Advertisers Ford and NPower reviewing their position with News of the World

Posted by Andrew Pugh on 5 July 2011 at 15:29
Tags: Advertising, Journalism, National Newspapers, Newspapers

Two major advertisers are reviewing their position with the News of the World in the light of the Milly Dowler phone-hacking revelations.

According to The Guardian, a spokesman for energy company Npower said: ”We note the concerns which have arisen on the back of fresh allegations of phone hacking against the News of the World. We are currently reviewing our options.”

Media Week reports that car maker Ford is also reviewing its position with the News of the World. Ford marketing director Mark Simpson told Media Week “because we look to behave in a certain way and expect our partners to do so as well”. (more…)

Sun football cards TV ad banned by ASA for targeting children

Posted by Dominic Ponsford on 9 March 2011 at 08:39
Tags: Advertising, Broadcast, Law, Newspapers, Television

While many journalists might think it a fine thing to encourage people to read newspapers from an early age, publishers can’t advertise directly to children - as The Sun has just found.

The Advertising Standards Authority has censured the paper for a TV ad promoting its football cards.

Because it featured children and references to pocket money, the ASA said: “We considered that the presentation of the ad, especially the use of Ian Wright talking to a group of children, was such that it was likely to be seen to directly target children. Because we considered some young viewers would understand the reference to pocket money as an encouragement to purchase, we considered the ad directly exhorted children to buy the Sun to obtain the promotional football cards.”

You can read the full adjudication here. The ad as now been banned by the ASA.

New paid-for Guardian iPhone app includes more rolling coverage

Posted by Daisy Phillipson on 19 January 2011 at 14:46
Tags: Advertising, Media Business, Mobile, National Newspapers, Online

The Guardian has released a new paid-for iPhone app for the iPhone and iPod touch.

It follows the release of the the first Guardian App in December 2009.

New features include more video, live football alerts, automatic updates for live blogs and integrated reader comments under stories.

The original Guardian app cost £2.39 and received 214,000 downloads.

The new app costs £2.99 for six months, or £3.99 for a year, and is available from  itunes.com/apps/theguardian.

Here is a video demo from the Guardian, and here is some more info from Guardian mobile product manager Jonathon Moore

Daily UK journalism news email from midday Mon-Fri - sign up here

Posted by Dominic Ponsford on 12 October 2010 at 10:40
Tags: Advertising, Agencies, B2B Magazines, BBC, Broadcast, Consumer Magazines, Customer publishing, Free Newspapers, Freedom of Information, International, Journalism, Journalism Jobs, Journalism Technology, Journalism education, Launch Pad, Law, Magazines, Media Business, Media Metrics, Mobile, National Newspapers, National Union of Journalists, New Media, Newspapers, Online, PR, People, Photography, Radio, Regional Newspapers, Student Journalism, Television, awards, press freedom

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The Press Gazette daily email typically provides summaries of the top ten stories from www.pressgazette.co.uk and around the web. It also includes our daily summary of the latest journalism jobs advertised in the UK.

For busy journalists who are often on the move, it’s the perfect way to stay in touch with what is going on in your industry with an at-a-glance summary and links through to the full version of each story.

We’ve been providing a daily email for several years now, but have just introduced a new sign-up process and switched to a different delivery system - hence this blog post.

World’s biggest ad company WPP reports profits up 36%

Posted by Press Gazette on 24 August 2010 at 09:12
Tags: Advertising

WPP, the world’s largest advertising business, has reported a 36 per cent year-on-year increase in pre-tax profits during the first six months of the year.

The company said that pre-tax profits stood at £244m in the first-half of the year as revenue rose 3.5 per cent to £4.4bn.

WPP said that the first seven months of 2010 saw a significant recovery in revenue growth and profitability, with monthly improvement in like-for-like revenue growth, except for a minor drop in June which had recovered by July, which showed the strongest growth of all, up almost 7 per cent.

Trading conditions in the UK improved substantially in the second quarter for the year, the company said, with like-for-like revenues up almost 7 per cent on the same period last year.

Like-for-like revenue was down one per cent in the first quarter in the UK, WPP said, and 2.8 per cent down in year to date.

Media to take hit as Government halves ad spend

Posted by Dominic Ponsford on 4 August 2010 at 09:30
Tags: Advertising, Broadcast, Media Business

The Government is to favour marketing on its own websites and using social media rather than using newspapers, TV and magazines as it announced a 52 per cent cut in marketing spending yesterday.

The move will slash a government marketing and communications spend which stood at £531m for the year to March 2010.

According to the FT, the government has been the single biggest source of advertising for UK media  companies over the last two years.

It quotes Mark Lund, chief executive of the Central Office of Information:

“We anticipate more focus on partnerships with brand owners, media owners and civic groups, as well as increasingly innovative approaches to joining up paid-for and other media channels.”

IPC bid to pep up Loaded finances with branded energy drink

Posted by Dominic Ponsford on 20 July 2010 at 09:11
Tags: Advertising, Consumer Magazines, Magazines

IPC men’s magazine Loaded is seeking to pep up is finances by flogging readers a branded energy drink with claimed aphrodisiac benefits which helps drinkers “raise their game”.

The Loaded Stamina shot has come about as a result of a deal brokered by the Global Brands Group.
According to IPC the drink contains “amino acids, herbal extracts, vitamins and stimulants from natural dietary sources blended to powerful effect”.

Loaded’s print circulation has been seriously flagging in recent years, and was down 20.9 per cent to 71,251. sales a month in the second half of last year.

Easyjet libel payout - lucky for Guardian and Telegraph Stelios did not sue them

Posted by Dominic Ponsford on 15 July 2010 at 10:42
Tags: Advertising, National Newspapers, Newspapers

Easyjet founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou has received a £50,100 payout and apology at the High Court over ads which appeared in The Guardian, the Daily Telegraph and on Ryanair’s website in January and February.

They depicted Stelios with an elongated nose, suggesting he was not being honest about Easyjet’s on-time statistics.

Ryanair apologised in court and has also taken out further ads in the papers concerned apologising today.

Luckily for the publishers concerned, Stelios opted not to sue them as well.

Bellwether survey suggests dip in confidence for UK advertisers

Posted by Dominic Ponsford on 12 July 2010 at 09:44
Tags: Advertising, Agencies, Media Business

The latest quarterly Bellwether survey looking at the advertising plans of UK companies has found that 20 per cent of companies revised down their marketing budgets in the three months to June as opposed to 15 per cent who increased them.

The 4.6 per cent difference between positive and negative sentiments, compares with a 4.5 per cent difference the other way in the first quarter - Marketing Week reports.

While have some suggested that this could mean that Government spending cuts are set to prompt a double-dip recession, other data - cited by Marketing Week - suggests ad spending will increase by 3.3 per cent year on year in 2010.

How to spend…£2m promoting your luxury goods supplement

Posted by Dominic Ponsford on 7 June 2010 at 13:46
Tags: Advertising, National Newspapers, Newspapers

Happy days are here again it would seem…Or perhaps the rich, like the poor, are always with us. Either way, the FT says it is spending £2m promoting its Saturday luxury goods supplement, How to Spend It.

Here’s the press release: (more…)

Tweeting in the money

Posted by Rebecca Cassar on 12 April 2010 at 12:16
Tags: Advertising, Media Business, Mobile, New Media, Online

The Financial Times reports this morning on the race to make the micro-blogging site Twitter a profitable venture.

As of next Monday Twitter will launch a bidding system, by which Tweeters can pay to have their tweet appear at the top of the internal twitter search engine. This formula of search engine advertising is similar to the system used by Google. (more…)

April fools: oh, how we nearly laughed…

Posted by Nicole Canning on 1 April 2010 at 10:54
Tags: Advertising, Journalism, National Newspapers, Newspapers

With the wit and sophistication of a gurning competition this morning’s papers waded into April Fools Day in typical style.

Although ferrets have been used in the past with construction work the photo of a blond ferret - complete with hi-vis vest and “ferrets at work sign” - could only mean one thing. The Telegraph gag story span a line about Virgin Media using the furry mammals to “bridge the digital divide between cities and rural areas” by laying cables for its broadband service. (more…)

Fulham and Hammersmith Council ’surprised’ as Trinity steps up its campaign against its freesheet

Posted by Press Gazette on 29 March 2010 at 09:46
Tags: Advertising, Media Business, Newspapers, Regional Newspapers

Trinity Mirror’s Fulham and Hammersmith Chronicle has stepped up its campaign against its local council’s publishing strategy with the launch of an outdoor advertising campaign.

The regional publisher will, for two weeks, run a campaign at 48 key sites around the borough, it said today, in protest against the existence of H&F News, a free fortnightly paper published by Hammersmith & Fulham Council.

Launching its campaign last week, the Trinity Mirror-run paper ran a front page slash complaining at the “cost and threat to democracy this [existence of H&F News] poses to the borough’s residents, local businesses and politicians.”

Speaking to Press Gazette this morning, Simon Jones, head of communications with Hammersmith & Fulham Council, said it was “surprised” by the sudden attack against the council freesheet, which is delivered to 75,000 homes in the borough each fortnight.

He said: “Our view is that Trinity Mirror had shown no sign of investing in journalism or interest in our area in about ten years…we do find it strange.” (more…)

Metro to launch quarterly travel supplement in London

Posted by Press Gazette on 18 March 2010 at 14:44
Tags: Advertising, Newspapers

Associated Newspapers freesheet Metro is to launch a quarterly travel supplement for London commuters.

From next week, the glossy Metro Journeys will be available with editions of the morning paper distributed in the capital’s mainline stations, tube stations across zones one-to-three and some stations in zone four.

Metro, which distributed an average of 735,492 newspapers each day in the capital last month, said 250,000 copies of the supplement will be distributed over five days.

The supplement, which has been produced and guest-edited by Sarah Baxter of Wanderlust Magazine, will feature two focus destinations, a pull-out-and-keep European summer travel calendar, a UK destination spread and a celebrity travel interview.

Scottish plan to allow councils to cease press ads abandoned

Posted by Press Gazette on 18 March 2010 at 08:59
Tags: Advertising, Newspapers, Regional Newspapers

Public notices will continue to be published in local and regional newspapers in Scotland after ministers dropped plans to shift advertising to the internet.

Scottish finance secretary, John Swinney, said yesterday that opposition to the plan aimed at saving councils around £4m each year by removing their obligation to place notices in the press had proved too great.

The move was welcomed by the Scottish Newspaper Society, which highlighted how the decision reflected a recent vote against the proposal taken during a debate in the Scottish Parliament. (more…)

Stephen Glover: Guardian offering editorial influence for cash

Posted by Dominic Ponsford on 8 March 2010 at 08:51
Tags: Advertising, Journalism, National Newspapers, Newspapers

Independent media commentator Stephen Glover today criticises The Guardian for inviting advertisers to pay money to influence editorial in sponsored supplements.

He has received a copy of a letter sent out by Wendy Miller, public sector manager of the Society Guardian supplement, offering sponsorships of a supplement on the future of public services at £15,000 each.

She says that the sponsors would get “significant branding space as well as input into the editorial direction and content of the project”.

The Guardian’s editorial guidelines for sponsored supplements state: “The sponsor will have input into the planning (ie synopsis) for the supplement; they will be able to suggest themes, angles and information that they would like to see highlighted; recommend experts for interview; and request certain information be included. The commissioning editor will consider all such suggestions but is not obliged to accept any.”

Glover suggests that “someone should look into the practice of public bodies buying editorial content”.

The Guardian tightened up its editorial guidelines after a row in 2007 when its own columnist, Simon Jenkins, condemned the paper over a supplement about Housing Market Renewal Partnerships. He said the paper was taking government money to portray “public relations as journalism”.

Journalists who take money for editorial not only step into an ethical mine-field, they can also fall foul of the Advertising Standards authority - which has repeatedly rapped the Express over the knuckles for this.

Daily Mail to launch £10m ad campaign with TV ads

Posted by Press Gazette on 28 January 2010 at 10:29
Tags: Advertising, Journalism, National Newspapers, Newspapers, Television

The Daily Mail is to launch a £10m advertising campaign with six different TV commercials in a bid to win over more women aged 35+. (more…)

NME censured for carrying ad featuring a gun

Posted by Press Gazette on 27 January 2010 at 09:21
Tags: Advertising, Consumer Magazines, Magazines

Music magazine NME has been criticised by the Advertising Standards Authority for running an ad for a fashion brand that featured a man putting a gun to the head of a second man. (more…)

Archant hails staff as ‘best in the industry’ at its annual awards

Posted by Press Gazette on 26 January 2010 at 11:10
Tags: Advertising, Magazines, Newspapers, People, Regional Newspapers, awards

Regional newspaper and magazine publisher Archant hosted its annual awards last Friday to recognise the achievements of its staff. (more…)

Bellwether: Advertisers more optimistic for 2010

Posted by Daniela Queen on 18 January 2010 at 10:29
Tags: Advertising, Media Business, Newspapers

The Financial Times reports that advertisers are setting higher budgets for 2010, a sign that the downward trend for advertising revenue may have reversed.

Out of the 300 companies surveyed for the Bellwether report, two-thirds answered that they were preparing to increase their advertising budgets this year although the amounts involved were “relatively lacklustre by the historical standards of the Bellwether survey”, the FT said.

Newspapers suffered the worst fall in advertising compared to other industries with some sectors, such as property adverts, falling 60 per cent over two years.

However, the companies involved in the survey said they were “the most optimistic about the financial outlook for their industries in almost five years”, advertising trade body the IPA said in a press release