relationship with Intel – a global client partner. Richard joins MRM London from Ogilvy Group, where since 2004 he has held the roles of Managing Director for the Vodafone Global account, Management Partner for the company’s work with IBM and Head of Interactive Services for OgilvyOne Worldwide. In his role as Management Partner for OgilvyOne Worldwide, he led the agency’s offering in brand advertising, direct, digital and search for IBM; meanwhile, as Managing Director for the Vodafone Global account he was responsible for corporate global digital strategy and managing the ongoing delivery of a multi-discipline 40 member team from across multiple Ogilvy agencies. Within Interactive Services he turned around an underperforming department in 18 months by implementing a complete change programme.
www.mrmlondon.co.uk/
Trivago debuts iPad travel app
The new app from trivago for iPad allows users to compare the prices of hotels at home and on the road. The system is unique among iPad applications, because although there are many apps from booking agencies that list hotels, none until now has allowed real-time price comparisons and room availability, as offered by over 53 booking partners such as LateRooms, LastMinute.com, Booking.com, Expedia.co.uk, Venere, Fastbooking, and many others. The new iPad app joins the other already released apps for iPhone and Android, which have given millions of users the ability to access trivago’s price comparison service.
http://itunes.apple.com/en/app/id407769167?mt=8
Exclusive AOL UK Web Content Partnership
AOL UK has announced that world renowned fashion designer Christopher Kane is to join its high end, female glossy MyDaily as Contributing Editor, to create a range of original, fashion inspired content exclusively for the website. Hot on the heels of winning this year’s British Fashion Council/Vogue Designer Fashion Fund accolade, Kane is set to be a sought after ticket at this February’s London Fashion Week. Christopher’s remarkable talent adds yet another enviable facet to MyDaily’s UK offering. Opening with new and exclusive portrait photography of the designer himself, Christopher Kane’s contributions to MyDaily will include unique, first person perspectives on his experiences from around the globe. From London to Milan, MyDaily readers will be able to watch and read about some of the world’s most vibrant cities from the perspective of one of the fashion industry’s most exciting talents. Sponsors of Christopher’s show at this February’s London Fashion week, MyDaily will also be speaking exclusively to the designer straight after his event on Monday, 21st February for first-hand reactions to how everything was received. Following which, two of MyDaily’s most recognised personalities and mutual fans will come face-to-face, as Dannii Minogue is given the opportunity to quiz one of the fashion industry’s most elusive designers and fellow Contributing Editor.
http://www.mydaily.co.uk
Clang creator advises on delivering customer service through email marketing
Following retail guru and ‘Secret Shopper’ Mary Portas taking UK businesses to task over their poor treatment of consumers, E-Village is advising digital marketers on how to introduce a ‘traditional’ element of customer service to their email campaigns. ‘Event-driven email marketing campaigns: why technology must be combined with insight’ is the latest in a series of white papers from the creator of CRM-focused email marketing tool Clang (www.createaclang.com). It offers an overview of the practicalities of event-driven marketing, as well as how to avoid the pitfalls, and is available to download for free from: http://www.createaclang.com/en/Downloads/
www.e-village.eu
Coffee.net debuts new website to boost hospitality sector
A leading coffee wholesaler has launched a new website as it bids to increase its share of the hospitality sector. Coffeee.net, which was designed by north west digital agency Brash, sells a range of ground, instant and raw bean coffee directly to business and private customers and it already includes a number of hotel and restaurant businesses among its clients. The business, which also retails tea, hot chocolate, coffee making equipment and accessories from its distribution centre in Horwich, has identified the hospitality sector as an area of “significant growth” over the next two years and aims to create up to 15 new jobs in the process.
Coffee.net
Nuts and NME sign up to Solus Census campaign
IPC Inspire Men & Music brands Nuts and NME unveil a major solus campaign in partnership with the 2011 Census England and Wales to encourage the nation’s young men to engage with this year’s population count and data gathering. The campaign, across Nuts and NME in print and online, runs across March, leading up to Census Day on March 27, driving awareness of – and engagement with – the ten-yearly Census and encouraging the UK’s young men to take part. The partnership – brokered by Mediacom – sees the creation of bespoke creative solutions targeting the Nuts and NME audiences. Total Nuts weekly reach across print, mobile and online is now 1.3 million, while NME has a weekly brand reach of well over one million. To engage the Nuts audience in the importance of participating in this year’s Census, the brand is asking readers to ‘Make Britain Better’. Alongside unique Census ‘Pub Ammo’ advertorials in-magazine, bespoke micro-site provides a wealth of fun content – unlocked week-by-week – on the Census and on what Nuts might look like by the time the next Census rolls around in 2021. For NME the campaign theme is ‘This Is History’ delivering advertorial promotions in-magazine which delve into the NME archive to throw up iconic imagery and fascinating facts from Census years of yore. Online the theme is extended by a partnership with music streaming service www.we7.com which delivers users a compilation of classic tracks from each Census year from 1961 to 2001.
www.nuts.co.uk/census
Scottish and Southern Energy selects Global Reviews
SSE announced that they are using Global Reviews, the international customer experience analysts, to gain insight into the customer experience they offer new and existing customers online. Global Reviews will be collating insights and data throughout the user journey, from the moment customers first visit the website and all the key milestones thereafter. SSE will be shown by Global Reviews how they perform against their competitors and best practice on customer experience. SSE will be provided with actionable recommendations on what they can do to improve and be given accurate predictions on the effect each improvement will have, so that the team can prioritise those with the greatest impact.
www.GlobalReviews.co.uk
Social media management tool launches in Europe
The Awareness Social Marketing Hub has been licensed to Bristol based internet consultancy and technology company Auros, who will market, sell and support the social mediamanagement tool in the EMEAregion. The Hub, which is created, developed and sold in the United States by Awareness Inc., is already used by some of the world’s largest companies including Sony, Best Buy and UK-based retailer, ASOS. The Awareness Social Marketing Hub is a leading social marketing management solution giving marketers the power to publish, manage, measure and engage with activities across social media channels including Facebook, Twitter, WordPress, Foursquare, Slideshare, Flickr and YouTube.
www.awarenessnetworks.com
Balloon dog announces new CEO
James Clifton has been appointed Chief Executive Officer of award-winning, full service marketing agency, balloon dog. Clifton, who joined the agency as Managing Director in 2008, will be supported by Greig McCallum, Strategic Managing Partner, and Cordell Burke, Creative Managing Partner. The new structure coincides with a decision by Chris Murphy, current Chairman of balloon dog, to leave the business at the end of April, after 34 years in the industry, 20 of which have been spent owning an agency. Balloon dog clients include Adnams, Pret A Manger, Barclays, Aviva, RAC and Disney on Ice.
www.balloondog.co.uk
Paint the nation purple for epilepsy
Businesses across the country are being urged to take part in purple themed events between International Purple Day (26 March) and Epilepsy Week (w/c 15 May) to help change the lives of the 60,000 young people living with epilepsy in the UK. My Purple Pledge – a fundraising campaign launched by The National Centre for Young People with Epilepsy (NCYPE) – is asking companies to take a pledge to raise funds for this worthy cause via www.mypurplepledge.com. It aims to inspire people in the workplace to join together and put the spotlight on epilepsy. There are many ways to get involved: have a purple cake bake; join a ‘Purple Plod’ or just wear purple to work. Anything goes and the quirkier the better! The campaign is backed by a series of famous faces including Max Clifford; Nicholas Owen and Nathaniel Parker, all of whom have pledged purple.
www.mypurplepledge.com
Very.co.uk to implement Adobe Scene7
Very.co.uk launched its iPhone and iPad shopping app in April 2010 to enable mobile visitors to browse and shop its entire fashion collection while on the go. Through Adobe Scene7, the app allows visitors to zoom in to view intricate detail on main product images and alternate views, as well as watch full screen videos. Since April, the app has been downloaded over 50,000 times. Very.co.uk is aimed at fashion-conscious and tech-savvy consumers and is part of Shop Direct Group, the UK’s largest online and home shopping company. Launched in 2009, Very.co.uk’s brand ambassadors are Holly Willoughby and Fearne Cotton.
www.Very.co.uk
Kate Burns joins board of Addictive Interactive
Kate Burns is joining Addictive Interactive as a board director. Burns, who is Senior Vice President of AOL Europe will advise Addictive Interactive on the business strategy and market development of its social loyalty platform, BeAddictive. She brings fifteen years of leadership skills, strategic thinking and media expertise, having taken three global organisations from start-up stage to successful public companies. Social loyalty platform BeAddictive has over 500,000 registered users on its site and launched its loyalty scheme in December. The site, which links with Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms, rewards visitors with loyalty points for each action they take, which can be redeemed against prizes, gifts and money off vouchers on the site. Visitors can connect with people with similar interests, share photos and videos, enter competitions, read or write their own blogs and write reviews. Addictive Interactive’s management team is lead by founder Darren Hurrell and Sarah Jane Thomson, who also founded Ebiquity Plc, formerly known as Thomson Intermedia, and ‘First News’, the weekly newspaper for children which launched with Piers Morgan as Editorial Director.
BeAddictive.com
Admeld Boosts EMEA Team with Appointment
Admeld, the company that helps the world’s top online publishers sell ads smarter, today named Nicole Pruess as director of platform partnerships for EMEA. In this role, based in Admeld’s London office, Nicole will be charged with helping European publishers understand the advertising technology landscape, and develop relationships with key media buying and data partners. Nicole has extensive experience in the online advertising market in both Europe and the US. Most recently, she served as vice-president, product and platform services at Adify. Prior to that she was a product specialist at DoubleClick, where she helped launch the DART Network Builder. Nicole also served as director for ad operations at MTV Networks. In this newly created role, she will report to Jason Kelly, Admeld’s chief media officer.
www.admeld.com
New ‘Social Search’ Service launches
Dassault Systèmes announced that its subsidiary Exalead, a global provider of search-based applications (SBA) technology, has been selected by AskPeopleYouKnow.com, a brand new ‘social search’ service conceived and launched by Aubert Park Ventures. The website makes use of Exalead’s leading search technology – from its ability to search and refine millions of items, to enable people to search questions asked and answered, to find other users’ profiles, and to provide traditional web results. AskPeopleYouKnow.com is a new ‘social search’ service with which users can tap into the wisdom of their trusted networks to obtain answers to questions, or search for advice and recommendations. As in real life, AskPeopleYouKnow.com enables friends to recommend friends to answer questions and solve problems. It is designed to be as easily understood and as appealing to millions of mainstream users as Facebook is to a youth audience – only more useful.
http://www.3ds.com.
www.exalead.com
Momentum Pictures appoints Blue Barracuda to produce online campaign for ‘Chalet Girl’
Blue Barracuda is launching an online advertising campaign integrated with Facebook to promote ’Chalet Girl’, the new British romantic comedy from Momentum Pictures. The independent agency has integrated the Facebook ‘Like’ button to the film’s online trailer enabling viewers to view further information on the all star cast, snowboarding locations and lifestyle brands featured in the film and highlight their favourites on the social network. The campaign, conceived of and created by Blue Barracuda, is the first time a trailer has been integrated with social media in this way and aims to increase engagement and social recommendations for the film, and create buzz and awareness in advance of its release in cinemas on March 16, 2011. Hosted on the UK Film Council’s search site for films, FindAnyFilm.com, the trailer uses social sharing to leverage the meta data collected by the film’s director and producers to enable a participative experience. Clicking on the ‘like’ button pauses the trailer and opens a panel providing more information. If the users clicks the ‘Like’ button within the panel, it is added to their likes on their Facebook wall and other similar items are recommended with a ‘You may also like’ feature.
http://chaletgirl.findanyfilm.com/