Marketing news

Wrigley’s has pulled a dancing banana from its chewing gum advertising campaign after farmers threatened a day of protest at what they say is the sullying of the fruit’s name. The TVC and internet ad included an animated banana, coffee, donut and soft drink with the slogan ‘they are really nasty little things that ...

We’re tucking a big 2009 in under the covers and looking fearfully, excitedly and giddily toward 2010. We’re lucky enough to be out from 18 December to 4 January, 2010. We’re well and truly ready for 5 January, armed with a few surprises for the new decade. If you've not yet filled out our reader's survey, take ...

Tiger Woods scandal has affected his sponsor's image as well as his own. Consulting firm Accenture has jettisoned Woods, but have still endured negative sentiment according to The New York Times which wrote, “About 11% of those viewers who recalled a brand with ties to Mr Woods said they had a negative opinion ...

YouTube has announced its first official ‘most watched’ video lists for 2009. The top entries were judged through the videos Australians and the world were watching and searching for throughout the year, including the billions of queries that people typed into YouTube search in 2009 to identify some of the fastest-rising ...

Newly formed industry body, The Communications Council has unveiled their new logo and identity. The logo and identity were created by Toko in response to a collaborative brief prepared by the Advertising Federation of Australian (AFA), Australasian Writers and Art Directors Association (AWARD) and the Account ...

Rudd Government Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has announced that he will be introducing internet service providers (ISP) filtering legislation in an effort to bring some form of censorship to the internet. The decision follows the release of results from an Enex Test Laboratory pilot trial of ISP-level ...

Toyota Australia has pulled an online video advertisement for its Yaris model off its website due to complaints of sexist content. The ad was the winner of a social media driven short film competition organised by the car manufacturer’s agency Saatchi and Saatchi. Entitled ‘Clean Getaways’, the ad depicts a boyfriend ...

Burger chain Grill’d has announced that it will be taking legal action against Mitre 10 Australia for ‘hijacking its brand’. Mitre 10 has released a range of barbecues with the name Grill’d, featuring an apostrophe and a missing ‘e’ – trademarks that the chain says is synonymous with its own branding. It has lodged ...

US online news service The Huffington Post has begun offering marketers an option to insert paid comments into the publication’s Twitter feed. The service will allow advertisers to place paid tweets among the Post’s live news and events feed. Critics have suggested that the plan may be rejected by followers as ...

Research suggests that more than three-quarters of Australians are placing greater importance on maintaining or improving their health. According to research released by Datamonitor, a similar proportion (71%) of Australians reported that they ‘make conscious attempts to eat healthily’ either ‘all’ or ‘most of ...

National advertisers and consumers are confident that 2010 is going to be a good year, according to two recent surveys. According to the Starcom MediaVest Group ‘Media Futures Survey’ conducted by Roy Morgan, national advertisers have predicted growth in main media advertising expenditure of around 5.3% next year, ...

Luxury brands will benefit from a crackdown on counterfeit luxury goods in the US this Christmas. The crackdown has begun in Manhattan’s Chinatown, with raids by a special crime unit making undercover purchases of counterfeit goods. The operation has seized USD$1 million in fake bags and watches. "We're just not ...

Bing has been handed a glowing recommendation from an influential Mozilla (developers of the Firefox browser) employee. Asa Dotzler, Firefox’s director of community development, has reacted to a controversial CNBC interview with Google CEO, Eric Schmidt. In the interview, Schmidt stated: "If you have something ...

A new research tool has been launched by a European company that can detect the next big viral by asking consumers to rate their emotional reaction to particular advertisements. AdSpark has been designed by research agency Conquest to spot the next advertisement that will create ‘brand contagion’. The survey, completed ...

Fairfax and Magazine Publishers of Australia have withdrawn support for a new readership metric. The new metric, under development by The Newspaper Works, comes in response to dissent around Roy Morgan's measurement and alleged lack of transparency. The withdrawal coincides with the announcement of three research ...

Radio advertising has revealed signs of recovery after revenue in the metro area rose 4.15% to $59 million in November, compared to last year. According to figures from the Commercial Economic Advisory Service of Australia, for the six months to June the industry showed advertising spending declined 8.5%. Only ...

Time's consortium, including News Corp, Meredith, Hearst and Conde Nast, have confirmed suspected plans to develop digital newsstands as rumours solidify around Apple's tablet. The group confirm the move comes as preparation for redesigning their print titles for ebooks and tablet computers. The reimagined titles ...

Google has extended personalised search to users who aren’t signed in to a Google account. The extension will be based on 180 days worth of search activity, which will be stored on an anonymous cookie. This will have implications to search marketing agencies. Andreas Pouros, CEO of New York SEO agency Greenlight, ...

Following its response to the Reserve Bank’s rate rise by posting its own rise of 45 basis points, Westpac Bank has come under fire for sending its customers a video email comparing the rise to buying banana smoothies. The video explained that the bank’s decision to raise its rates so high was akin to a crisis in ...

Amazon.com is looking to bricks and mortar stores to expand its offering. The etailer has begun scouring the UK for sites to open ‘click and collect’ stores. The move is allegedly in response to Amazon.com’s expansion away from books, CDs and other easily delivered items. ...

Sir Richard Branson has officially unveiled the design of SpaceShip2 for his Virgin Galactic brand at a base in the Mojave Desert in the US. Branson’s fledgling space flight tourism brand was dreamt up by the well-known billionaire in 2004 to offer consumers sub-orbital spaceflights. “Space is absolutely crucial… ...

Low-carb beer advertising misleads consumers and marketing strategies that position these as healthy products are untrue, the Alcohol Policy Coalition has announced. The Coalition has called on the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) to push for factual alcohol labelling in response to what it refers to as ...

Starbucks is running the largest Facebook campaign ever, however Australia has been left out of the list of countries to be targeted. Users in the 16 countries targeted (including the US, UK, Canada, Spain, France, Korea and Hong Kong) will be served ads for Starbuck’s (RED) charity singalong the first five times ...

Facebook has announced that its application FarmVille has more users than social media rival Twitter, accruing 63.7 million players since its launch in June 2009. The company has also updated its usage statistics, announcing that it passed 350 million users who clock up 200 billion page views a month. According ...

News Corp is reportedly joining with Time, Conde Nast, Hearst and Meredith in a publishers’ consortium. The consortium intends to build digital newsstands with a view to publishing on e-readers and tablet computers. It is speculated the publishers are considering development of their own platform. Amazon’s popular ...

Niche Media, publisher of Marketing, is moving over the weekend. Which will be a great opportunity for changing things up following the reader’s survey. But before we get on to the fun stuff, there’s the headaches, back aches and commotion involved in moving. Things should (famous last words) run smoothly, but: Marketingmag.com.au ...

The Murdoch saga continues with the mogul asking other publishers to come on board with his 'pay wall' plans. Speaking at workshop titled ‘How will journalism survive the internet age’, run by the US Federal Trade Commission, Sir Rupert Murdoch addressed the criticism of his pay wall plan. Many have lambasted the ...

The Mitchell Communication Group has acquired integrated marketing and communications agency Insite Organisation. Headquartered in Sydney, Insite has representation throughout Australia and New Zealand and says that it specialises in four areas: Adding value to advertising campaigns with events, in-program content, ...

Retailers are not making the most of online search marketing dollars during the Christmas period a US study claims. The web content management analysis study by CrownPeak, entitled ‘Holiday PPC Ad Strategies', concentrated on key holiday advertising phrases, hundreds of advertisers and online advertisements. It ...

According to Google, Australians are in search of catalogues and gift cards this Christmas. A recent study by the Australian Centre for Retail Studies (ACRS) and Google found 50% of Australian consumers research their purchases online before purchasing. An increase in searches for catalogues demonstrates Australians ...

AOL has released plans to turn the web into an online content ‘factory’. Tim Armstrong, former Google ad executive and now AOL’s chief, wants the company to create automated content for users to flood the internet. Armstrong is reportedly planning to combine cheap freelance writers, AOL's algorithms and marketing ...

The full strength, low-carb beer market is set to heat up with Coles’ introduction of an in-house brand, Maxx Blonde. On the verge of a newspaper advertising campaign, the Wesfarmers-owned supermarket chain will compete with big beer brand Foster’s Pure Blonde, along with Lion Nathan’s Boags Classic Blonde and Hahn ...

Google reveals 2009 zeitgeist Google has released its annual zeitgeist report of top search terms. The most popular Australian search? Facebook. People googling Google came in at sixth and competitor Yahoo came seventh. The top 10: Facebook YouTube Hotmail eBay MySpace Google Yahoo Gmail Bebo Seek Good ...

Marketers are about to be given the ability to have their ads retweeted, shared, digged or added to their Facebook page. Federated Media has announced a deal with TweetMeme that will allow marketers to attach a retweet button to their ads, while Digg is planning to export those ads to other web properties in 2010 ...

American Express is set to release two new initiatives that will benefit SMEs, including a Twitter tool. The unit will harness transaction data for its 90 million cardholders, informing them of marketing decisions and larger strategic issues. American Express Business Insights will focus on its customised business ...

Austereo has announced the launch of a digital radio station and ‘online live streaming portal’ that allows listeners control over the playlist in real time. Hot30 Jelli, an extension of the Today Network’s Hot 30 Countdown, is a multiplayer web-based game that lets listeners control the songs that go on the air, ...