Industry News - June, 2007

British Gas has announced plans to launch a major advertising offensive aimed at increasing the number of people using direct debit facilities.

The company has revealed it is planning to increase the number of people using financial services such as direct debits and online payments.

British Gas has decided to use the Royal Mail postal strike as the ideal time for the company to launch its advertising campaign, in an effort to point out the benefits of payment methods that do n... more...

The future of the UK's advertising spend will depend largely on the amount of money that is invested in digital technology, a new report has suggested.

Research carried out by media agency Carat, has claimed that digital investment will be almost entirely responsible for a 4.1 per cent increase in adspend this year, Brand Republic reports.

The study also predicts that there will be a 3.9 per cent growth in adspend during 2008, with digital investment again expected to be the dr... more...

Norwich Union has used Tony Blair's departure from number ten Downing Street as a marketing opportunity, focussing on the changes after a decade of the Labour leader's premiership.

Using a series of three advertisements, which Norwich Union posted in the Guardian, the Times and the Independent, the insurance company used the former prime minister's departure as a chance to promote their products, DM Bulletin reports.

The first advert features boxes for packing on the pavement o... more...

MBNA has won a contract with BT to provide its telecoms customers with a credit card, which offers automatic reductions in telephone and broadband bills for every spend.

It is a clever marketing move for MBNA, as BT's customer base numbers over 15 million, while the credit card company currently has just over six million clients in the UK.

One penny will be earned for every £2 spent on the card up to a £250 limit every month. Thereafter, customers will earn double the... more...

Under a new two-year contract, InsureandGo will provide white-labelled insurance services on behalf of OG Enterprises, which is a Guardian Media Group firm.

As such, Britain's biggest direct travel insurance specialist will work on the Guardian, the Observer and the network of Guardian Unlimited websites, providing a back-office call centre, Insurance Times reports.

The Insurance providers' products, including travel, home, car and pet insurance, will be promoted in the Guardi... more...

Landing pages for company websites are failing firms that practice e-mail marketing, according to a new survey, which showed that less than half of landing pages repeated promotional copy from the original e-mail.

E-mail service provider Silverpop studied landing pages for e-mail promotions from 150 firms based in the UK and the US and found that only 45 per cent of landing pages repeated promotional material that was in the original marketing e-mail.

Some 30 per cent of the la... more...

The amount spent on advertising in the UK is expected to increase by 4.1 per cent this year, according to predictions from media agency Carat.

And Carat also forecasts a growth in adspend of 3.9 per cent in 2008, with digital investment driving the growth both this year and next.

Although digital investment is the single biggest factor in the growth of spending on advertising, Carat said that it is of particular importance in the UK, which has a very sophisticated internet adve... more...

Although the £6.2 billion merger between Saga and the AA will be good for both businesses, the GMB trade union has said that the company has not marketed the move well.

Saga, which sells insurance and travel products to the over-50s, is owned by private equity house, Charterhouse, while the Automobile Association is owned by Permira and CVC Capital.

Chief executive of the as yet unnamed new company, Andrew Goodsell, said that the two brands complemented each other well. more...