Posts made in March, 2014

on Mar 27, 2014

By John Glenday Energy industry regulator Ofgem has ordered the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to investigate Britain’s ‘big six’ energy suppliers – SSE, Scottish Power, Centrica, RWE Npower, E.On and EDF Energy – over whether they are blocking effective competition. The 18 month investigation follows concerns that the half-dozen firms are not competing aggressively with each other, despite accounting for around 95 per cent of the total UK energy supply market between them. A three-month report by Ofgem found ‘possible tacit co-ordination’ on the size and timing of price rises, prompting a more in-depth investigation. Dermot Nolan, Ofgem chief executive, said: “The CMA has powers, Read full story › Source: The Drum...

on Mar 27, 2014

By John Glenday Youth communications agency Thinkhouse has published new research indicating that 85 per cent of 16-30 year olds believe that technology firms and global brands will have the greatest influence on people in future – edging out people power (15%), governments (14%) and lobby groups (2%). The demographic singled out terms such as ‘technology’, ‘online’ and ‘digital’ to define their generation with most being of an optimistic bent despite high unemployment. When asked to pick a statement describing the mood of young people today the most popular option was ‘It’s just me, myselfie and I’ (29 per cent). Privacy was found to be Read full story › Source: The Drum...

on Mar 27, 2014

By John Glenday Twitter has moved to introduce two new mobile features designed to make the service more social; the ability to tag people in photos and to embed up to four photos in a tweet. The micro-blogging service stresses that tagging will not affect the 140 character limit in a tweet – even if up to 10 people are singled out in this manner. Anyone who is tagged will receive a notification of this although individuals can adjust their personal settings to prevent people from marking them out in this way. Twitter will also now invite users to share a series of photos in Read full story › Source: The Drum...

on Mar 27, 2014

By Stephen Lepitak The National Trust’s £3m media account has been handed to Mindshare. The appointment by the charity followed and competitive pitch and has seen it consolidated from incumbents Carat and M4C. Mark Scott, marketing agency director at the National Trust said of Mindshare: “They will be a key partner in helping the Trust to continue to drive our communications forward and deliver our core charitable purpose – looking after special places for ever, for everyone”. Mark Creighton CEO of Mindshare UK added: “The National Trust is a great British institution, which protects huge swathes of our heritage and open spaces. We Read full story › Source: The Drum...

on Mar 27, 2014

BMW has shortlisted Inferno, SapientNitro and a team from BMB and Soul to compete against the incumbents, WCRS and Dare, for its UK advertising account. The review is being handled by AAR, with pitches scheduled to take place in May. WCRS s relationship with the car marque is one of UK advertising s most enduring, having lasted for 35 years. Uwe Dreher, BMW s new UK marketing director, is overseeing the review. BMB is also in the running for the Royal British Legion business, along with Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe/Y R and Lida (with support from M C Saatchi). The pitches Read full story › Source: Campaign...