Marketing news

A qualitative analysis, by market engagement firm Mext, has revealed four key shopper types. The researchers interviewed more than 300 shoppers on their motivations when shopping supermarkets, liquor stores and shopping centres. “Shopper behaviour is one of marketing’s least understood and under-utilised areas, ...

Google has announced the release of a search feature that will enable consumers to search millions of songs via its web search. When users enter a music-related query, for example the name of a song, artist or album, search results will include links to an audio preview of those song provided by music search partner ...

Visa has announced that it will extend its Olympic Games sponsorship for the next eight years. ...

George Patterson Y+R (GPY&R) has announced the release of its 2009 Brand Asset Valuator (BAV). Among the top brands for Australians are Google, Nokia, Tim Tams, Wii, Apple, Breast Cancer and Hugh Jackman. The BAV study analysed 1,200 brands across 139 categories and interviewed over 4,000 Australian consumers. “What ...

YouTube has launched Promoted Videos for Australia. Promoted Videos offer brands a way to differentiate their videos from the 20 hours of video uploaded to YouTube every minute. The service will operate in a similar way to AdWords, targeted by keyword and priced on a cost-per-click basis. According to Google’s official ...

YouTube has launched Promoted Videos for Australia. Promoted Videos offer brands a way to differentiate their videos from the 20 hours of video uploaded to YouTube every minute. The service will operate in a similar way to AdWords, targeted by keyword and priced on a cost-per-click basis. According to Google’s official ...

Queensland University of Technology (QUT) has launched a real-time Twitter aggregator of Australia’s Top 100 most followed PR professionals. The aggregator was built and designed by BCM for QUT to promote their Masters of Business (Public Relations). The medium is the message in this campaign, as the course is delivered ...

Xbox has announced that it will be launching its Forza Motorsport 3 computer game using Ultimate Media’s Venulite digital signage displays in bars and pubs across Australia. The Ultimate Venulites will incorporate elements of experiential augmented reality technology to respond to consumers who stand in front of ...

The Big Issue’s Community Street Soccer Program unveiled its website as part of an ongoing branding overhaul. The web portal was handcrafted pro-bono by Melbourne-based digital specialists, C2 Media, and showcases the work of the Community Street Soccer Program around the country along with highlighting the great ...

Australian schools' use of digital communications is years behind, according to Australia’s main provider of school websites. In response to an internal review which found many sites were outdated, contained incorrect information, suffered from poor design, difficult navigation and a lack of regular communications, ...

Norfolk Island Tourism has launched its first ever branding and largest advertising campaign. Created by DDI, the Tourism group hopes to align public perception of the island closer to the experience of visiting. The campaign, ‘Welcome back to Earth’, positions Norfolk Island as a place of natural beauty with a ...

ANZ has announced the launch of a new brand identity to align with it’s ‘super regional’ strategy and international presence. ANZ says the new identity and positioning follows 18 months of internal and external research across Australia, New Zealand and Asia Pacific. The bank hopes to position itself as as people-focused ...

Following the findings of the Australian Communications and Media Authority’s (ACMA) annual report, Experian offers Marketingmag.com.au readers some top tips on how to avoid having your emails spam filtered. One of the major findings of the report was a 21% increase in email spam over the last year. The ACMA received ...

Apple has released its new MacBook and iMac, as well as a new mouse, 24 hours ahead of Microsoft’s Window 7 launch. The move follows Google’s launch of ‘Gone Google’, promoting their cloud computing offering. The campaign lists big name clients who have ‘Gone Google’ – Telegraph Media Group, Motorola and InterContinental ...

A survey conducted by Open Text has found almost one third of Australian organisations have an enterprise web 2.0 or departmental web 2.0 deployment. A further 9% were in the process of deploying, while 13% are considering how best to implement. Only 7% have decided, for the foreseeable future, not to deploy the ...

Publisher Conde Nast has announced the December issue of US GQ will be available on iPhone as well as in hard copy. The print issue will be totally converted, advertising retained, for the iPhone. Importantly, this will mean the sales are tallied by audit bureaus. Conde Nast can therefore count downloads as part ...

A report by international research firm, the Reputation Institute, has revealed that Australia isn’t rated as highly by people overseas as we may think. The ‘CountryRep 2009’ survey found that Australians are more positive about themselves than any other of the 33 nations that took part in, and was marked down as ...

Google is set to launch its ‘Going Google’ billboard campaign in UK, France, Canada, Japan, Australia and Singapore, building on a campaign first launched in the US in August 2009. The outdoor campaign is designed to encourage businesses to use Google apps to give their employees access to shared documents, calendars, ...

uSocial.net has offered Twitter $500,000 to place a banner ad for 24 hours. While the sum may seem excessive, Twitter does not currently offer advertising. There is some speculation as to the authenticity of the offer. “While half-a-million dollars may seem like a large amount to invest in one banner for one day, ...

Speaking at News Corp’s annual meeting, Rupert Murdoch outlined his plans for a new business model following “one of the most challenging” years of the past five decades. News Corp posted $US3.4 billion ($AUD3.7 billion) loss for fiscal 2009. Murdoch wants to move away from advertising reliance, planning to charge ...

Google has announced its financial results for the quarter ending September 2009, boasting a 7% rise in revenue growth. The search engine reported revenues of $5.94 billion in the third quarter of 2009, representing a 7% increase over third quarter 2008 revenues of $5.54 billion. Google-owned sites generated revenues ...

A study by Sysomos has analysed the online presence of the top 20 brands from Interbrand’s ‘Best Global Brands List’. Where Interbrand’s list ranks brands using financial data, international scope and economic value added, Sysomos evaluated the brands based on their online presence for the same period. Of those ...

Hollywood execs are moving in on celebrities, imposing restrictions designed to prevent news from leaking out of celebrity Twitter and Facebook accounts. Studios like Disney and DreamWorks are adding clauses to contracts that prevent talent from sharing confidential information or pre-empting a studio press release ...

OpSec Security Inc., a company that focuses on anti-counterfeiting and brand protection, has released a study that identifies the impact of internet trading platforms and social media web forums on the market launch and distribution of consumer electronics products. The study focused on Kindle ereaders and the ...

Advertisers have been warned to expect increased media inflation in 2010 from free-to-air TV networks as they aim to recoup the heavily discounted deals they struck in early 2009. According to a report that appeared in Businessday.com.au, Foxtel and Austar’s advertising sales unit, MCN, attempted to ambush its free-to-air ...

New research from Microsoft has found that Australians are more reliant on their mobile phones than ever before, and for more than just making phone calls. The software giant’s annual mobile phone usuage research polled 1,125 respondents across the country and found that Australians are increasingly using their ...

Recruitment consultancy, Robert Walters, has released its ‘Employee Insights’ survey of over 400 Australian professionals,  revealing that 75% of employees feel that their sector is showing signs of improvement. When compared to the national average, employees working within accounting and finance (77%), sales ...

Google has launched its Promoted Videos feature, which aims to allow content creators to drive viewership of their videos by targeting the hundreds of millions of searches that occur on YouTube. According to a post on Google’s official blog, any AdWords advertiser with video content can use Promoted Videos to get ...

PepsiCo’s embrace of web 2.0 quick response PR may have landed it in hot water. American brand Amp, an energy drink owned by PepsiCo, released an app entitled ‘Amp Up Before You Score’. The app includes a list of female stereotypes, from ‘Aspiring Actress’ to ‘Sorority Girl’ and ‘Cougar’ to ‘Married’, and offers ...

MySpace is promoting the launch of MySpace Music Australia by replicating its online offering offline. The social media company will work out of Melbourne’s Australian Centre for Contemporary Art. Replicating the site’s offerings offline, the two-day promotion will feature free live bands, and allow local bands ...

A new whitepaper has been released discussing the myriad effects of the National Broadband Network (NBN). Released by Bullseye, ‘business@100Mbps – A View of the Firm of the Future’ aims to discuss practical applications and opportunities the NBN will offer. The NBN rollout will begin later this month. Referred ...

Time on social media is eating into time spent on other online activities (eg. instant messaging, portal sites, email). According to comScore’s US report ‘The State of Social Networks as a Media Platform’, the top 20% of social media users visit social media sites 2.4 times per day and spend 31 minutes in these ...

New research from Hitwise has revealed a reversal of fortunes in the social networking world, with MySpace’s traffic decreasing dramatically, seeing its share tumble to 30.3% from 66.8% – a 55% plunge. However, Facebook’s share of US traffic to social sites has grown nearly fourfold in the last year, to 58.6% from ...

Lion Nathan unveiled its first campaign for new Tooheys Extra Dry cider product, 5 Seeds, entitled ‘Birds vs Humans’, investing heavily in a social media strategy aimed at attracting a sizable online audience. The campaign, created by BMF, opens in a land where birds rule and humans forage in wastelands for scraps ...

MasterChef’s master chef, Julie Goodwin, has been named GLAD’s brand ambassador. Of GLAD’s core consumers, 80% are busy households with children under 17. GLAD believes Julie is the perfect personification of its brand and will feature her in advertisements alongside her husband and children. The campaign will feature ...

Commercial Radio Australia has honoured a range of radio stars at the Australian Commercial Radio Awards. Held at the Sydney Entertainment and Convention Centre, Hamish and Andy took the Best On-Air Team award for their drive-time program, the highest rating in Australia with two million listeners. Derryn Hinch ...

The Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance has asked media companies to clarify their online policies following the sacking of a Brisbane sub-editor for comments made in a personal blog. The association indicates that to its knowledge, it is the first case in Australia of a journalist losing their job for personal ...

George Patterson Y+R has acquired Jon Steel as chief strategy officer and vice chairman. Steel has recently moved to Australia and for the past nine years been the global head of planning for the WPP Group. He has also published two books, Truth, Lies & Advertising and Perfect Pitch. Steel started his career ...

The value of click-throughs as a metric of advertising success is under question after a report has shown that a decreasing percentage of users are making up an increasing portion of all click-throughs. eMarketer has revealed that comScore and Starcom USA have followed up a July 2007 study conducted with Tacoda ...

A new study has found less than two thirds of iPhone apps are used more than 90 days after they are downloaded. Conducted by Flurry, the study shows that 67% of apps are used more than 30 days after they are downloaded, 32% more than 60 days after and 25% more than 90 days after. News-based apps scored highest ...

National Broadband Network rollout begins The National Broadband Network will begin being rolled out this month. Melbourne-based Corning Cable will begin the rollout in Tasmania later this month. Approximately 5,000 homes in Smithton, Scottsdale and Midway Point will be connected. Speaking to a dinner congregation ...

There’s been another blow to advertising’s beleaguered ...

Google CEO Eric Schmidt has said that the worst of the advertising recession is over, pointing to signs of recovery in both Europe and the United States. Schmidt indicated that search engine megalith had increased its hiring and investment in anticipation of a recovery, speaking to a group of reporters in New York. Schmidt ...

An American study has found Twitter is the most accessed social media service on mobile devices. Conducted by Crowd Science, the survey discovered 11% of Twitter users admit to accessing social media while driving, compared with just 5% of other mobile social media users. According to the survey, 27% of users tweet ...

Commercial Radio Australia (CRA) has released its Commercial Content Standards for advertising on DAB+ digital radio. The Standards have been finalised after draft standards were released to the industry for comment last year, following consultations with companies such as ARN, Austereo, DMG, Fairfax Radio, Audionet, ...

A new study, conducted by Hydrasight, has found almost a third of respondents indicated they had enterprise web 2.0 implementations in place. Furthermore, less than 5% of those in business-oriented roles believe enterprise web 2.0 will not be important to their organisation. More than half confirmed the software ...

Kraft has announced the new name of its cream cheese Vegemite blend will be Vegemite Cheesybite. The move comes after significant public derision and outcry as well as many third party involvements. Australians were offered seven name options: Cheesybite, Creamymate, Smooth, Snackmate, Vegemate, Vegemild or none ...

The Standard Media Index (SMI) report, a measurement of media agency bookings, has revealed the rate of growth was slower than the 11% increase achieved in August 2009 over July. However, advertising recovery is continuing with total bookings lifting 6% in September over August to $552.4 million. Leading the market ...

Australian band Powderfinger have harnessed the power of Twitter to perform three secret ‘guerilla’ gigs in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne on one day.  No further clues were given out, as fans were directed to the band’s Twitter page to find out more. The location of each show was revealed 25 minutes prior ...

According to an online poll conducted by BCM, the majority of people surveyed (more than three in four) believe that the recent Vegemite iSnack 2.0 naming and subsequent plan to change it by parent company Kraft, was nothing more than a ploy to maximise exposure for the new product. The BCM poll, which surveyed ...

Time has assembled US magazine publishers with a view toward the creation of an amalgamated digital newsstand. Reports say the store would allow users to buy editions optimised for mobile devices. According to the Financial Times, the service aims to protect magazines, possibly newspapers and other publications. ...

Online traffic service provider Peer2 has introduced a platform that operates on the premise of peered marketing, where consumers become the marketers in exchange for earning points redeemable for merchandise. The company operates on a cost-per-click revenue model, at 25 cents per engagement. According to co-founder ...

The Olympic movement must embrace Gen Y and learn from the likes of YouTube and American Idol or lose an audience for life says WPP CEO. Speaking to the International Olympic Committee, Sir Martin Sorrell, CEO of WPP (the world's largest advertising company by revenue), advised global sports leaders to release ...

Media industry pundits have labelled Sir Keith Murdoch ahead of his time following the discovery of a heretofore-unknown recording. The father of media mogul Sir Rupert Murdoch, Keith Murdoch is heard speaking, at the launch of radio station 3LK on January 4, 1937, about the necessary convergence of broadcast radio ...

Australian supermarket giant Woolworths ...

A raft of internet entrepreneurs have seen their value rise in the latest Forbes 400 wealthiest Americans list. Facebook’s founder Mark Zuckerberg, who is the youngest person on the Forbes list by 10 years, has risen to number 158 with an estimated net worth of $1.95 billion, one fifth of the social networking site’s ...

Google has begun tweaking its search listings to include forums and discussions to incorporate the growing influence of social media. These posts appear as an indent under the primary result with the date of each post on Google’s results page, so a search posing the question ‘getting from Rome to Florence’ will ...

The battle between channel nine’s Hey Hey It’s Saturday reunion and Ten’s Celebrity MasterChef attracted a dual analysis: ratings and ‘twatings’. OzTam recorded a significant audience nearing 2.2 million tuning in to the Hey Hey reunion, while Celebrity MasterChef attracted just shy of 1.4 million. The Twitter ...

A marcomms agency is conducting an online survey to determine consensus on whether iSnack 2.0 was a PR ploy. Agency BCM is conducting a survey on whether Australians believe that choosing iSnack 2.0 was simply ‘Step 2’ in a planned publicity stunt. “It undoubtedly has been a tough week for Kraft in Australia. ...

The Australasian Writers and Art Directors Association (AWARD), the Advertising Federation of Australia (AFA) and the Account Planning Group (APG) are in discussion about forming a new organisation. The associations’ representatives indicated that they had been working together for several months and are now in ...