Marketing news

Global cleaning, health and personal care brand, Reckitt Benckiser, will cap off its fifth straight year of organic sales growth with a new recession-approved media strategy – moving TV dollars to online video. The company, which controls brands such as Lysol, Air Wick, Mucinex, Finish and Clearasil, plans to shift ...

UK supermarket, Tesco, is planning to open 30 branches of its ‘Tesco Bank’ within existing chains before the end of 2009. After running a trial in Glasgow since 1996, three more Tesco Banks will open in April in the UK cities of Brislington, Blackpool and Coventry, with the remaining 27 will be opened by the end ...

Global market research giant Nielsen has announced staff cuts of 1,600 in 2009, or less than 5% of its workforce, disclosed by company officials in a conference call with investors and analysts. A report from AdAge.com suggests chief financial officer, Brian West, declined on the call to detail the timing or precise ...

From unmitigated crazy sheep-herding in New Zealand to blow-up hoodies, there are a few disturbing but hilariously creative minds out there. There seems to be an increasing use of YouTube to spread viral videos that could potentially be a part of wider campaign for a company or brand. Enter Extreme Sheep LED Art, ...

Search giant Google will shed 200 jobs in sales and marketing, half of which are based in US – the biggest round of layoffs in the company’s history. According to a report from AdAge.com, the move is the latest in a string of staff cuts since the beginning of the year as the company retrenches in the face of an ...

Micro-blogging site Twitter has signed a contract with Vodafone in the UK, to allow customers to send and receive tweets across the mobile phone network – the first commercial deal of its type in the UK between Twitter and a mobile phone network. Receiving tweets on mobile phones had previously been restricted to ...

m.Net Corporation has released the Australian results of its 2008 Worldwide Mobile Data Service (MDS) Study, revealing growth in the number of Australians using their mobile phone for a wider range of products and services. The study, conducted in November 2008, found that 97% Australians surveyed used their mobile ...

Hitwise has announced its list of the most popular websites from more than 100 industries in Australia during 2008. The annual Hitwise Australia Online Performance Awards were established by the company to recognise outstanding online business achievement and acknowledge the most successful Australian websites as ...

Regional commercial radio broadcasters from around Australia have met in Sydney and agreed unanimously that digital radio services must be made available to all Australians, not just those in metropolitan areas. The broadcasters called on the federal government to make an immediate public commitment to the allocation ...

Discount flight carriers Tiger and Jetstar are one up on Australia’s major airlines when it comes to website performance. Tiger is reported to have the highest ranking flight search functionality, while Jetstar claimed fastest homepage load time, according to a report from Nielsen Online. The report, which assessed ...

The inaugural Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA) Marketing Benchmark Survey has revealed that ICT (information and communication technology) marketing professionals need to address a variety of concerns in order to make a significant contribution to their organisation’s efforts to overcome current ...

Just a quick couple for all of you creative lovers in Adland. Puma has released its new campaign entitled L.I.F.T and, well… it’s a little unusual. It’s uncommon to see a large brand to go out on a limb and sanction a creative that looks like a contemporary existential performance by an experimental New York theatre ...

Lion Nathan has unveiled its campaign for its premium low carb brand Hahn Super Dry, entitled ‘In the Spirit of Good Taste’. The campaign features a TVC developed in partnership with BMF, with more executions to follow. The tongue-in-cheek television executions use examples of particularly ‘bad taste’ to highlight ...

SBS has announced that beer brand VB will sponsor its coverage of the 2009 Ashes Test Series cricket between England and Australia. The partnership spans the five Ashes Test Series matches taking place between July and August, as well as seven One Day Internationals in September. “VB has been the beer of the Australian ...

Carlsberg’s Jacobsen Brew House in Copenhagen Denmark has introduced the second brew in its Vintage trilogy. Vintage No.2 is one of the world’s most expensive beers, selling for €250 (AUD$494), and features controversial Chilean born artist Marco Evaristti, who designed the label. Vintage No.1 that launched a year ...

The typical Australian shopper won’t give up their favourite coffee, will switch between two or three bread brands and has no particular preference when it comes to toilet rolls – this is according to research commissioned by out of home (OOH) company, oOh!media. The research was commissioned to gain insights into ...

The ABA (Audit Bureau of Australia) has launched its Web Audit Service, which will verify the correct placement and number of tags per page by online publishers and ensure that the web measurement system is capturing web traffic data accurately and reporting in accordance to industry agreed standards. The service ...

Vquence, a social video technology and consulting company, has introduced its social video metrics software called VQmetrics, an online SaaS (software as a service) used by the company’s customers as a tracking tool for viral video marketing campaigns and to undertake deep data analysis on online video statistics. VQmetrics ...

Visa has launched its ‘Technology Evolved’ campaign, which aims to promote the benefits of its Visa Debit cards for online, telephone and international transactions. The campaign, created by Whybin TBWA Tequila, is Visa’s first new marketing campaign for Australia since it awarded its global advertising account ...

The latest report from The Australian Centre for Retail Studies provides outlook for spending of next stimulus package Paying off debt Saving Some spending The latest report from the Australian Centre for Retail Studies (ACRS) provides valuable insights into future spending intentions of Australians, particularly ...

Greetings fellow lovers of all things creative and thought provoking. If there was ever a time for us to be embracing the power of the creative now is the time, and this week we see a couple companies having a good crack at it. First we have infamous car maker Jeep. In a time when the automotive sector is struggling ...

Bebo has launched a platform that will keep its users updated with any information they have registered to receive from anywhere on the web – including its rival in the social media space. The Lifestream platform will be available to users in six languages and will feed Bebo members activity updates from other social ...

Google is releasing software that will allow users to manage their phone messages over the web, similar to the way they handle emails or online calendars. Google Voice, takes voicemails from multiple phone lines and turns them into text files, allowing users to quickly search messages. The software is an upgrade ...

Magpie & Friends has been launched intending to generate a conversation for brands within Twitter, the hot-topic micro-blogging site. It says that it is currently Twitter’s largest growing ad network, with more than two-million reachable followers. The company aims to enable brands to deliver controlled, ...

Around 6.5 million Australians belong to an online social network and two thirds of internet users looked at other people’s content on social networking sites during 2008 – this is according to Nielsen Online’s latest ‘Consumer Generated Media’ report. The report, aimed at providing an analysis of consumer generated ...

The telecommunications industry must raise its standards in its treatment of consumers or risk increased Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) scrutiny and action, the Commission’s chairman, Graeme Samuel, has warned. He points to problems such as misleading advertising, unfair contracts and deceptive ...

The Australian Interactive Media Industry Association (AIMIA) has honoured 24 winners of its 15th annual AIMIA Awards at a ceremony at Sydney’s Australian Technology Park. Hosts Adam Spencer and Airlie Walsh kept the crowd entertained, with returning AIMIA president Guy Gadney using his speech to highlight how rapidly ...

Yet another interesting week for the Monsieur – from 3D baseball cards to skiing toilets, it has been a gold mine for the weird and wonderful. When I was a child back in the old country, we would collect cigarette cards: 2cm x 2cm, they were emblazoned with pictures of our sporting heroes on them. These were our ...

As Australian internet users hone their multi-tasking skills, technology ownership continues to expand year-on-year, in particular for products with wireless capabilities, according to internet measurement company Nielsen Online’s Internet and Technology Report released at the start of the month. Multi-tasking ...

Research has shown concern for environmental issues in Australia has fallen, as the country's economic situation worsens. The Mobium Group’s inaugural ‘Green-Tracker’ survey tracks Australians’ concerns, values and attitudes, awareness and behaviours about sustainability matters and has revealed the number of Australians ...

‘Member Communities’ have overtaken email to become the fourth most popular online category, according to a Nielsen Online report. Comprising both social networks and blogs, ‘member communities’ are now visited by over two thirds (67%) of the global online population and are growing twice as fast as any of the ...

BBC.com, the BBC’s international website outside of the UK, has announced today it will be enabling advertising on its international mobile site for the first time. Due to the rapid growth of the mobile internet market in the UK, the site will allow advertisers to increase their reach to BBC consumers and opt for ...

Italian beer brand Peroni Nastro Azzurro has announced the launch of an international premium low-carb lager. Peroni Leggera launched globally in February, a spin off from the brand’s main offering Peroni Nastro Azzurro. Australia will be the first market in the world to launch the lager, targeted at the 20- to ...

Starcom MediaVest Group (SMG) has launched an interesting integrated media idea for M&M’s latest campaign – M&M’s colour break-ups. According to the company and its client Mars, the once happy gang of five M&M’s colours – Red, Yellow, Miss Green, Blue and Crispy – have had a falling out and will now ...

Adshel has released a research study that consolidates trends derived from its Consumer Insights Program to coincide with its latest campaign, ‘Lives Exposed’. The ‘Lives Exposed Research Report’ explores key trends affecting the Gen Y 16-24, Adultescents, Baby Boomers, commuters and ‘main grocery buyer’ demographics ...

For Streets Golden Gaytime, there’s been very little change since it was first introduced in 1959, but now the brand is revisiting the ads that brought the ice cream to Australians' attention in the 1980s. There have been about 25 different flavours of th ice cream since its launch in 1959. The current and most ...

As part of a strategic realignment of the Kantar Group companies - TNS (Custom Division) and Research International - two of the world’s leading market insight and information agencies will combine strengths and merge to create the world’s largest custom research company. The merger is part of a major reorganisation ...

Retailers and the commercial radio industry recently agreed on a start date of early April for a three-phase digital radio advertising campaign on all commercial radio stations in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth. Speaking following a meeting between the commercial radio industry and retailers and ...

The average Australian now spends an hour and a half of their leisure time online each day. According to a recent global digital study conducted by market information group TNS, most Australians (79%) login from home daily and many have met an online acquaintance in person, The Digital World, Digital Life study, ...

Fox Interactive Media has launched four new initiatives for marketers: MySpace Lifestages, MySpace MyInsights, MySpace Recharge and IGN, RottenTomatoes and AskMen Editorial Integration. Fox Interactive Media is launching the initiatives to ensure marketers are more efficient and relevant to consumers through the ...

Interbrand, a leading brand consultancy, today announced the 20 Best Australian Brands, with Telstra and Commonwealth Bank being named as having Australia’s highest brand values.    The Australian Best Brands Report provides a ranking that is an indication of the value a brand holds not only economically, ...

As the impact of the global credit crunch bites, retailers and SMEs now have access to an online catalogue service – Whats4sale.com.au – designed to extend their marketing reach at minimal cost. Launched by PMP Limited, the site will allow retailers and other businesses to display their catalogues in a user-friendly ...

Pulse Marketing Group has launched a $5.5 million marketing campaign for natural gas across NSW and ACT. The campaign, created for natural gas infrastructure company Jemena, is a non-brand specific consumer and trade campaign, promoting increased overall use of natural gas not a particular brand or supplier. According ...

Ad spend in traditional media could be flagging faster than predicted, according to a report from The Australian – it is estimated to have fallen 10.5% in January compared with the same period last year. Figures drawn from research company Nielsen’s AdEx database suggest magazines were hit hardest, with revenue ...