In a new series of blog posts, we’ll be bringing you short summaries of the latest communications news each week.
Brands
Google pulls the plug on Moneysupermarket ads over their use of AdWords
Payday loans companies have been messing with the search engine’s paid ads system for a while now, and this act shows that Google isn’t afraid to stop them. In the UK, advertisers must be clear and transparent in all of their Google ads – and the consumer has every right to expect this. By leaving out key information, Moneysupermarket was on thin ice from the start.
Innocent puts the word ‘juicy’ back into their water branding
‘This Water’ was originally called ‘Juicy Water’, and now it’s ‘This Juicy Water’. Confused? Don’t be… Innocent’s range of thirst-quenching bottled water has been through several name changes. The brand has been trying to emphasise the fruitier nature of the water range for some time. This copywriter’s opinion? I’m glad they didn’t go with ‘Watery Juice’.
Brands jockey for position with Grand National ads
Awful pun intended in our headline. The annual horse race took place last weekend (April 6th), and in the run-up to the event tie-in ads were out in force. Naturally, John Smiths took an early lead as the race sponsor, bringing out the ‘No-Nonsense Puntometer’ to help the public pick a winner. Channel 4’s aggressive broadcast campaign won it close to nine million viewers, and several betting shops joined in with handy apps to follow the action.
Digital
Youth police commissioner in Twitter scandal
“I think that if everyone’s future was determined by what they wrote on social networking sites between the ages of 14 and 16, we’d live in a very odd world.” So says the boss of a teen crime commissioner who forgot to delete public tweets about underage drinking and violence. The lesson here, as always, is to be careful what you say on social media – this applies just as much to brands as it does to the individual.
Study finds that workers who use social media are more productive
In a complete contrast to our previous piece of news, it may be the case that tweeting and posting status updates can help workers get more done. The research by the Warwick Business School indicates that being active on social media is actually more of a help than a hindrance to productivity. Incidentally, you can find us on Twitter @strattoncraig – just saying.
The death of Baroness Thatcher leads to hundreds of ill-advised tweets – and a sacking
To bring our trio of Twitter-related stories full circle, here’s another story on the perils of a controversial post. The manager of the Crouch End branch of Oddbins has been fired for tweeting after Margaret Thatcher’s death, in which he invited customers to celebrate with some discounted champagne. Love her or hate her, the tweet was understandably considered grossly inappropriate and swiftly deleted.
Digital Impact Awards are open for entries
We’re a sponsor of this annual award, which celebrates the best of digital communications. The Digital Impact Awards are the biggest benchmark of online stakeholder engagement in Europe, and they’ve put out the call for 2013 entries. Last year’s categories included ‘best corporate website’ and ‘best online annual report’. You can submit your project on the Digital Impact Awards website (link below).
Reporting
Corporate reporting for the last financial year gets underway
There are plenty of changes to tax, benefits and personal allowances coming into force this April, and it’s also time for companies to publish their 2012/13 figures. In America, corporate reporting is going social: as long as investors are told which platform it’ll be on, company information for the year can be reported on social media. We wonder how long it’s going to take for that to catch on in the UK…
Digital ad spend in the UK reached a record high in 2012
Reporting season means that lots of interesting facts and figures are being revealed online. One that’s caught our eye is the value of UK digital ad spend last year: it’s rocketed 12.5 percent year-on-year to reach £5.2 billion. That’s a new record, and the first time that the figure’s crossed the five billion mark. More than half was spent on mobile ads – with speedy 4G connections on the way, we doubt that it’s reached a peak.
This week’s news sources:
The Drum – www.thedrum.com
Brand Republic – www.brandrepublic.com
PR Week – www.prweek.com
The Wall – www.wallblog.co.uk
CorpComms – www.corpcommsmagazine.co.uk
Marketing Magazine – www.marketingmagazine.co.uk
Digital Impact Awards – www.digitalimpactawards.com
The Guardian – www.guardian.co.uk
Communicate – www.communicatemagazine.co.uk
