the insight blog

1.5 million more people “responding to marketing”

Jim Webster — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 10:27:52 +0000

More consumers are responding to marketing than at this time last year, according to the latest figures from The British Marketing Survey. In the three months to August 2010, 22.4% of the population (aged 15+) responded to one or more marketing channels. In 2009 the figure was 19.2%. The rise equates to 1.5 million more people.

Soure: marketingweek.co.uk

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Twitter mobile use jumps 62% since April

Jim Webster — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 11:27:06 +0000

Twitter’s mobile user numbers have increased 62% since April following efforts to make the service easier to discover and use on smartphones.

A post on the company’s official blog added that 16% of all new Twitter users were using it on mobile and that 46% of all active users regularly use the service via mobile as well as their PCs.

The two most popular mobile platforms for using Twitter last month were iPhone and BlackBerry. 8% of all Twitter users post via SMS and 14% use the service via its mobile site.

Source: nma.co.uk

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Royal Mail launches first augmented reality stamp

Jim Webster — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 09:42:40 +0000

The Royal Mail has launched the world’s first ’intelligent stamp’ that works with iPhone and Android apps using augmented reality technology. The stamp is part of Royal Mail’s Great British Railways collection and uses image-recognition technology to direct users towards online content created by Royal Mail.

Users have to download the Junaio app and select the Royal Mail channel to activate the service. Philip Parker, spokesman for Royal Mail Stamps, said, “This is the first time a national postal service has used this kind of technology on its stamps.

Source: marketingweek.co.uk

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Apple signs 1m to Ping within two days

Jim Webster — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 09:40:38 +0000

Apple has claimed its music-focused social media service Ping has signed up 1m users in less than two days since its commercial launch. The service lets users follow their favourite artists and share playlists with friends via their iTunes account, similar to the social functions on music streaming service Spotify (nma.co.uk 2 September 2010).

Users can also post opinions on their favourite artists and notify friends about what gigs they’re going to. Eddy Cue, VP of internet services at Apple, said, “A third of the people who have downloaded iTunes 10 have joined Ping. As many more people download iTunes 10 in the coming weeks, we expect the Ping community to continue growing.”

Source: nma.co.uk

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Portaltech first to launch UK retail app featuring PayPal’s Mobile Express Checkout

Jim Webster — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 09:09:01 +0000

Portaltech and PayPal have partnered to help retailers offer their customers a fast and secure checkout experience on mobile devices. The move comes shortly after PayPal released its Mobile Express Checkout – a mobile optimised version of its Express Checkout service.

Mark Adams, Sales Director at Portaltech explains: “As Smartphone adoption increases and mCommerce becomes more important to Portaltech and our retail clients, we recognised the need to expand the payment options on our QuickLive mCommerce solution and to find a quick and easy payment solution for end customers that would make payment via mobile, convenient, seamless and secure.”

Source: internetretailing.net

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Apple launches music social network Ping

Jim Webster — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 11:30:12 +0000

Apple has launched Ping, a social media service that ties into iTunes, allowing users to follow musicians and friends. Ping will be tied into Apple’s next update for iTunes software and will allow users to follow musicians and friends and receive information, such as what music they are listening to or what concerts they attending, in a stream similar to Facebook or Twitter.

The service, available immediately, can also be accessed via the iPhone and iPod Touch ranges. The network’s privacy settings let people choose whether they want to allow anyone to follow them or only those they approve.

Source: marketingweek.co.uk

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Orange rolls out HD Voice for clearer calls

Jim Webster — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 09:23:58 +0000

Orange has finally rolled out its High Definition Voice technology, with the network promising ‘crystal clear’ call quality. The latest addition to Orange’s service was announced last year, and trials have been ongoing through the summer. The launch was penned in for late summer, and the network has hit its target, with the service arriving on 1 September.

HD Voice gets rid of the interference from calls, and should help those people who like to make calls from trains, football grounds, festivals and rock concerts with the technology apparently shining in noisy environments. Orange HD Voice is available for free to all Orange mobile customers who take a HD Voice enabled handset with the Nokia 5230, Nokia X6, Nokia E5 and Samsung Omnia Pro all HD Voice enabled at launch and further manufactures expected to offer HD handsets in the coming months.

Source: techradar.com

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YouTube in first full-length movie deal with Blinkbox

Jim Webster — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 08:46:18 +0000

Full-length movies are available on YouTube in the UK for the first time following a deal between Google and Blinkbox. YouTube has launched a Movies section featuring more than 400 ad-supported and on-demand titles, including Bollywood, comedy and classic titles such as Ken Loach’s Cathy Come Home and Animal Farm. Google is looking to extend the catalogue in the near future. YouTube has a similar service in the US with MGM, Lionsgate and Sony Pictures.

Source: nma.co.uk

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More than half of TV viewers catch up online

Jim Webster — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 10:39:01 +0000

Video-on-demand ad creativity is key to the sector’s growth, according to broadcasters, after the first new media age internet TV audience survey revealed almost two-thirds of people (62%) find ads on video-on-demand services intrusive.

The survey, conducted by Lightspeed Research ahead of this week’s Edinburgh TV festival, sampled 4,378 people’s internet TV viewing habits. Almost three-fifths (58%) had streamed or downloaded TV within the last six month, 45% of whom said they watch or download TV content at least once a week.

The ad-free BBC iPlayer is the most popular platform, with 86% of people having used it, followed by ITV Player (43%), Channel 4’s 4oD (36%), YouTube (34%) and Demand Five (15%).

Source: nma.co.uk

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Less than half of most popular UK retail websites are mobile optimized or have an app, as consumers move towards m-commerce faster than retailers

Jim Webster — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 08:23:48 +0000

Just four out of the top 20 most frequently visited retailer websites are presently optimised for mobile, and only eight of the top 20 have any kind of mobile application for smartphones, despite the fact that each month in the UK, a staggering 4.2 million consumers are visiting retailers’ websites using the mobile internet, finds a study by the Association for Interactive Media and Entertainment (AIME), the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) and the Interactive Media in Retail Group (IMRG).

However, while this may show that too few retailers have a solid mobile presence today, 41% plan to have a transactional mobile site or application in place within the next year, according to the study.

eDigital Research, commissioned by AIME, the IAB and the IMRG surveyed 140 marketing professionals from the retail, advertising and mobile service provider sectors in the UK to understand attitudes, behaviours and perceived challenges to mobile commerce. Over half (59%) of the senior-level representatives from UK retail brands that took part expected their mobile revenues to increase over the next 12 months, and 94% saw it as a real opportunity for their business.

Source: internetretailing.net

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