Industry News for Digital: All
The Economist seeks agency for DM business
The Economist is looking for an agency to handle its direct marketing account. The publication, which is owned by the Economist Newspaper Group, has approached agencies directly in a bid to appoint a retained agency to its DM business. In recent years, The Economist has used an in-house marketing team to handle its DM and CRM campaigns. However, before bringing the work in-house, the publication had held a long-term relationship with EHS 4D (then... [Read More...]
Reader’s Digest ad director Flora MacMillan leaves after 22 years
Reader’s Digest’s UK advertising director Flora MacMillan is one of nine staff to be made redundant at the publisher since the company’s slide into administration last month. MacMillan had been working at the original pocket-sized title since 1988. The administrators for Reader’s Digest are in talks with potential buyers, understood to include the Budworth family, the owners of 125-year-old title The Lady. The Lady’s owners refused... [Read More...]
Online job-related searches ‘down 5 million’
The number of job-related searches conducted online by UK consumers dropped by over 5 million between October and December 2009, with sales IT and engineering jobs proving the most popular, according to new research. The new report by search marketing agency Greenlight, found that 8.4 million job-related searches were made online in December, a considerable decrease on 13.8 million in October. The report, ‘Recruitment Sector Report – Issue 1’,... [Read More...]
UK digital ad production agencies team up to establish good practice
Digital ad production agencies including B-Reel, Northern Kingdom and Unit 9 are uniting to pool knowledge and establish standards and practices in the industry. Stndrd.org has been set up as an open-source approach to tackle issues such as the best way of establishing contracts between ad agencies and production companies and what to include when writing a request for proposal. Andy Reid, partner at creative agency Clicktag, said, “A lot of charlatans... [Read More...]
Spoke Digital launches social media consultancy
Spoke Digital, an independent digital training and consultancy agency specialising in social media, community engagement and content, has been launched this week with several key clients in place. The agency is headed up by Ilana Fox, who left her role as Social Media Manager at ASOS at the end of February 2010, along with Holly Seddon and James Seddon. Their combined experience includes The Sun, The Daily Mail, The Guardian, thelondonpaper, FreshNetworks,... [Read More...]
Sky appoints Glen Matchett to lead Sky Movies marketing
Former UKTV marketer Glenn Matchett has been appointed head of movies marketing at Sky, replacing Paul Gilshan who joined The Times in January. In his new role, Matchett will have responsibility for the marketing of Sky’s film proposition, including Sky Movies and Sky Box Office. He will manage relationships with relevant media and creative agencies, and all above and below-the-line activity. Matchett will report to Naomi Gibney, director of marketing... [Read More...]
US online ad spend to overtake all print and DM
Spending on digital advertising in the US will overtake print for the first time this year, according to new figures. The report from marketing analyst Outsell forecasts that marketers will spend $119.6 billion on digital strategies and $111.5 billion on print, including ads in newspapers and magazines and all direct mail. Overall, US ad spend is expected to return to growth and increase 1.2 per cent to $368 billion. Despite the growth of online,... [Read More...]
Sky creates first head of social media position
Sky is seeking its first head of social media as it aims to ramp up its activity in the burgeoning sector. Reporting to the director of brand marketing − a role yet to be filled since the departure of Andy Brent last September − the post-holder will be responsible for Sky’s social media activity in its brand marketing department and encouraging audience engagement. The creation of the role followed Sky News’s appointment last year of Ruth... [Read More...]
MTV to retain and double in-house digital ad sales team
MTV Networks UK & Ireland has announced plans to bring its digital media ad sales team in-house, following the merger of its ad sales division Viacom Brand Solutions (VBS) with Sky Media. The six-strong digital sales team will be led by Duncan McCrum, head of digital for MTV Networks, at the broadcaster’s headquarters in Camden, north London. MTV has also announced plans to double the size of the team. Team members will be working in partnership... [Read More...]
UK online retail ‘to sustain double-digit growth over the next 5 years’
Online retail in the UK will grow at a ten percent compound annual growth rate over the next five years according to a new report. The study, from Forrester, looks at the future of eCommerce in Europe. Forrester projects that online retail across 17 of the largest EU markets in Western Europe will hit €114 billion by 2014 and that 190 million Europeans will shop online by 2014 (up from 141 million today). Online retail in Western Europe will... [Read More...]