An online nutrition guide connected to its frozen food brand "Birds Eye". This is Unilever's idea to connect with its consumers in the UK. NewMediaZero explains online ads will support the site, which will allow visitors to create their daily diet and its nutritional value. The agency involved in the campaign is Zentropy Partners.

Another food-related news... Pubblicit� Italia (in Italian) reports Togo Pavesi, the chocolate cookies, are sponsoring a special section on MSN.it dedicated to Eurochocolate 2004, the European chocolate festivalm which is currently taking place in Perugia.

German advergames maker adgame-wonderland has developed the "Salto Pizza Spiel". It's a nice advergame with jumping ingredients (in Italian "Salto" means jump...) created to promote the new Salto Pizza from Rewe supermarkets. A competition is associated to the game, players can win an holiday in Italy, a bunch of Espresso machines and a hundred recipes' books.

The numbers coming out from a research by Price Waterhouse Coopers show online advertising in the UK is eventually gaining credibility. As an article by Owen Gibson on The Guardian points out "after years of trying, and in some cases under-delivering, it looks as if the internet's accountability, measurability and targeting is finally making an impression on the big brands. In certain sectors, notably cars and finance, online ads are now an integral part of any big campaign, rather than an afterthought".

Furthermore September's MSN Online Pulse finds out that more than eight out of 10 brand managers intend to increase, or at the very least maintain, their current level of investment in online. The report is coming out today.

BrownCo, the online brokerage offering of J.P. Morgan Invest, announced yesterday a new advertising campaign aimed at active traders. The integrated campaign consists of television, print and online ads with a total budget of $15 million. Online ads, developed by itraffic, will highlight the campaign's messages and will run appear on major financial Web sites including CBSMarketWatch, SmartMoney and TheStreet.

British Airways has launched a new campaign to promote its online check-ins, pre-flight seat selection and flight information services. Revolution reports BA spends £5m on digital marketing. The new campaign, created by Agency.com, features three series of online ads named "Seat taken", "Signage" and "Plane".

About one month ago Agency.com launched an interactive campaign supporting British Airways’ “Best Sleep Guaranteesm". The goal of the online campaign (which is still running) was to build differentiation and preference for British Airways among business flyers as the 2004 travel season heats up. The ad units are appearing on Web sites including BusinessWeek.com, WallStreetJournal.com, and CNN.com. Portions of the ad buy are geo-targeted to reach consumers in key British Airways departure cities.

Video games advertising is hot, and will probably get even hotter following the launch of a cross-platform video games ad-serving.
The new technology developed by Massive Inc. allows advertisers to simultaneously reach an aggregated audience of gamers through real-time delivery of advertising across an entire network of top-selling video games. The world's first video game advertising network, provides a new opportunity to deliver dynamic advertising campaigns across a network of titles and genres to reach the 18-34 year old male audience that is increasingly difficult to reach through television and other existing advertising channels. Jay Cohen, VP Publishing at Ubisoft commented:

The US mobile phone industry is ready to target a "new" generation of consumers: seniors. An article on the The New York Times (free reg. req.) highlights the senior population represents a great opportunity for the market to grow. It won't be easy, since elder people have a lot of concerns around mobile technologies, but if the industry will meet their expectations, the success will be granted.

Agency Republic (check out their site, the videos idea is great...) has created an interactive campaign to promote the O2's "Friends" service. As Brand Republic explains, a viral push will be part of the initiative, with a quiz created to test how well their friends know each others.

iMediaConnection presents and comments the microsite Kyocera has created to present its Slider phone. A part from the fact that the phone is kind of ugly, the site is full of stuffs to explore. Navigation is rather confusing, but it's interesting to note Kyocera's effort to invest in the promotion of a mobile phone, concentrating on branded infotainment, as Robert Kasunic of Media Revolution points out.

Finding the best pub using your mobile phone will become an easy operation with the launch of The Good Pub Mobile Guide. The service, recently presented in the UK, allows users to send the text code "goodpub" in order to receive a location-based premium sms with the indication of the closest pub featured in the guide. People with a WAP-enabled phone can also receive a link to an on-line map.

Optus Zoo Adult, the service would allow subscribers aged 18 and over to download adult services to their mobile phone has signed a deal for distribution through the Hutchison network. The Age reports consumers associations are alarmed by the upcoming service since the industry mostly based on self regulation.

A wallpaper and a series of ringtones from the movie Alien vs Predator are available to UK mobile phone users thanks to a mobile marketing effort by Twentieth Century Fox. Netimperative reports the services have been developed by Mobile 365, a new company born from the merge between Mobileway and InphoMatch.

Ikea has launched an online advertising campaign to strengthen its brand and get the attention of new potential customers in Italy. Pubblicit� Italia says the campaign has been developed by Profero. The ads, which highlight the huge range of Ikea's catalogue, are running on the main Italian portals.

"Save yourself" is a web site created in Australia by Soap Creative to promote three 20th Century Fox' DVD releases: The Day After Tomorrow, Alien vs. Predator and I, Robot.
There is also an advergame associated to the initiative: You couldn't ski to save yourself.

Adweek.com reports Mr. Coffee and Ford Motor Co. have launched an online promotion to give away a Ford F-150 truck. The initiative features the tagline "Personalize your coffee, customize your ride". Users hoping to win can go to www.mrcoffee.com. The competition runs until December 31.

Adrants reports the International Viral + Buzz Marketing Association has presented a viral marketing manifesto, which also summarizes the association's mission.

Kelkoo Germany gets ready for Christmas launching an online advertising campaign with the claim "Erst Kelkoo dann kaufen" (First Kelkoo, than buy). The agency which carried out the planning and the creative is Springer & Jacoby.

A new report released by the Mobile Marketing Forum highlights a strong growth for the mobile marketing industry in Ireland. As explained in the press release the survey shows that mobile marketing is gaining significant ground on more traditional advertising methods such as radio, television and outdoor advertising, with even further gains made on digital methods such as website advertising.
Tommy McCabe, Director of the MMF commented:

Emerce (in Dutch) reports about a new viral campaign launched by KLM with the claim "Join BlueBiz and win a company airplane!". The effort aims driving members to KLM's BlueBiz loyalty program, dedicated to medium and small enterprises.
BlueBiz members can win a plane for a day in December, a KLM Cityhopper which will take 50 persons to a destination anywhere in Europe.

No advertising has been employed to promote the initiative, just targeted email to Flying Dutchman members, KLM travel agents and existing BlueBiz members.

The campaign has been developed by Lemz.

Syzygy has developed the new online presence of Tic Tac, featuring the claim "Tic Tac and Talk". The site invites users to interact with the brand, attending special events in the sections "Dance", "Enjoy", "Dress" and "Celebrate".
Tictac.de also presents "The Tic Tac Story" a journey through 30 years of Tic Tac's history.

The mobile content market will grow up to nearly $78 billion in revenues worldwide by 2007, up from $16.7 billion last year. The majority of the revenues will go to operators, but third-party content providers will bring in approximately 40% of the total. The information comes out of a new report presented yesterday by Researhc and Markets.

The British Heart Foundation is online again with another anti-smoking campaign. The ads, featuring the message "give up before you clog" as well as a dedicated web site, have been developed by DNA.
BHF's site gives users the possibility to keep their own weblog to tell people about their experience trying to quit smoking. Smokers wanting to stop, can also sign up to receive free email and SMS reminders to keep the motivation high.

SNCF, the French railways' company is promoting its famous ultra fast train "TGV" with an online effort and a viral campaign. Le Journal du Net (in French) explains SNCF has produced three web movies which have been seen by more than 18.000 users in less than a week. The site Cestunchoix.com, supports the initiative, presenting the videos and the possibility to send them to friends. SNFC says this is essentially a branding campaign, and it's the firtst time the TGV service is promoted on the Internet.

The Body Shop has relaunched its e-commerce web site, improving its offering and its marketing effort in order to target the US market. As DMNews.com explains online promotion will play a key role in supporting the site, with search engine advertising, affiliate marketing and online ads.

The site, which has been redesigned by AKQA, targets women aged 25-44. Consumers are able to consult an ingredient glossary that allows them to understand product benefits and find products by ingredient.
Tom Bedecarre, AKQA's Chief Executive Officer commented:

British government (the Home Office) has launched a web and radio campaign to warn kids about net paedophiles. As reported on The Register, there is a dedicated web site (www.thinkuknow.co.uk) which aims to build awareness of online dangers in kids and parents.

The site features an advertainment approach which is perfect to address a young target audience.

At the beginning of September Philips has started a re-branding campaign promoting the concept "Sense and Simplicity". Eighty million Euros have been invested in the campaign, with ten percent of the budget dedicated to online activities. Philips President and CEO Gerard Kleisterlee said that:

A new survey of online advertising by President Bush's and John F. Kerry's campaigns found that both candidates haven't invested much in online ads.
The Washingtonpost.com reports about a study, conducted by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, which highlights candidates' expenditures and (weak) strategies to reach their voters online.

Orange's customers in seven European countries are now able to access characters, images, film clips and music clips (true tones and ringtones) from the entire Star Wars saga as mobile content. There is a micro-site promoting the initiative. The site will also include exclusive give-aways and competitions, promoting usage of the new services and content. Throughout the 15-month partnership with Lucasfilm, Orange will also be able to use characters from the Star Wars films in Orange marketing.

Mobile marketing is landing in the United States. Forbes.com dedicates an article to Snapple's wireless marketing initiative, and to the US marketers' attitudine towards this new promotional concept.

German agency Syzygy has developed a micro-site for Land Rover's Defender "Experience" limited edition.
The Defender Experience's site features a nice Flash animation in which users can explore the vehicle's equipment.

The Mobile Marketing Association has announced the formation of an anti-spam committee, a second step in the battle against wireless spam, after the release of the Code of Conduct in 2003.

As explained in the press release, with 165 million mobile consumers and 2.5 billion SMS messages sent each month, the United States is the second-largest single pool of cell phone users in the world (China is first). The cell phone is by far the most personal communication device for consumers and the most coveted media platform for advertisers. As this industry continues to burgeon to an estimated $5 billion by the end of 2005, industry leaders must strive to insure that the medium remains spam free.

ILoop Mobile has introduced in the US the first Instant Win and SMS Movie Quiz Game. The entertainment experience is crucial in the mobile environment, as Michael Becker, President and COO, ILoop Mobile explains in the press release announcing the service's introduction:

Rich media ads producer Pointroll has announced the development of a new feature that will allow Internet users to explore interesting products or services at a later date, "just like circling an advertisement in the newspaper".
The press release explains the new features which are E-Mail Reminder, Instant Bookmark and Calendar Download.

Mitch Rose, VP of Marketing at Pointroll explains:

Are looking for more cool interactive ideas? Check the archives