HS&P - News room

Event-based advertising 'an undeniable trend'

Advertising campaigns that are developed around an event are almost inevitably going to be big in mobile creative marketing, it has been suggested.

This will be regardless of how such campaigns are delivered, explained Mike Wehrs, president and chief executive officer of the Mobile Marketing Association.

He said that event-based marketing is undoubtedly a trend, whether it is delivered via text or picture messaging, or mobile internet display advertising.

Talking about the form of marketing campaigns, Mr Wehrs commented: "They do have a viral nature to them, they do have a social networking component to them which is very, very attractive."

These attractive qualities of the marketing form can be found in various kinds of campaigns, including a Short Message Service with a Wireless Application Protocol Push initiative, he added.

Ad-funded Multimedia Messaging Service revenues are set to rise rapidly over the next five years, with annual growth rates reaching 94 per cent, according to Juniper Research.

Network Rail campaign launched to prevent track trespassers

Network Rail is set to initiate a poster campaign today (July 6th 2009) warning people to stay off of the tracks.

Posters will feature coffin-shaped railway sleepers with RIP messages explaining how trespassers have met their end as a result of going onto the tracks.

"I think these posters make it crystal clear that you are risking your life by trespassing on the railway and we hope to reduce the number of incidents further and ultimately save lives," commented Martin Gallagher, head of community safety at Network Rail.

According to Network Rail, there were around 9,000 reported incidents of trespass on Britain’s railway in 2008.

British Transport Police Chief Superintendent Operations David Wildbore added that it is never safe for a member of the public to set foot on the tracks.

Last month, Network Rail announced it was to hold an awareness day to deliver a level crossing safety message.

It revealed that leaflets were to be handed out as part of the campaign.

TalkTalk set for 'brighter' ad campaign

TalkTalk is to launch a new seven-figure advertising campaign to position itself as "Britain's brighter phone and broadband company".

It comes after TalkTalk's acquisition of Tiscali, which happened earlier in 2009, and the press and outdoor campaign was due to break on July 5th with TV advertising set to follow.

As part of the new brand positioning, the company's website will be redesigned and TalkTalk has now developed a manifesto spelling out ways that it can provide better value phone and broadband.

The creative marketing itself features words and images formed by 'light graffiti'.

These are set against night-time backdrops of places over Britain, such as Brighton beach and Canal Street in Manchester designed to convey TalkTalk's brightness, optimism and British qualities.

"Our new campaign focuses on the bright ideas we already have ... and underlines our intention to keep innovating in these areas over the coming months," commented Olivia Streatfeild, marketing director at TalkTalk.

According to the organisation, TalkTalk is now the biggest provider of broadband to British homes following the Tiscali acquisition, serving more than four million.

Ryanair initiates loyalty scheme with Webloyalty

Ryanair has teamed up with Webloyalty to offer UK passengers discounts of up to 20 per cent at more than 700 online retailers.

Customers who pay £10 a month to be part of the scheme will receive a £10 cash back cheque from Webloyalty every month they buy a Ryanair flight.

They will also get best price guarantees and automatic extended warranty protection, Ryanair explained.

Passengers can also test the programme out free of charge for 30 days and will gain a £15 cash back cheque from Webloyalty after their next Ryanair purchase.

"We are looking forward to working with Ryanair to provide their passengers, who choose to join our programme, with ongoing savings and rewards, for just £10 per month," commented Webloyalty’s European managing director Martin Child.

The airline recently revealed that a publication from the Association of European Airlines showed that Ryanair is Europe's top airline for customer service for the period between November 2008 March this year.

UK named 7th most engaged social networking audience

The UK has the seventh most engaged social networking audience in the world with the average amount of time spent by a user on such a website over the month of May standing at 4.6 hours, according to comScore.

More than 1.1 billion people aged 15 and older across the world accessed the internet from a home or work location in May, comScore figures show, 734.2 million of which went on at least one social networking site during the month.

This accounted for a penetration of 65 per cent of the global online audience.

Russia was ranked as the world's most engaged social networking audience in May with 1,307 pages consumed per visitor.

"Social networking has become a popular online pastime not only in mature internet markets like North America, but also in developing, high-growth internet markets such as Russia," said Mike Read, senior vice-president and managing director of comScore Europe.

Nielsen Online data recently revealed that the average time per person on social networks increased by 67 per cent year-over-year in May 2009.

Virgin Atlantic initiates campaign for more online check-ins

Virgin Atlantic is offering passengers money off on board duty free shopping in a bid to get more people to check-in online.

Passengers travelling from Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester and Glasgow Airports who check in online will get £6 off their duty-free shopping onboard the flight.

The campaign will run between July 1st and August 31st, while those heading off from London Heathrow will be able to take advantage of exclusive vouchers for savings with certain duty free retailers within the departure areas of Terminal 3.

Mark Entwistle, divisional director at consultancy firm, commented: "If you don't have to provide check in staff and provide check in desks, then you are saving substantial money. So it's in your interest to get people to check in online."

Earlier this year, Ryanair announced it is moving to online check in and bag-drop only.

The company is looking to phase out the use of check in desks from its 146 airports by October 1st 2009.

Mobile display ads 'can improve brand awareness'

Mobile display advertising can heighten brand awareness and recognition, according to a study.

Research from the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) and Brand Driver, in conjunction with Kit Kat, used a sample of 600 mobile internet users who were exposed to banner ads for FMCG brand Kit Kat over four major mobile sites.

These ads offered free downloads or the chance to win an ipod and by clicking on them users were taken to the relevant page on the Kit Kat mobile internet site.

The research found that there was a 36 per cent rise in spontaneous awareness levels of Kit Kat.

It also reported a 267 per cent increase in people spontaneously mentioning Kit Kat before any other brands.

"The research clearly shows that mobile advertising has a clear role to play in enhancing brand awareness and connection with other form of media," said Will Reeve, associate director at Brand Driver.

Last month, head of mobile for the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) Jon Mew described the potential for mobile advertising in the future as "huge".

UK voucher searches 'mostly use longer terms'

More than 96 per cent of UK searches containing the word 'vouchers' are for longer phrases, such as 'discount vouchers', it has been revealed.

This is according to Robin Goad, research director for Hitwise UK, who also reported that the number of search terms in the UK that featured the term 'voucher' has risen year-on-year.

Mr Goad believes this indicates there is "an increasingly sophisticated voucher-searching audience" emerging as people look for specific discounts instead of more generic terms.

Meanwhile, the top voucher websites were responsible for 0.53 per cent of all upstream traffic to the shopping and classifieds sector in May this year, accounting for a rise of 0.43 per cent from the same month in 2008, Mr Goad noted.

However, he added that traffic to voucher-specific websites is down 12.1 per cent in comparison to last year.

Voucher code website wowvouchercodes.co.uk recently reported a rise in customers searching for codes for products such as sun cream and hay fever remedies to help them get through the summer.

Over-60s market 'could be key for travel firms'

The over-60s demographic could be an important new target for travel companies, it has been suggested.

There is still a large part of the market consisting of over 60s who have paid off their mortgage and are sitting on savings not acquiring much thinking that they may as well travel, according to Ray Jones, head of communications at the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM).

He asserted that travel organisations should target markets that are continuing to grow.

"Think about your travellers and who can go. People who are not working full time could take holidays off peak and you can fill up the cheaper flights," he explained.

Mr Jones also advocated the use of research, urging travel companies to know who their customers are and why they opt for the firm.

Arena BLM recently reported that 33 per cent of consumers have reduced outgoings on holidays abroad over the last three months but a strong desire to go on a vacation this year remains.

Travel marketing 'should stay hybrid'

Travel marketing should "remain hybrid" and use different platforms for different targets, it has been suggested.

To get to the young market the internet should be used and if young people are travelling then social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter can be used, according to Ray Jones, head of communications at the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM).

"For instance, you don't sell cruises to 16 year olds and you don't sell skateboards to 60 year olds. You have to be very specific," he explained.

Travel marketers need to know who their audience is, Mr Jones asserted.

Companies selling cruises can look to the internet as well for creative marketing campaigns as this is where the "silver surfers" are to be found, while those aged aged 85 and older can be targeted through direct mail, he added.

His comments come after a MailOnline article recently claimed that travel agents are using exotic smells to remind potential travellers of special moments from past holidays in an attempt to get them to book trips away.