EU Cookie Law

A new EU online privacy law will come into effect from 26th May 2012. This will directly affect many websites across the UK, as it requires all website owners to make sure that it is clear to users if cookies will be loaded onto their computer.

Cookies may be used for a variety of reasons, from simple tasks such as remembering login details for the website, through to tracking the journey of consumers throughout the site using tools such as Google Analytics. Online advertising is often heavily reliant on cookies, as this may require using a tracking cookie which is used when retargeting or tracking the path to a sale.

The official guidelines state that appropriate action must be taken to inform consumers according to what cookies you have in place. AdConnection would strongly recommend running a ‘cookie audit’ on your website in order to understand these and exactly how these are used. There are many free tools you can use to do this yourself; in most cases there is no need to pay for an external company to take care of this for you. 

For more information on the classification of cookies and guidelines on what steps to take towards compliance, AdConnection would recommend reading The International Chamber of Commerce Guide to Cookies.

All of the external networks and websites we use at AdConnection are IAB certified and sign up to the Good Practice Framework, from which consumers are able to opt out of advertising.

In reality, this law is going to be extremely difficult for the EU to police. As long as you are taking positive steps towards informing users about cookies used on your site then it is unlikely any sanctions will come in to force. Adconnection would suggest updating your privacy policy at the very least, but if you are advertising it is important for your website to still be cookie adherent so consumer journeys can still be tracked from advert exposure to conversion.

If you are keen to talk to someone about cookie law and how this may affect your website, particularly from an advertising point of view, then feel free to give us a call on 0207 401 4830.

Facebook Buy Mobile App Glancee

Facebook have been on another spending spree, although this latest move will not raise as many eyebrows as the acquisition of Instagram. The target this time is another mobile app – the location based app Glancee . 

Glancee has been described as a ‘Foursquare for people’, working by using your location to inform you when friends or people who share a common interest with you are nearby.


Whilst not being of the same scale as the Instagram purchase, it does further illustrate Facebook’s desire to prosper in the mobile space. It is currently unclear if Facebook have bought the company to make use of the app or the skillset in the team behind the company, as was the case with the company’s purchase of Gowalla.


Glancee has been downloaded around 30,000 times and has around 20,000 users. It created a lot of buzz at SXSW earlier this year, along with its rival Highlight.


There are few details available about the deal other than a short statement on the Glancee website as follows;


“We started Glancee in 2010 with the goal of bringing together the best of your physical and digital worlds. We wanted to make it easy to discover the hidden connections around you, and to meet interesting people. Since then Glancee has connected thousands of people, empowering serendipity and pioneering social discovery. We are therefore very excited to announce that Facebook has acquired Glancee and that we have joined the team in Menlo Park to build great products for over 900 million Facebook users.” 

Facebook's Billion Dollar Bet

A lot has been written about the $1bn purchase of Instagram by online giant Facebook. The media and business world was surprised to say the least, for two main reasons.

Firstly the timing. As covered previously in this blog Facebook is in the process of preparing for a huge stock market flotation. Given that, most normal companies would try not to rock the boat too much, or make any investment decisions that could potentially spook new investors. Facebook is far from a normal company however.

Secondly, and perhaps most eye-catching, is the price.

Facebook have agreed to pay $1bn albeit in a combination of cash and shares. Most media analysts have declared their view that this has vastly overestimated Instagram’s value.  Commentators have been quick to point out that the company, which has less than 20 employees and no revenue streams, has in effect been valued at more than venerable ‘old’ media institutions such as the New York Times. In addition, it has since emerged that Instagram had only two weeks previously been through a funding round with venture capitalists that valued it at $500m.

So, did Facebook overpay?

As ever, it depends on the reason they bought the company.

The first fact to point out is that the service already boasts 30m registered users and is growing fast. Its Android app for example was downloaded more than a million times in just 24 hours after its launch on April 3^rd.

On the simple mathematics of the price one Google executive has noted that Facebook is paying around $28 per user for Instagram, whereas other social apps have been valued at anywhere between $20 and $50 per user. Many of Instagram’s fans are probably Facebook members, but access to even more data about consumers is what is currently motivating Facebook and driving its ability to successfully monetise its own content.

Another key reason for the purchase is the mobile space that Instagram has expertly navigated, and Facebook still struggles in. As we pointed out a few weeks ago in this blog, the mobile internet is the area that Facebook will have to crack. Nearly half of its total monthly users are now accessing the social network through mobile devices. The expertise that resides in Instagram that has produced such slick, user friendly apps in contrast to Facebook’s own is invaluable to the company right now.

Lastly, one other thought behind Facebook snapping up Instagram is simply to remove a potential rival from the marketplace. Instagram’s growth has showed Facebook how a small, nimble start up could potentially take users away from the more established social networks. Its very speed of growth had certainly alerted rivals such as Twitter and Google to the company, and Google in particular were rumoured to be eyeing a bid in order to give some much needed impetus to its Google + platform.  

$1bn is certainly a hefty price tag. But time will tell if it was a price worth paying.

The Sun rises on Sunday

From the moment last Friday that Rupert Murdoch stood up at News International’s offices in Wapping and announced a launch of a new Sunday paper ‘very soon’, there has been speculation about what the new product would look like and when it would launch. Here we try to separate the fact from the rumour, and give our view on the biggest new launch in the newspaper market in decades.

On Monday the Sun, in typically bombastic style (and under a banner of ‘another Sun exclusive’ – another blow struck for investigative reporting) declared that ‘very soon’ meant this weekend. In advance of the launch, there are a few facts and a lot of speculation doing the rounds.

The title will simply be called the Sun, with an identical masthead to the daily, rather than being a separate Sunday title. It will not have its own editor, but will share staff with the daily with the with the exception of some ‘Sunday only’ writers. The title is expected to be a more family-oriented product than its predecessor the News of the World, and as with the Saturday edition will not feature topless models on page 3.

The title is expected to focus on some of the other, less controversial elements that contributed to the success of the NotW, namely sport and TV, with more features and a commitment by the editorial team to ‘ continue with investigative reporting’. The paper will contain 28 pages of football news and 16 pages of other sports.

In order to broaden the appeal of the paper to a more female audience The Sun have signed up Sven Goran Eriksson’s former girlfriend and 'Strictly Come Dancing' star Nancy Dell'Olio to write a weekly style column and TV chef James Martin to provide a recipe and cookery section.

The first edition will have a print run of c3m, and according to Rupert Murdoch’s twitter feed has ‘sold out’ of advertising space. Launch price is rumoured to be 50p, which may trigger a price war with other publishers.

Other publishers have already been bullish in response, even before pricing strategies are revealed. Richard Desmond has ramped up marketing spend to support the Sunday Express and Daily Star Sunday, albeit mainly on the (Northern & Shell owned) Channel 5. The Express is advertising that the Sunday Express is giving away a free gardening mat as well as its "action-packed" sports pullout and S magazine.

The Sunday Mirror is also taking to TV, whilst the main paper has carried editorial highlighting that there will be "four great sections in your great Sunday Mirror" which includes the main paper, the Carling Cup special sport pullout, a celebrity magazine and homes and holidays supplement.

The Mail on Sunday, which was the initial winner in the race to pick up the NotW readers has started running a TV campaign and is running ads about Mail on Sunday's "stunning free magazines" (Live, You and bi-annual fashion supplement You Inspire) which it says are "for him …and for her".

It is estimated that rivals could spend as much as £7m defending themselves from the Sun onslaught, which includes TV, radio and outdoor advertising.

We expect the Sun to sell strongly this weekend, and as the News of the World has proved in the past, there is space in the Sunday newspaper market to accommodate it. The NotW always had a surprisingly large element of upmarket adults reading, as it was often taken as a ‘sports supplement’ to broadsheet titles like the Sunday Times. Whilst there will be an element of the audience that will not buy in protest at News International’s role in the phone hacking scandals, we don’t expect this to affect sales to any great effect. Advertisers are back on board, and we expect the Sun to shine strongly on Sundays.

If you would like to discuss the impact the Sun’s Sunday launch will have on the newspaper market, or access the papers readership for your brands campaigns please get in touch, we’d love to help.

Latest Circulation Data for Home Interest Magazines Released

The Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) have just released Consumer figures for July-December 2011. Overall, the Home Interest market is up 5.2% on 2010, and 2.2% on the first half of 2011.

Despite this, a few titles have experienced significant losses in their circulation figures, most notably House Beautiful, which suffered a 19.5% decrease in circulation figures compared to the same period in 2010. 25 Beautiful Homes had a 7.2% drop in circulation figures and Country Living Magazine had a 6.9% fall.

However, on a brighter note, some brands did see a sales increase in the period, including Good Homes which experienced a 26% increase in circulation figures, and Country Homes & Interiors, which had a 7.8% rise.

The table below gives more detailed information for each publication.

Facebook Gets Mobile

Facebook has been in the news a lot recently. The company announced plans on 1^st February for an IPO that values it at between $75 billion and $100 billion. This seems like a crazy price until it is noted that the social network is closing in on one billion users – that’s almost 15% of the entire world’s population.

Last year Facebook generated $3.7 billion in revenue and $1 billion in net profits. This makes the price tag look expensive but not as wildly as at first glance. Other technology companies are also very highly valued - Google’s market capitalisation is $190 billion, Microsoft’s $250 billion and Apple’s $425 billion.

To please investors going forward, the company must solve the mobile conundrum. Mobile is hugely important to the business. According to recent figures just over half of the company’s monthly active users are mobile.

Nearly all of Facebook’s revenue comes from advertising; virtually none of those ads are served to mobile users, either in Facebook apps or on the company’s mobile web site.

In addition the parts of the world where Facebook is still growing in total users (for example high population areas such as Brazil and India) are adopting mobile computers faster than they’ve adopted PCs.

However, the smaller space on a mobile screen and the relationship people have with their Facebook friends has meant that advertising in this space poses problems. How best to provide the undoubted reach that Facebook can offer without intruding on a space that has been ad free? How can marketeers harness the data that Facebook has on its members, without stoking existing fears around online privacy?

To try to answer some of these questions, Facebook has started discussing plans about introducing "featured stories" ads, based on the sponsored story format, into users' timelines on mobile devices from March. Earlier this year Facebook had paved the way for mobile advertising, by rolling out "featured stories" within users' news feeds for the first time.

Featured stories are perfectly tailored for display in mobile apps or browsers; no intrusive pop-ups, no annoying video, — just updates given premium space inside a user’s feed for a price. This is very similar to the Twitter’s advertising model with promoted tweets on its site and in its mobile and desktop apps.

Given the volume of user data Facebook hold, these ads have the potential to be more personalised and better targeted than any other mobile ad platform we’ve seen to date.

2012 Set Fair for Outdoor Media

National networks of connected digital screens are growing. There is increasing experimentation with interactive technology, an increase in the use of smartphones and tablets and digitisation and synchronisation of all media.

The opportunity to combine new technologies with the visual impact posters have always delivered with interactivity is becoming a more established part of the OOH.

Opportunities are there to be exploited with perfect examples coming from Lynx "angels" augmented reality campaign which led the way for larger-scale use of interactive creative.

The strides made by linking campaigns with social media and location-based communications means that OOH has become a relevant and connected means of communication which has the ability to impact consumers on a personal level and on a daily basis.

Considering the above and the extra visitor numbers brought to the UK by the Olympics 2012, the signs are that 2012 will be a definitive year for out-of-home media in the UK.

TV becomes more Social

Over the last few months we have been discussing social and TV together much more regularly with our clients and the industry at large. We believe that the opportunities presented by capitalising on TVs large reach and consumers desire to connect and interact make this the most fascinating area of media development currently taking place.

Our pick of the new services last year was Zeebox, which has now sold a 10% stake in the company, worth a reported $15m to BskyB, with plans to integrate the Zeebox technology into its own range of mobile apps including Sky+ and Sky Go.

US social TV startup GetGlue has just announced a $12m in new financing from new and existing investors. The service, which runs across both apps and website enable users to ‘check in’ to TV shows and other entertainment, while chatting to other people and getting recommendations.

Before this funding round GetGlue was growing strongly with over 2 million users, generating 100m check-ins during 2011.

Other technology companies have been quick to get in on the act. Yahoo acquired social TV startup IntoNow in April 2011, while another US startup – Miso – raised $4m of new funding in November 2011.

Mobile music service Shazam also diversified beyond its core features into TV in the US last year, while an increasing number of broadcasters are launching their own apps for channels or individual shows that include features optimised to provide a deeper experience while watching the shows.

Google launches Google Music

Google have today announced the launch of a new service targeted at music lovers. Google music will operate on Android handsets users in the US, but is expected to launch in the UK soon once negotiations with record labels have been concluded.

The service hosts all major labels so far except Warner Music with whom Google claim negotiations continue. Song costs are between 69c, 99c & $1.29, the same as on Apple's iTunes.

This is seen as a major play by Google in ensuring that its Android based mobile offering can effectively compete with Apple.

Google claim that the service will host more than 13m tracks from Universal, Sony Music and EMI as well as a thousand independent labels. Users are able to buy individual songs or entire albums from computer or Android device and they will instantly added to your Google Music library, and accessible anywhere.

This comes in the same week that Apple has announced a new iTunes Match service, allowing consumers to download a copy of a song on one device and have it available on all their devices.

Both services have more to do with locking consumers into a particular operating system and device through a passion area – music – than it has with a desire to bring more music to the masses.

Social media and TV united with Zeebox

Following on from last weeks post about how social media and TV work together, we have spotted a new app launched last week that brilliantly brings the two together. It is available here http://zeebox.com/

Zeebox is a free app for laptop or iPad, for use while watching TV. It takes advantage of the dual screen phenomenon. This was recently brought to life by a YouGov survey which showed 76% of viewers used the internet, a games console or listened to the radio while watching television - up from 58% in the previous year. It also suggested 43% of British adults commented on or discussed TV shows they were watching using Twitter, Facebook or other websites.

Zeebox gives you information about the show you are watching, what is trending, and even the ability to switch over friends internet enabled TV.

More excitingly are the potential advantages for advertisers. We can foresee a use whereby a company which advertises during a show can be tagged, allowing viewers to click through to a website and purchase products in a simple click, cutting out the need to use search engines or type URL’s.

Anything that cuts the customer journey from exposure to order is to be applauded.

The ability to measure real consumer action is also fascinating. Following a company’s ad, product placement or mention, direct consumer click-throughs can be measured.

The app is new, so exact uses and functionality is still to be developed, but as a first step towards formalising the connection between social media and TV it certainly is an intriguing start.

Using Social Media to Capitalise on TV

Last week our Media Director Elliot Parkus wrote an article for MediaTel discussing his views on how best to harness the power of appointment to view TV shows with social media.

For those that missed it, the piece is available here;

http://mediatel.co.uk/newsline/2011/10/26/tv-is-alive-a-kicking-you-just-need-to-join-the-conversation/

Google announces YouTube Movies

The future of TV continues to collide with new media in interesting and innovative ways. Google has today started its UK YouTube film rental service by announcing a number of deals with film giants including Warner Bros, Universal, Lionsgate and Sony Pictures.

YouTube users in the UK can rent films with back catalogue titles available from £2.49 and new releases at £3.49

Similarly to the iTunes renal service, a user will have a 30-day period to watch it, and 48 hours once started to finish it. Google claim there will be over 1,000 films available from day one.

This continues the trend of screen convergence and self -scheduling that we have discussed a number of times in this blog, and envisage growing in its impact on traditional ‘linear’ TV viewing.

Sunday Service

The August national newspaper ABCs are now out, so we are now able to see where the ‘lost readers’ of the News of the World turned to for their news fix on a Sunday.

Firstly, the bad news. Whilst widely expected to be one of the main winners from the demise of the NOTW, and after having experienced a short term gain in July after the closure of the tabloid, the Mail on Sunday actually managed to lose circulation month on month. It lost 150,000 in August. The mid market paper does remain the biggest-selling Sunday title after the closure of Murdoch's tabloid, but average circulation for the title fell 7%month-on-month in August to 2,098,244.

Other Sunday tabloids fared better in August. The Daily Star Sunday, which saw a 130% increase in sales in July, increased sales further by 6% month-on-month to 744,981.

The People, which almost doubled sales in the wake of the News of the World closure, performed the strongest among the Sunday tabloids in August with an 11% rise to 892,033.

The Sunday Mirror remained the top-selling Sunday red-top, with a 6% increase in August to 1,900,460.

The Future of TV?

Recently, there has been a lot of discussion regarding what the future of TV would look like. One possible answer seems to be taking the form of content from Facebook, paid for by Facebook credits.

The BBC has this week announced a video-on-demand app for Facebook that will allow users of the website to rent a limited number of Top Gear episodes. There will three episodes available at a cost of 15 Facebook Credits each (around£1). Once rented, episodes will be available to view for 48 hours.

The Top Gear episodes will only be made available for users in Europe, the US, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. This builds on activity last month where BBC Worldwide announced a similar deal with Facebook to allow fans to watch classic episodes of Doctor Who.

The BBC is not alone in using Facebook to distribute content. This week Miramax unveiled a movie streaming service through Facebook at a cost of 30 Facebook Credits (around £2) each. FA Cup sponsor Budweiser have also done a deal with non-league teams Ascot United and Wembley FC to stream the opening game of the FA Cup live.

1 + 1 = 3

At AdConnection, we have recently been running a number of campaigns for our clients where we have looked to use the ‘media multiplier’ effect to help our clients advertising spend work harder for them. Put simply, the media multiplier effect is the added benefit that is derived from including more than one media to an advertising plan.

This isn’t a new phenomenon. There have been numerous studies over the years, mainly carried out by trade bodies representing differing media channels, which prove that advertising recall is significantly increased by the use of multiple media.

It’s a bit like ordering a burger – on its own it’s good, but the addition of fries makes the meal!

What AdConnection have done recently is to use this knowledge around advertising recall and add in some insight regarding how consumers are now watching and crucially responding to advertising messages.

The latest Ofcom report into the communications market has shown that UK adults are now spending almost half of their waking hours consuming media. However, the tendency to consume some media simultaneously means that the actual time spent with media is less. For further proof of this just open up your laptop or smartphone and watch Twitter or Facebook when X Factor, Big Brother or a sporting event is on. This is multi-tasking in real time.

So consumers are online whilst watching TV. They listen to the radio whilst reading their favourite magazines. They are on their internet enabled smartphones whilst doing almost every and anything. How can we capitalise on this behaviour?

For a number of clients recently we have run TV advertising and online advertising (both Display and PPC) combined. This has had some dramatic effects, with CTRs being boosted by an average of 50%. In addition recently we have started including mobile activity, through our sister agency Fetch Media on out of home plans. This has had the effect of turning outdoor into a direct response media, and has dramatically increased calls and click-throughs to client websites from our outdoor advertising creative.

If you would like to know more about how we can make your advertising work harder through the addition of complementary media, or would simply like a burger and chips with us please get in contact.

Facebook Unveils New More Interactive Advertising Formats

Following on from our post below about Twitter’s moves to introduce advertising, Facebook have also been looking at their advertising model. We believe that Facebook’s route is closer to the correct answer in this area, being involving and encouraging a dialogue with consumers rather than just viewing them as passive receivers of information.

Facebook’s new sponsored story ad unit is called ‘Comment’, closely reflecting the interface users are familiar with from the main Facebook page. It will consist of a display ad that poses a question beneath and invites users to give their opinion or participate in a conversation. If users leave a comment, it can become visible to their friends as both a Sponsored Story and as a news feed story.

The Comment Ad is the result of Facebook’s “Ad Expo” last year, which invited advertising agencies to submit ideas for advertising designs to engage consumers in new, interactive ways.

Twitter Risks User Backlash With Advertising

Reports have started circulating that Twitter are considering adding 'promoted tweets' (thats advertising, to you and me) into user's tweet streams.

While this would answer one criticism leveled at the Twitter management (how do you monetise it?) it could adversely affect the user relationship and experience. Currently, a user only sees messages in their stream from users or companies they specifically choose to follow.

It seems a strangely old fashioned and intrusive way for a company to go about building an advertising platform in the new world of engagement and involvement. Many new media companies have used old fashioned advertising models when the opportunity was there to build something new. The VOD (Video on Demand) space is another example of this, where advertisers look to 'get in the way' of content a consumer really wants by shouting about themselves for 30 seconds.

We welcome the fact that Twitter are looking at ways for advertisers to reach their users, but simply believe there are better, less intrusive ways of doing it.

Microsoft Launch Interactive TV Ad platform

Microsoft have launched a new advertising platform for the Kinect called ‘NUads’, which it claims will transform TV advertising into an interactive experience by using the voice-and gesture-control of Kinect for the Xbox 360.

Ads placed on the Xbox will respond to various voice commands, such as “Xbox Tweet”, allowing the consumer the ability to share the brand information with friends and “Xbox More” to request additional information or money off coupons about a brand via email. "Xbox Near Me" will locate a retailer near you, and send a text message with the location.

Gesture control is also employed as a way of voting for preferences. By waving a hand, consumers can take part in real time voting for products or services.

Microsoft’s Mark Kroese, who heads up advertising for entertainment and devices at Microsoft said in a blog post prior to the launch today that Nuads will “change television as we know it – forever”.

That remains to be seen, but we do view this as a continuation of the trend for more involvement and interaction between advertisers and consumers.

The Museum of Me

Intel have launched a great personalised use of social media that is creating a lot of buzz and talkability for the company. A short video about the 'Museum of Me' project is below;

It works by taking your facebook information, including friends, pictures and locations and turning it into a personalised art exhibition. Apart from a few grumbles online regarding the random nature of the images being juxtaposed, this is fast gathering positive reaction and being shared at an amazing rate.

If you want to create your own museum, the link is here

Twitter and TV

We have observed in the past how 'muti-media tasking' - the practice of consumers surfing the internet on their laptops or mobiles whist watching TV - has become an increasingly important part of understanding how social media has become integrated within consumers lives.

Now twitter have posted the following video on their blog and YouTube to illustrate how TV has embraced twitter.