Advertising Blog

LONDON - The planned launch of a Five HD channel on Freeview later this year has been delayed until at least 2012, giving the BBC a chance to broadcast an extra HD channel in its place.

LONDON - Online ad network Adconion Media Group has promoted Matthew Hunt to the role of managing director, following the departure of Mike James last year.

BEIJING (AdAge.com) –Google's likely shutdown of its Chinese-language Google.cn search engine, the main portion of its China operation, isn't good news for marketers and their ad agencies — but it hasn't fazed them about business opportunities for multinational companies in the mainland, either.

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) –The day when commercials are indistinguishable from the programs they support finally arrived — just before 10 p.m. Eastern last Thursday night. That's when an ad for Dr Pepper ran after NBC's insider-y sitcom "30 Rock," making use of recurring character Dr. Spaceman, played by comic Chris Parnell. In the spot, which was paired with a more-traditional TV commercial for the soda, Mr. Parnell's fictional medical practitioner decried boredom and told viewers how drinking Dr Pepper could banish it. A few moments later, viewers saw the credits roll for "30 Rock."

At a press conference at the Mix10 event, Microsoft doesn’t say when the new browser will ship, but when it does, it won’t run on Windows XP.

Both server and game box suppliers are deploying Intel’s 6-core processor.

Kraft Foods’ senior management were forced to rely on Google searches in a bid to ascertain key information regarding Cadbury’s existing production arrangements during its hostile takeover, a Kraft executive confided to MPs today.

LONDON - Yeo Valley, the organic dairy brand, has appointed Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH) to handle its £5 million advertising account.

At its Mix10 trade show on Tuesday, Microsoft is talking about the next version of the browser, among other topics. CNET’s Ina Fried has live coverage.

LONDON - Glam Media, operator of women’s website network Glam.com, is launching a French operation following a recent $50m funding.

LONDON - Glam Media, operator of women’s website network Glam.com, is launching a French operation following a recent $50m funding.

Redmond has gradually restarted its browser development. With the preview version of IE9 now available, it shows that work to be back at full steam.

AdSpace is hoping to put mall advertising on the same playing field as TV and radio.

One of the core principles of Google Analytics has been to democratize the utility of the web analytics tool, and to open up the platform with an API. This enables developers to innovate new uses of Google Analytics to help analysts, marketers, and executives make better data-driven decisions. Since we launched Google Analytics, developers have extended the product to track Flash/Flex and recently Android and iPhone Devices.

To that end, we’d like to share that Google Analytics is now integrated into the Microsoft Silverlight Analytics Framework.

The framework is opensource and enables non-technical designers to quickly track how users interact with their Silverlight content. Using the Google Analytics component, designers can simply drag and drop icons to track the number of interactions on a design element. Then within Google Analytics, they can segment and compare the difference in behavior between users who interacted and those who didn’t.

Each of our various tracking solutions have various levels of feature support. Currently the Google Anlaytics integration with this framework supports event tracking, pageview tracking and custom variables. You can read more about the supported features in the Google Analytics specific documentation and find out more on the project homepage.

Posted by Nick Mihailovski, The Google Analytics API Team

LONDON - Opponents to the Government’s plans to bring the Digital Economy Bill into law before the election are mounting an online campaign to ensure the law is not rushed through the House of Commons.

LONDON - Opponents to the Government’s plans to bring the Digital Economy Bill into law before the election are mounting an online campaign to ensure the law is not rushed through the House of Commons.

In a video interview, Microsoft execs Joe Belfiore and Scott Guthrie talk about the developer opportunities with Windows Phone 7 Series.

LONDON - The start of the racing season has propelled the official Formula 1 app into the top 15 in Brand Republic’s inaugural weekly branded app chart.

LONDON - Virgin Media is offering its new high definition box, V HD, to customers for a one-off charge of £49 from next Monday (22 March).

LONDON - Virgin Media is offering its new high definition box, V HD, to customers for a one-off charge of £49 from next Monday (22 March).

The Audit Bureau move comes in anticipation of the growth of Apple’s iPad and other e-reader devices.

LONDON - HMV is to transform its iconic trademark dog logo (Nipper) into a howling wolf from next week, to promote the launch of the latest vampire film, ‘The Twilight Saga: New Moon’.

LONDON - Virgin Atlantic is to fly the England team to the Fifa World Cup in South Africa, having been appointed as the Football Association’s official airline supplier.

LONDON - BBC One lead the primetime ratings last night with its police drama ‘New Tricks’ attracting 4.1 million viewers, just beating rival ITV1’s ‘Married Single Other’.

LONDON - The Bahamas Tourist Office is rolling out a viral campaign following a competition to find the UK’s best amateur film-maker.

Wendy’s is attempting to insinuate itself into this year’s NCAA men’s basketball tournament with a social media push designed to create real-life parties. The fast feeder has worked with ad shop The Kaplan Thaler Group for Facebook- and Twitter-based promos dangling gift cards for Boneless Wings to consumers who organize viewing parties using the social networks. The Facebook effort gives away $50 gift cards to such consumers.

Wendy’s is attempting to insinuate itself into this year’s NCAA men’s basketball tournament with a social media push designed to create real-life parties. The fast feeder has worked with ad shop The Kaplan Thaler Group for Facebook- and Twitter-based promos dangling gift cards for Boneless Wings to consumers who organize viewing parties using the social networks. The Facebook effort gives away $50 gift cards to such consumers.

Joanne Bradford, Yahoo’s top sales executive, is leaving to join content firm Demand Media.

LONDON - We7, the ad-funded music streaming site, has appointed Yahoo! to handle its display advertising inventory and is in talks to be featured on the internet giant’s homepage.

In an interview with CNET, Microsoft researcher Bill Buxton talks about the dawn of better e-readers, the future of design and other topics.

LONDON - All bets are on as the tabloids celebrate the start of the Cheltenham Festival with the Daily Mirror offering a free £2 bet with William Hill, The Sun promoting a £1 bet at Ladbrokes, and Northern and Shell titles, the Daily Express and Daily Star, giving away a £2 bet at Coral.

LONDON - IPC’s Now magazine has released a special Sport Relief issue today (16 March), with 5p from every copy sold in the UK going to the charity.

Coty retains OMD in the U.S. for media planning and buying on its $75 million account.

Two of the nation’s biggest department stores are using social media to drive prom sales.

A peek at the media diary of Frances Dickens, chief executive of barter company Astus

Acura’s latest high-profile campaign offers glimpses of the mechanical soul that drives its machines. Tagged “The most innovative thinking you’ll find, you’ll find in an Acura,” the work is an ambitious grab for sales at a time when luxury brands are wheezing under a lingering recession and competitors like BMW and Mercedes-Benz keep a firm lock on the performance car segment. A strict focus on literal nuts-and-bolts components represents a new tack.