Posts made in April, 2014

on Apr 30, 2014

By Stephen Lepitak Argos saw online sales reach 44 per cent of its total sales last year, with mobile commerce growing by 89 per cent to account for 18 per cent of its total sales year on year, as its parent company Home Retail Group sees Argos chief John Walden take over as CEO. Home Retail Group announced an overall 3 per cent increase in sales to £5,663m, with a reported pre-tax profit of £71.2m. Of those sales, Argos brought in £4,05.1m and Homebase achieved £1,489.2m, with a combined profit for the year of £54m. Last year, Argos saw customer registrations reach 11.6m, Read full story › Source: The Drum...

on Apr 30, 2014

By Natalie Mortimer A TV ad for a Ministry of Sound compilation CD has avoided a ban by the Advertising Standards Authority after four viewers complained that the choreography was overtly sexual and demeaning to women. The advert featured a young woman in leggings and a crop top dancing around a council estate. Speaking on behalf of Ministry of Sound, Clearcast stated that the dancing used in the ad was known as “twerking” and that while they acknowledged the choreography was provocative, particularly the scenes which were filmed in slow motion, it did not agree that it was overtly sexual. It continued that it had Read full story › Source: The Drum...

on Apr 30, 2014

By Natalie Mortimer A TV ad for perry brand Lambrini, which showed a group of women laughing, taking pictures, dancing and pouring the drink, has been banned after viewers complained that it implied the success of a social occasion depended on the consumption of alcohol. Two viewers lodged the complaint, and a further viewer challenged whether the ad portrayed alcohol as capable of changing mood and behaviour by enhancing enjoyment. Halewood International, which owns the Lambrini brand, defended the ad and said it showed a group of friends enjoying a night in and that the bottles of Lambrini only featured briefly in the ad Read full story › Source: The Drum...

on Apr 30, 2014

By John Glenday Domino’s Pizza has announced that David Wild is to serve as the fast food chain’s new chief executive officer with immediate effect. The appointment cements Wild’s position at the head of the company following is appointment on an interim basis in January, during which time he has impressed the board with his strategy. Stephen Hemsley, Domino’s non-executive chairman, said: “Since becoming Interim CEO in January, David has impressed the board with his passion and understanding of both the company and our franchisees. He has brought clarity of thought to our strategy, both in how to progress in the UK and Internationally. Having Read full story › Source: The Drum...

on Apr 30, 2014

By John Glenday Online encyclopaedia Wikipedia has described reports that a number of government computers have been linked to malicious edits on the reference site as ‘appalling’. The charity is investigating a number of media reports which link linked IP addresses used by government computers to several incidents of vandalism on the popular website; including the phrase ‘all Muslims are terrorists’ in a page documenting religious veils. This followed earlier reports that insults had been added to a description of the Hillsborough Football disaster and entries had been deleted from a reference to a flat buying scandal which engulfed former Prime Minister Tony Blair’s wife Read full story › Source: The Drum...