Marketing News Archive
01 Aug 2008 - BA Launches “Live” Terminal 5 Marketing Campaign
British Airways have announced a new marketing drive beginning 5th August to correct negative preconceptions of the troubled Heathrow Terminal 5. Using the tagline “Terminal 5 is Working”, the campaign will present up-to-date, positive information about baggage reclaim and check-in times. Ads will appear in print, online and radio, as well as calling upon direct marketing.
The unique aspect of this marketing is that it will be “live”. That is to say, throughout August and September teams will record various metrics (such as length of check in time) on a daily basis, and then use that information in the following day’s ads. According to BA's general manager for marketing, Katherine Whitton, the campaign will show "genuine customer experiences on the aspects of the journey that research tells us are most important to them".
Source: Marketing Week
14 May 2008 – Credit Companies Warned About Facebook Marketing
Credit companies have been criticised by the debt charity Credit Action for using the social networking site Facebook to target young people with misleading offers of cheap loans. An official complaint has been made to the Office of Fair Trading, with the claim that the ads break the rules by not giving clear enough details of interest rates to young users.
A spokesperson for the charity said "Social networking sites, Facebook in particular, have become hugely popular in recent times, and not just with users. Lots of credit companies, especially payday and logbook loans companies, are using the medium for marketing their products. It is such a popular method because they can target young people with whom the site is so popular."
Credit Action is encouraging users to report Facebook marketing campaigns that break the rules, while Facebook itself has added the functionality to report misleading ads with a click.
Source: Mad.co.uk, BBC
07 Mar 2008 - BBC and ITV Begin Marketing Free HD Service
The BBC and ITV have announced a collaborated effort to offer free high definition television to UK viewers. The service, called “Freesat”, is a digital satellite package offering 80 of the most popular television and radio channels including HD programmes from the BBC and ITV. It has been hailed by Michael Grade, Executive Chairman of ITV as “the final piece in the digital jigsaw”.
The launch can be seen as another move to update the service and the image of these bastions of British broadcasting in the face of greater numbers of younger viewers switching over to new media. It follows on the heels of the BBC’s introduction of their i-player and ITV’s various forays into online marketing (including releasing programmes on i-Tunes and through social networking site Bebo).
The broadcasting corporations are marketing the service to cynical consumers with the promise of no contract or subscription costs. Instead there will be just an upfront payment for the equipment itself (£120) and its installation (about £80).
Source: UTalkMarketing.com
22 Apr 2008 - Marketing Agencies Rediscover Over 50s Market
After years of chasing twenty-somethings, marketers are starting to realise the consumer potential of older demographics. It comes with the realisation that today’s over 50s are much more likely to part with their money, and are more familiar with digital media, than the old pipe-and-slippers stereotype suggests. And not only are older generations living at a faster pace, but there are also more of them. The UK is becoming top-heavy in terms of age, with the over 50s predicted to make up 50% of the population by 2030.
Next month the Cavendish Conference Centre in London will host the “Older, Richer Wiser?” conference to look at new strategies for targeting these much neglected groups. With segments spanning over 40 years, it has become critical for brands to vary their message according to the values and behaviour of their target audiences. Lumping “older people” together into a single demographic is a dangerous generalisation. And since it has been proven that older people can be reached by more diverse channels than previously thought, the challenges facing UK marketing agencies now seem more complex than ever.
Source: Brand Republic
21 Apr 2008 - UK Online Marketing Booming as Companies up their Budgets
The UK Search Engine Marketing Report 2008, released this week, has shown that companies’ search marketing budgets are set to increase again this year. 63% of companies who took part in the survey said that they were looking to increase their spend on PPC (paid search), while 61% said they would pay more for SEO (search engine optimisation). It also found that the proportion of companies outsourcing these tasks to specialist marketing agencies has also increased.
In the same week, Google has been announced the world’s most powerful brand according to BrandZ’s annual top 100 list. This is backed up by the findings of the UK Search Engine Marketing Report, in which 89% of respondents rated Google as the best search engine for high quality traffic.
Source: e-consultancy, Marketing Week
