News Round-up: 4th December 2009
- Added:
- Dec 04, 2009
This week’s movers and shakers in the digital industry: Auction for flood victims | Facebook privacy changes | Twitter ‘word of the year’ | FashionPixie | AdForm | Darlington ‘Twitterer’ | Wispa | Kelkoo | DrinkAware | Tamar | Doctors on Facebook | Wotzer | Youthnet | FreshEgg | Pure 360 | ElectricPig | MIT | Affilinet | Steak | the rubicon project | SimplifyDigital | High position | ADTECH | TwentySix | Virgin Media | Sedo | Auto Trader | Shazam | YUDU | Stella Artois | PayPoint | BazaarVoice | YoMego | WinkBall | Avail | Hotels.com
Mum bloggers launch fundraising auction for Cumbria flood victims
Mum bloggers are using the power of the Internet to help people affected by the Cumbrian floods, with an online charity auction and raffle. Spurred into action by stories of friends in Cumbria, blogger Kat Molesworth started contacting other bloggers and Twitter users to ask how they could help. Within 24 hours, the online community was spreading the word, and offers of auction lots were pouring in. The result is a fantastic auction that includes donated prizes.
The auction will run online at the Bambino Goodies website, which is hosting the auction for free. Bidding will open on Monday 30th November at 12pm, and run until Sunday 6th December at 6pm. Bidders are able to register on the auction site and bid for any item, and can also choose to remain anonymous. A raffle will also be added via Just Giving later in the week. Donations to the fund can also be made via Cumbria Community Foundation. Auction for Cumbria has been made possible thanks to the generosity of software company mycharitywins.com, which has provided the bloggers with its online auction software for free.
Facebook to change privacy settings
Facebook is to tighten up its privacy policy and remove regional networks from the social-networking site. Regional networks can cover an entire city, such as London, or even a whole country, such as India. However, regional networks have been criticised in the past as some members leave their profile open to everyone in the network to see.
"Almost 50 per cent of all Facebook users are members of regional networks, so this is an important issue for us. If we can build a better system, then more than 100 million people will have even more control of their information," Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's founder, said."We'll suggest settings for you based on your current level of privacy, but the best way for you to find the right settings is to read through all your options and customise them for yourself," said Zuckerberg. Facebook has 350 million members, according to Zuckerberg.
Twitter voted top English word of 2009
The name of micro-blogging site Twitter has topped a list of the most popular words of the year, according to the Global Language Monitor. The term, which is defined by the language organisation as "the ability to encapsulate human thought in 140 characters", beat off the likes of 'Obama' and 'H1N1' - the official name for swine flu.
The Global Language Monitor keeps a database recording how many times certain topics are mentioned in the media and on the internet. The top phrase of 2009 was 'King of Pop' and the top name was Barack Obama, which only just beat Michael Jackson following the singer's death earlier this year.
The full list in each category, as well as last year's words, are on the Global Internet Monitor's site.
New online fashion community seeks shopaholic ‘Pixies’
A free new online alert service for price-conscious fashionistas is looking for like-minded bargain hunters to help crowdsource its content. A group of fashion and budget conscious women has launched an online service TheFashionPixie.com to help alert women to sales from all retailers. It compiles the best deals on one website updated every day, offering readers the chance to view latest offers, link to online sales and also to share the best bargains they find via Facebook and Twitter.
With more than 300 UK retailers and brands, plus hundreds of High Street shops to keep track of, it is a huge task so the women behind the new community website are calling for fellow ‘fashion pixies’ throughout the country to share their own local shopping knowledge. TheFashionPixie.com, launched this week, will enable contributors to submit the latest deals via links on the home page and via Twitter and Facebook.
Danish ad serving company Adform launches in UK
Danish ad serving agency Adform is entering the UK market with a new reporting tool called ‘In Screen’ which monitors the positioning of all banner ads and alerts advertisers if they drop ‘below the fold’. Adform, who have an 80% share of the Nordic market and count Mediacom, MEC and Starcom amongst its clients, opened its London office this month. The development of this new application followed lengthy consultations with leading UK media agencies and advertisers.
Daniel Philpot, the new VP of European Sales and Marketing at Adform, said: "We developed a unique tool which tracks every ad by scanning the pixels and charting the ads positioning within the page. It allows our clients to be alerted to any ads that underperform because they drop down the page."
“One complaint that advertisers have about display advertising is that they book all inventory to appear above the fold only to discover that it’s often buried at the bottom”, explains Adform CEO, Gustav Mellentin, one of the founders who has relocated to the London office. “This software that we have developed can quickly report on this kind of abuse.”
Adform markets a complete online marketing platform encompassing planning, display, search and web analytics and will be launching a series of exciting new products over the next months. For more information visit www.adform.com
Darlington appoints UK’s first ‘Twitterer in residence’
Darlington has become the first in the UK to appoint a ‘Twitterer in Residence’. Many towns and cities have artists and writers in residence but forward-thinking Darlington has come up with the idea of an official Twitterer to keep people up to date with the goings on in the borough.
Andy Atkins, a member of the Darlington Partnership which is behind the innovation said: “Darlington is a lively, interesting place to be and the aim of our resident Twitterer is to maintain and generate a conversation about what’s going on and what people are talking about in the town.” The job has gone to Mike McTimoney – a social media fan and IT teacher at the town’s Queen Elizabeth Sixth Form College. He was chosen after a call went out for the town’s most prolific Tweeter.
www.darlingtonexperiment.org.uk
Cadbury appoints CMW for Wispa digital task
Cadbury have appointed CMW to work alongside existing agency partners Fallon, PHD and Clusta to develop the new Wispa website. The brief to CMW is to provide Wispa fans with a digital playground that brings them together and provides a platform for participation that reflects the values of the brand. The project is due for launch in December 2009. Martin Nieri, CMW MD comments: “CMW has been producing award winning digital campaigns for a range of Cadbury brands including Creme Egg, Twisted and Trident since 2006. It’s extremely pleasing to be taking Wispa even further on its digital journey since it was brought back to market via the power of social media.”
Kelkoo links with MyVoucherCodes
Kelkoo has signed a deal with voucher provider MyVoucherCodes (MVC). This will enable shoppers to access up to 7,000 active voucher codes from 2,000 online retailers, with 200-350 new codes issued each day. Kelkoo shoppers can now access a vast selection of voucher code promotions updated on a daily basis directly through a dedicated section of the website that lists all available codes for use with up to 2,000 online retailers. Consumers can then click through to their product of choice on the retailer’s site where they can input the voucher code in order to receive the relevant discount. The new voucher codes are currently available to consumers in the UK. Kelkoo plans to roll out similar services in France and Germany from early 2010.
Enable Interactive and Drinkaware rewards safe teens with mobile credit and condoms
Brook’s ‘Have fun. Be careful’ campaign has been given a boost this Christmas by Drinkaware with help from incumbent agencies Enable Interactive and Frank PR and mobile specialist Velti. Together they have created ‘Party Season Survival’ packs - which will include tips for staying safe this party season, free condoms and mobile phone credit: a first for the charity sector. Enable and Frank PR, who started working with Drinkaware in April 2009, came up with the survival pack concept after holding focus groups with 16 and 17 year olds who felt that mobile phone credit, as well as free condoms, were a fair exchange for receiving the campaign’s responsible partying message.
Enable joined forces with Velti, a leading mobile marketing provider, to supply young people with a unique voucher code to get a free top up credit across the major mobile networks. In addition to an initial £1 free top-up, users will be sent another bonus £1 credit on the 30th December, designed to help them get home safely on New Years Eve, along with a message reminding them that drinking can ruin the night and to carry a condom. The Christmas ‘Have fun. Be careful’ campaign is Drinkaware’s first initiative in conjunction with Brook, which aims to keep young people safe over the festive season. The survival packs will be available at certain Brook sexual health clinics and further education centres across the UK from the 3rd of December until Christmas.
Tamar launches the Wells Sports Foundation website to assist 2012 athletes
Natural search conversion agency Tamar, has launched a new website and natural search campaign for the Wells Sports Foundation, a sporting charity funded entirely by successful entrepreneur Barrie Wells, to assist UK 2012 athletes and support grass-roots sports projects in clubs and schools. Tamar designed the website from the ground-up with the objective of promoting the Wells Sports Foundation, using natural search to raise awareness of the Foundation’s efforts to help young, ‘unknown’ athletes to receive funding and recognition. The campaign was delivered from brief to launch in one month.
The first focus of the foundation is supporting 2012 Olympic athletes such as world heptathlon champion Jessica Ennis, who is the Wells Sports Foundation's Patron, swimmer Anne Bochmann and triathlete Adam Bowden. They are just some of the 15 athletes from a variety of sports already sponsored by Barrie to help take them a step closer to winning medals in 2012 and beyond. The Foundation is endorsed by UK Athletics, British Swimming, British Triathlon and Pentathlon GB, and its athletes will be visiting schools and sports clubs throughout the country to allow young people to engage with and be inspired by some of Britain's most accomplished and promising sporting talents.
Doctors told to avoid 'Facebook flirts'
Doctors are being warned not to respond to flirtatious approaches on social networking sites. The Medical Defence Union, a legal body for doctors, said communicating via sites such as Facebook may be a breach of ethical responsibilities. It issued the warning after a number of cases in which patients propositioned doctors after searching for their details on the internet. Regulators agreed that medics should be careful. The MDU also said doctors should refrain from making comments that could identify patients, amid concerns some may "let off steam" to colleagues via Facebook believing it was a private forum when security settings meant anybody could see what was being said.
The group said new guidance from the General Medical Council explicitly mentioned "internet chat forums" in its rules on confidentiality. Last year, a group of dental nurses were reprimanded by bosses for establishing a social networking group called "I'm a dental nurse and I hate patients because..."
The MDU also highlighted cases where patients had attempted to pursue inappropriate relationships with doctors who had treated them. Earlier this year Birmingham University trainee medics were told to block their Facebook profiles after they were pestered by patients they had treated during hospital placements.
Wotzer social music sharing platform shares ad revenues with users
Wotzer.com, a music community model that introduces a distinctive merger between social network and music sharing platforms, has gone live. The site gives its community of users 100% of ad generated revenue from their own personal pages to purchase music on the site. Ads displayed on Wotzer.com personal profile, content and activity pages provide real monetary credits to Wotzer members who in turn can purchase music from musicians’ profile pages and Wotzer’s music store at no additional cost to the members.
Musicians and bands will benefit from the availability of funds accessible only for the purpose of downloading their music. Features of Wotzer will include personal profiles and public homepages for bands and members, personalized playlists, comment boards, a chat room, shared music, video streaming and community updates. Wotzer will also integrate a variety of international social networks within itself to allow its community to globally share from one unified platform. Wotzer.com is scheduled to premiere the beginning of 2010.
Youth charity launches innovative online campaign
A fashion designer, celebrity chef and TV magician are just some of the enviable young professionals appearing in a new social media campaign developed by charity YouthNet, in a bid to build the UK’s biggest collection of user generated career advice.‘Your Life On Track’ is being rolled out nationwide and will feature a collection of videos of young people and industry experts giving their career advice, to help inspire others. Specialists from the fashion, music, hairdressing and catering industries have already taken part in a promotional video, which will be used as a platform to generate initial buzz around the campaign.
YouthNet enlisted digital agency GraphicoDMG who developed the campaign concept of peer to peer advice and worked with Irresistible Films to produce the videos of the young professionals. PR agency Four Communications and GraphicoDMG will seed the videos across relevant online news sites, forums and blogs. The aim is to raise awareness of Lifetracks.com, a groundbreaking new resource, to help young people with work, study and training, due to launch early next year.
The team at YouthNet is also developing a separate link building campaign, which will ask organisations to link back to the content on ‘Your Life On Track’ from their own websites.
Fresh Egg Appointed as a Google Analytics Authorised Consultant (GAAC)
Google has appointed multi-disciplined search agency Fresh Egg as a Google Analytics Authorised Consultant (GAAC) programme member following intense scrutiny of the company’s credentials in analytics and consultancy. Fresh Egg, now one of only 22 GAAC members in the UK, underwent a rigorous vetting process to become a recognised Google partner. This involved select staff members taking tests to prove proficiency in Google Analytics; in order to achieve GAAC status a company must have at least 2 employees working to this expert level, Fresh Egg beat this with 3.
In addition to demonstrating proven expertise in web analytics, the company had to show technical competence and understanding by providing case studies showing familiarity with the full range of GA features, such as e-commerce reporting, filters/ funnels, advanced segment use and custom reporting. Fresh Egg also had to demonstrate success in the provision of stand-alone services related to Google Analytics™, including implementation, configuration, training and consulting.
Pure360 launches ‘Automations’ email marketing tool
Pure360 has launched Automations, a tool that enables the planning and delivery of sophisticated, automated email marketing campaigns. Automations has been designed to facilitate better strategic content planning, enabling marketers to engage in a dialogue with recipients and build relationships by automatically delivering personal and relevant emails based on their data and behaviour.
It also helps deliver integrated marketing campaigns, sending emails triggered by a customer signing up to a distribution list on a website or social media site. Automations also delivers reporting insights on entire series of emails, not just individual messages, so marketers can get a big picture view and make better long-term decisions. Automations are based on rules that are created simply by completing sentences that change to fit the information as they are entered.
http://www.pure360.com/glossary/automations
UK gadget site ElectricPig debuts iPhone app
Electricpig.co.uk, the UK gadget website delivering quality tech news, reviews, and features daily, is launching an iPhone app. The app, powered by Foundem, will help shoppers save money and avoid bring ripped off. iPhone owners can now search for gadgets and see how much they cost online, protecting shoppers from falling for a false ‘bargain’ claim on the high street. The Electricpig app will instantly tell you if the gadget you’ve got your heart set on can be bought cheaper elsewhere. Some stores will even price match goods if you can prove there's a cheaper deal available, and the Electricpig iPhone app lets you check store prices alongside online prices.
New directory enquiry service offers cheaper calls with MIT
Mobile Interactive Technology (MIT) the m-commerce, messaging solutions and interactive platforms business, which is part of Mobile Interactive Group (MIG), has been selected to host and run voice and SMS services for new low cost Directory Enquiry services provider 68 100 Ltd. Launched this week, the service - available exclusively from mobile phones - will be available on a dedicated short code 68 100 from all UK mobile devices. 68 100 is hosted on MIT's Voice Gateway platform at a flat rate fee of 35p per minute on all mobile networks except O2 where calls are charged at 25p per minute. The 68 100 number is a massive 70 per cent cheaper than the most widely used 118 numbers for a typical directory enquiry call.
Matalan kicks off affiliate marketing campaign with affilinet
affilinet, Adlink Group’s specialist affiliate marketing company, has been selected by Matalan, the UK’s leading value clothing and homewares retailer, to run an exclusive affiliate marketing campaign. The bespoke campaign is designed to help increase online sales and will be fully managed by the affilinet team in-house. affilinet will help Matalan seize new opportunities, allowing the clothing and homewares retailer to broaden its customer base and increase its online brand presence. affilinet’s in-house team of experts will now work closely with Matalan to ensure the retailer builds up a strong presence across a range of target channels, capturing customer data at every step of the purchasing lifecycle.
Two key hires boost Steak’s full-service offering
Steak, the full-service digital agency, today announces the appointment of John Barton and Mark Joseph to the roles of Head of Planning and Head of Affiliates respectively. Renowned for his interest in digital media developments, ideas and theory, Barton joins from TBG London where he worked on accounts such as American Express, Harrods, Ladbrokes and Moneysupermarket.com. His role will encompass client strategy/development, campaign innovation and new business, and he is tasked with the development and delivery of Steak’s social media offering for 2010. Mark Joseph joins from PHD Media where, as Affiliate Marketing Manager, he helped set up and run their in-house affiliate network. Prior to PHD, Mark successfully launched and ran his own agency providing affiliate marketing, search marketing, web hosting and website design and development services to range of clients including HMV, eBay, Amazon, Harley Medical, Foxy Bingo and Zavvi.
the Rubicon Project expands further in Northern Europe
the Rubicon Project, the Internet advertising infrastructure company, continues to build out its international presence with the appointment of Bas Seelen as Director of Publisher Development for Northern Europe. Seelen will be responsible for strategically supporting publishers across Northern Europe as they leverage the Rubicon Project’s technology to optimize and monetize advertising inventory, as well as help grow relationships with ad networks in the region. Seelen’s experience in Internet advertising extends over ten years and includes previous roles at companies such as Wunderloop, the leading independent provider of targeting services, AdLINK Internet Media and Netplus Advertising Network. At Wunderloop, Seelen served as Managing Director, responsible for opening the firm’s first office in Benelux and growing the company to become the market leader in under a year. Seelen is based in Amsterdam, from where he’ll continue to serve on the Advisory Board of IAB Netherlands, and reports to Jay Stevens, the Rubicon Project’s VP and GM International.
Simplifydigital launches natural language search tool for online retail sites
The Simplifydigital online Personal Shopper lets customers define their needs in plain English and the search technology does the rest for them Simplifydigital is the UK’s only Ofcom accredited retailer of digital TV, broadband and home phone services online and via a call centre. In keeping with the web 3.0 trend towards semantic search, which aims to understand people’s needs more intelligently, the company set out to transform the online buying experience in a category where online sales conversion rates are low, as the services in question are complex to buy online.
Many potential customers simply do not understand the technical jargon (e.g. Mbs and download caps), feel unable to make a choice online and leave the site in frustration. To address this problem, Simplifydigital has created the the Simplifydigital Personal Shopper which is the world’s first natural language guided selling tool for digital services. It can be applied to a wide variety of complex products which people struggle to buy online.
It works in two simple steps and such is its ease of use, that is has gained support from the Plain English Campaign. In Step 1, users simply “tell” the Personal Shopper what they want in plain English – much as they would a shop assistant – and it matches their unique needs to the best value broadband packages, digital TV, or home phone package. To do this, the Personal Shopper dynamically serves a natural language “narrative” via an intelligent user interface (much like predictive text), which doesn’t involve lengthy tick boxes and radio buttons. Step 2 presents the results back to the customer, reducing the baffling choice to a single recommendation and “best buys” from all the leading providers. The recommendation is impartial and is derived using Simplifydigital’s Ofcom accredited search capability.
Each result shows how the customer’s needs match the technical specification of the recommended package. E.g “You asked for a good all round family broadband service, so we have found you an up to 8 Mb broadband package with a 40GB usage allowance...”
www.simplifydigital.co.uk
Sony picks High Position to optimise new product websites in 2010
SEO provider High Position has won a new contract with Sony Europe to optimise its DIME (Digital Imaging Europe) product range in 2010. High Position already has a contract with Sony Europe providing SEO services to the home and hub pages of 34 of its European websites, but has now won the contract to support Sony’s DIME websites. DIME is the new platform for all Sony’s digital imaging products including Cybershot, Alpha and Handycam.
High Position has put together a dedicated Sony DIME team employing two extra staff members. The team will be led by Project Manager Tom Jephson supported by SEO specialist Tim Cutting and will include copywriter and keyword research specialist Tom Pretty and analyst and researcher Rachel Balm.
Hot Press picks ADTECH for multimedia ad delivery
Ad serving technology provider ADTECH has struck a deal with Irish music and lifestyle publication, Hot Press, has replaced its OpenX ad server technology with its ad server solution. ADTECH will now serve all online display advertisements across the publications website www.hotpress.com. The publications website is an integral part of the publication and attracts over 2 million page impressions per month (according to internal customer data).
TwentySix tracks Christmas Tweets
Full-service digital agency twentysix today announced the launch of Christmas Tweets, a new service that allows people to see what subjects are getting the most Twitter conversation this Christmas. This Twitter visualiser breaks the global online debate into four categories, each one represented by a different festive character:
· Commercialism – Is Christmas about spending, commercialism and consumption?
· Credit Crunch – Has the recession taken its toll this Christmas? Will the credit crunch cast a shadow over Christmas festivities?
· Religion – Will this year revert back to the true meaning of Christmas and be focused around the religious festivals?
· Christmas Spirit – Can Christmas still be about celebrating the occasion and enjoying the season of goodwill? Is the fun and magical aspect of Christmas still alive?
The more tweets made about each character, the faster it ‘travels around the world’. And users can click on each character to see a detailed breakdown of the key phrases in each category or to view a graphical representation of the Christmas tweets.
Virgin Media ramps up mobile broadband speed
Virgin Media has announced a new mobile broadband dongle that is capable of connecting to the web at 7.2Mbps over mobile networks. The dongle costs £9.99 to mobile broadband customers on an 18-month contract, or £34.99 to those on a rolling month-by-month contract.
Graeme Oxby, executive director of mobile at Virgin Media said: "If you're not at home or near a wireless connection, mobile broadband is the best way of staying connected on the move and we're delighted to be making this a speedier, more pleasant experience for our customers." However, 7.2Mbps is a theoretical maximum, with real speeds likely to be significantly lower depending on your location and quality of the local mobile network.
www.virginmedia.com
Russia.com domain sold for $1.5m
Online domain marketplace and monetisation provider Sedo has brokered the sale of Russia.com for $1.5 million, the second largest geo domain sale to date. Sedo brokered the sale on behalf of Seattle-based Paley Media, a web design, publishing, and technology company that actively manages an online network of 11 high profile geo domains and six enthusiasts websites. This marks Sedo’s highest ever geo domain sale, as well as the biggest sale of the year in its category. The highest public sale on record, industry-wide, is Korea.com, which was sold for $5 million in 2000.
Auto Trader launches new mobile tool for car dealers
Auto Trader has launched a new mobile product that will be available in early 2010. Designed specifically for dealers, the product provides the opportunity to stand out and reach the growing number of consumers accessing Auto Trader on the move. Auto Trader Mobile has been developed further to the successful launch of the mobile site which has seen huge year on year growth, reflected by the market place.
The new Auto Trader Mobile product will provide dealers with an ideal platform to standout against the competition, providing both Premium Stock Listings and a dedicated mobile site that can be personalised by the Auto Trader mobile site specialists according to each dealer’s requirements. Premium Stock Listings enable the dealer to standout in the search results, show more images, include dealer branding and link to technical data on all vehicle ads.
Shazam launches app on Ovi Store
Shazam, the world’s leading mobile music discovery provider, today announced the launch of its new application onto the Ovi Store by Nokia. Shazam is available for download from the Ovi Store by Nokia at store.ovi.com for all Symbian S60 v3.2 and v5 models including Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, Nokia N97 and Nokia E72. Nokia will also be preloading Shazam onto many mobile handsets including the Nokia 5630 XpressMusic and Nokia X6.
Users will be given a 30 day free trial of the fully featured application from the first time they use it on the device. After 30 days, users can continue Shazaming for free on a limited feature and tagging basis or choose to upgrade to the fully-featured, unlimited usage version for a one-off fee of $4.99, €3.99 or £2.99, depending on location. store.ovi.com.
Google helps YUDU launch SmartADS
YUDU Media, has today launched SmartADS, a digital advertising solution for publishers looking to monetize their online magazines and ebooks. Created with the assistance of Google and DoubleClick, SmartADS is the first solution in the world to enable automated ad streaming into digital editions (online page-turning magazines) using flash in flash technology and full integration with ad serving engines.
SmartADS offers publishers the ability to generate additional revenue without the need for a dedicated sales team by using third party ad networks. The streamed ads can be static, flash or even video based. There is also an option to include SmartWORDS, which activates in-text advertising throughout a digital edition.
Stella Artois launches global Christmas campaign
Stella Artois is launching a digital campaign building on its heritage as a premium beer originally crafted for Christmas. The name Stella Artois pays tribute to this unique history: “Stella” means star in Latin, for the iconic Christmas star, and “Artois” for Sebastian Artois, the Belgian master brewer who created the beer. The “Send a Card, Save a Tree” campaign offers consumers around the world the opportunity to send a free, augmented reality Christmas eCard. In celebration of every eCard sent, Stella Artois® will secure the future of a rainforest tree located in the threatened Atlantic Rainforest, with the goal saving one million trees before Christmas Day, representing one million eCards sent.
The “Send a Card, Save a Tree” campaign carries on the brand’s commitment to taking small steps to protect the environment, in this case helping to save threatened Atlantic Rainforest trees, one of the most endangered habitats in the world. Working with leading global environmental organisation the World Land Trust, www.worldlandtrust.org the campaign aims to save one million trees located in Argentina’s Misiones Province in a vital land bridge connecting two national parks in neighbouring Brazil and Paraguay. Stella Artois® commissioned leading agency Bright Spark Digital to create a cutting edge 3D “augmented reality” Christmas eCard for the campaign. The Stella Artois® eCard can be sent from www.stellartois.com and can be personalised with a message from the sender to the recipient.
PayPoint.net launches ‘shop and pay’ e-commerce solution
Online payments provider PayPoint.net has announced the launch of eCom Shop, the first ‘shop and pay’ e-commerce solution. Businesses looking to establish themselves online will, for the first time, be able to buy a single product from one supplier to deliver both ‘Shop’ and ‘Pay’ functionality. Established businesses looking to move online or entrepreneurs looking to kick start their online businesses can both benefit from this innovative product.
eCom Shop provides all the components of an online shop, including shopping cart, web hosting and the ability to accept credit and debit card payments. If the merchant is already trading, a payment gateway is provided, while companies starting out have the full solution, including an Internet Merchant Account, for a quick and easy launch of their online retailing. PayPoint.net is already planning to add domain names to the offer.
Ticketmaster launches Bazaarvoice Ratings & Reviews
Bazaarvoice, the market and technology leader in hosted social commerce applications that drive sales, today announced that Ticketmaster.co.uk has launched the Bazaarvoice social commerce platform with Ratings & Reviews. The new functionality allows customers who have purchased their event tickets from Ticketmaster to easily connect, rate, review and share their experiences on Ticketmaster.co.uk.
As one of the largest e-commerce sites on the Internet, Ticketmaster.co.uk deploys Bazaarvoice to better engage customers on its eCommerce site and moderate the thousands of live event review submissions submitted by consumers globally in four languages including English, Spanish, German, and French. In addition, reviews are optimized for search engine visibility, making it easier for fans to quickly find a great event through Google, Yahoo, or Bing.
www.bazaarvoice.co.uk
Yomego social media campaign sees Mr Tayto book hit the top of the charts
A social media campaign orchestrated by Yomego has helped push the autobiography of Irish crisps icon, Mr Tayto, to the top of the book charts.The book, Mr Tayto: The Man Inside the Jacket, which has reached number one in the Irish book charts* (outselling the memoirs of former Taoisech, Bertie Ahern and the Manchester United 2009 annual) has had voluminous support online via twitter, facebook and through Mr Tayto’s own website.
The campaign was launched in mid November with Yomego commissioned to design and build Mr. Tayto’s website www.mrtayto.ie and put in place the social media channels to galvanise the crisp brand’s international fan-base and drive sales. Yomego’s social media optimisation campaign is currently taking Mr. Tayto onto flikr, facebook, twitter, YouTube and bebo. It also involves contacting notable bloggers, forum members and relevant online media contacts to seed prizes, interviews and snippets not in the book.
Two weeks into the campaign and Mr Tayto has over 11,000 fans on facebook and legions of the Tayto army have visited the campaign website which includes a twitter-style app that tracks Mr. Tayto on his book-signing tour and personal appearances around Ireland.
Dizzee Rascal runs add on WinkBall.com
Dizzee Rascal is running an advert, to promote his latest single, Dirtee Cash on www.winkball.com, The five-second advertisements run at the end of every video clip on WinkBall. This follows research by WinkBall and Goldsmiths, University of London. The study found that internet users are most responsive to short video advertising, which is played after a video they have actively chosen to watch.
Research participants were exposed to many types of advertising found on the web, from interactive banners, pop-up boxes, audio only, adverts played ayt the beginning of a chosen clip, and ads of varying lengths. The format which transferred the maximum brand awareness were five-second advertisements, at the end of video messages. Computer scientists conclude that this could be because users are ‘cognitively open’ after viewing video content they have personally selected to watch.
The WinkBall Web-Vert has already been adopted by household names, including Flip camcorders, Littlewoods, Reggae Reggae Sauce and Traid – who are using the innovative means of advertising to communicate their messages – witout interfering in the user experience.
Splash Direct picks Avail for behavioral merchandising
Splash Bathroom Accessories Ltd is working with Avail Intelligence to improve customer conversion rates and increase average order values on its site. The UK’s fastest growing online bathroom retailer has implemented Avail’s Social Search Optimizer and Navigation Predictor tools to drive the merchandising of 3,500 product lines. Avail’s Behavioral Merchandising solution automatically generates in real-time recommendations for shoppers based on the behaviour of similar customers who match their profile.
http://www.avail.net
Hotels.com appoints new Senior Director of Global Retail
Hotels.com, the world’s leading hotel booking site, has today announced the appointment of Troy Suda as its new Senior Director of Global Retail. In his new role at Hotels.com, Suda will be responsible for overseeing all the retail functions of the business including user experience design, content, site optimization and call centre integration. Suda will report directly to Scott Booker, VP Global Retail, Product Planning and Merchandising for Hotels.com.
