Thursday, April 21, 2011

Waste of Space?


Whilst they were a great idea at the time, it has to be said, the XTP (Cross Track Projection) format has had a relatively sketchy existence since (the very dealyed) launch. The actual format is compromised and the quality questionable .. especially in light of progressive digital technology and the high quality formats now featuring in and around most under and overground stations.

That said, it seems criminal that such formats (unless the projector is broken of course) should not be used at all.

Surely, if they don't have paid for advertisers running campaigns - then pro bono campaigns should run instead.

There are plenty of charities that don't have enough funding to advertise at all, so giving them the opportunity to reach high footfall London audiences on busy commuter Underground platforms is surely worth consideration.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

It was only a matter of time


As part of a self-regulatory initiative launched by IAB Europe today, Online behavioural advertising, which basically means ads that can target people based on their past web activity, will be flagged by a privacy icon (as per picture above)when used in Europe.

So every time I get served another ad for yet another pair of pink converse boots, exactly the same as the one's I bought my niece online for Xmas, or another Ben10 omnatirix or Scooby Doo duvet cover much like the one's that I bought my nephew last month - I can be reminded of the power of the web tracking my online behaviour.

Ouch!



It's usually print and online media that suffer mishaps with the placement of ads in proximity to inappropriate editorial environments, but it appears outdoor has come a cropper too ... the above example of outdoor posting gone wrong shows a 48 sheet ad for Channel 5 drama 'Waking the Dead' placed on the flank wall of this co-operative Funeralcare building.

Monday, April 11, 2011

Stop Press ..... Old School Innovation


Fantastic creative use of media displayed in the Daily Telegraph today for HSBC.
The format they are calling the Ribbon Cut Reveal Creative - is added to their print creative format portfolio, which now includes scratch and sniff ink, die cut magazine covers, and translucent cover wraps on all of their sections.

In an age where paper press continues to struggle to keep up with new innovations across other media channels and compete with the growth of digitised press consumed online and on mobile tablets consoles and handsets ... it's good to see the Telegraph is continuing to create and deliver innovative solutions in paper.

Tuesday, April 05, 2011

Free Solar Forecast by HomeSun


Advertorial activity is currently running to good effect for our client HomeSun promoting 'Free Solar'

TV Weathermen back HomeSun

Michael Fish and John Kettley - two of Britain's top TV weatherman - have forecast that solar energy is the future. Backing the kind of solar power for homes offered by HomeSun, John said: "I'm impressed with the cost savings and environmental benefits of solar power and it's great that companies like HomeSun are able to give people the chance to enjoy the benefits of solar panels on their roofs for free.

"People can now take advantage of the weather by transforming sunlight into renewable electricity for their homes."

Meanwhile, both weathermen have joined a nationwide search, organised by HomeSun and FindaProperty.com, for Britain's Greenest home. Michael Fish, says: "I think more and more people want to make their homes green."

Click here to see full feature

Monday, April 04, 2011

On Your Marks....Get Set ..... Go!!!



Let the GAMES begin............... The outdoor auction games that is, as the bidding started today for outdoor inventory across all formats in and around the London 2012 Olypmics next year.

Bidding will take place from today until June 30th. Unsold inventory will go back on the open market from July 1st.

It will be interesting to see how media owners manage the sale of unsold inventory post the auction period and ensure they don't jeopardise relationships with key (outdoor) clients.

Link below to latest news story on this topic from MediaWeek

£250M auction for Olympics begins

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Advertising in Namibia for Puma Energy


We launched a campaign in Namibia today for Puma Energy. The advertising appeared in national Namibian newspapers to co-incide with the press launch held in the capital, Windhoek. Puma has taken over the marketing of Oil and Petrol in Namibia from BP.

Pure Genius



Lynx Excite Angel Ambush London Victoria

This is a fantastic example of extending a TVC and using
augmented reality and digital outdoor to bring a campaign
to life, creating impact, intrigue and interaction.

Activity ran on JCDecaux transvision @ Victoria Station
for 2 days earlier this month.

Click link to YouTube video

Monday, March 28, 2011

New Recruits


A very warm welcome to our 2 x new recruits .... Nicholas and Sherif, who joined the finance and media teams at Pure this month.

Click of a button or pen paper and post?



I can't imagine 26 million households will return their census forms - but I'm sure the threat of people knocking on doors post April 6th chasing completed forms and the added threat of a £1,000 fine will help.

What will be interesting to see is how many people use the good old fashioned postal method vs online data supply.

The post box at London City Airport (pictured) was starting to fill up with freepost Census envelopes at 7am this morning.

Sunday, March 27, 2011

It's Census Day 2011


Today is the day of statisticians dreams - the day the population is counted.
March 27th 2011 - the date we create a ten year snap shot of society.
A message to everyone - act now - Help tomorrow take shape.

Friday, March 25, 2011

Olympics 2012 Media Bonanza


Pundits are calling the Olympics a media bonanza for outdoor owners.

On April 4th the start of an official bidding system will be launched for Olympic Outdoor sites.

The official auction of the outdoor sites alone is likely to raise in excess of £250m for the various outdoor owners with positions within the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games’ cordoned off marketing zone.

The seven official tier one sponsors - adidas, BMW, BP, British Airways, BT, EDF and Lloyds TSB – and 11 worldwide partners will have first option to bid on the outdoor inventory, with wider sponsors being offered anything that doesn’t sell, and any subsequent remaining sites being offered to general bidders.

Though premium Olympic sites, many with six and seven-figure reserve prices, will be sold to the highest bidder, Locog has set rules for the outdoor sale – 2010 prices plus 11% - for standard sites to protect brands from escalating prices.

Ahead of this auction will be the launch of the London's biggest outdoor screen. ‘The London Gateway’, located on Hogarth roundabout – on the central route from London to Heathrow and the M4 - is being offered for a 12-month period, which includes the time before, during and after the games, with a reserve price of £675,000.

Read full report Media Week 25/03/2011

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Welcome to London!



We are supposed to be at the forefront of the cutting edge (digital) communications landscape, but you would be forgiven for thinking you had traveled in time when arriving @ (London) Heathrow and taking the Heathrow Express in to London itself.

Thousands of travellers stand on the platform for up to 15 minutes every day, and in between tip tapping away on blackberries and smart phones, catching up on the flurry of messages received post flight - they get to look at a curved grey concrete wall, sporadically illuminated to further highlight the dullness of the surroundings.

Airport advertising has long been renowned for premium sites and sizes. Many brands tailor the messaging specifically to suit the environment and the audience.

Wandering through the terminal to arrivals we are greeted by large landscape visuals of a cheeky chappie London cabbie and a happy looking Beefeater welcoming us to London with open arms.

So moments later as I leave the airport and wait for the train, I can't help but feel really let down, as I stand on the cold looking, grey platform and wonder what those around me must think of this dull and dreary place they have flown in to if they have just arrived in London for the first time.

Surely this is the perfect environment for Minority Report style 'Gladvertising' of the future. Hoards of travellers smart phones to the ready to receive tailored messaging.

Identity cards and Bio-metric passports to receive even more unique fully tailored messaging perhaps?

Or even just a great place to promote our glorious Capital with video projections of all the wonderful buildings and attractions to visit.

Wednesday, March 09, 2011

Tactical placement or flat plan faux pas?



I've started hearing various commercial references to the
'Wedding of the Year' and 'Alternative Weddings of the Year'
etc. in the run up to the Royal Wedding.

No doubt there will be a plethora of tactical ads created
around the big event....some good and some really bad.

So - was the Hair loss ad that ran below Kate and Wills
editorial last night in the Evening Standard (the paper
that broke the news of the Royal wedding), an attempt
at tactical placement in light of the folicly challenged
future King - or just a perfect example of a flatplan
oversight?

The jury's out on this one.

Monday, March 07, 2011

Ecclesiastical Amity Fund Campaign Launch



Today we launched the Ecclesiastical Amity Fund to UK IFAs.

Using a mixture of trade press and very targeted online media the campaign promotes the Ecclesiastical Global Equity Fund, managed by their star fund manager Robin Hepworth.

The campaign will be running over the next three months and we will be monitoring the online activity, providing incisive data into how the campaign is working.

Friday, March 04, 2011

Only in America


Ever wondered what good causes the church 'collection'
funds go on to support?

New roof, local community efforts, candles for the alter?

In Flordia they appear to have a bit more fun with their
funds, flying about spreading the word that 'Jesus Loves You'

Fantastic audio and visual impact and very appropriate in
terms of synergistic communication.

The whirr of the planes engine attracts your attention,
and lo and behold, the next thing, your'e looking up to the 'Heavens'
to see the evangelical messaging.

Clearly the Church have their own set of rules re. Carbon emissions though.

Tuesday, March 01, 2011

Pretty Impressive Pop up store for PP



Last week saw the launch of a Pretty Polly Pop Up shop in Knightsbridge, in conjunction with London Fashion Week, working with advertising agency BMB (Beattie McGuinness Bungay) and RPM’s Specialist retail division Hotel Retail.

The store was open for 8 days and judging by the video piece running on the website (link below) - aside from looking stunning, it was a great success.

They are currently running a 'Legs Eleven' campaign - looking for the next PP model -which was well integrated in to the Pop Up experience, and continues to run in social media.


View video clip

http://www.prettypolly.co.uk/

Pop Up Store article

Projected Success



London Fashion Week 2011 has taken the city by storm once
again with many fashion advertisers running tactical campaigns
to capitalise on the interest, audience and event.

French Connection have just run a timely projection campaign in
proximity to key retail spots Shepherd’s Bush Westfield,
High Street Kensington and Covent Garden.

Link below to see the campaign delivered by Projection Advertising

http://vimeo.com

Friday, February 25, 2011

Breakfast Radio



This gives a new meaning to BREAKFAST RADIO

Breville have developed a Radio Toaster, with FM/AM receiver and two wide toasting slots.

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Countdown to Product Placement on British TV ...



It's been happening for years in the US, but as of Monday 28th Feb ..... various commercial TV programmes in the UK will include product placement.

The only programmes that can't have product placement are those aimed at children, religious programming and news.

Items such as junk food, alcohol, cigarettes, escort services and prescription drugs are also banned from being placed in a programme.


To read more from various articles, click on the links below ...


Guardian 20/12/10

Guardian 16/02/10

Campaign 24/02/11

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

The Magnificent Seven



Data has just been released reporting the UK's 100 Top Web sites (Jan 2011)

A study into how the profile of the web’s most-visited sites have changed in the UK since 2004 has been conducted .... and an interesting observation is that 7 brands have all retained their Top 10 status.

The seven brands are - MSN, Microsoft, Google, Yahoo, BBC, eBay and Amazon - who have since been joined by social-media stars YouTube, Wikipedia and Facebook.

Google only reached top spot for the first time in 2006, but has remained at the head of the table each year since, now attracting more than 35 million unique UK visitors every month.

Back in 2004, Microsoft’s MSN dominated the table, although it had less than half Google’s current number of monthly visitors (17 million). Today, a site with this level of users would barely make the Top 10, such has been the growth in online traffic.

Names such as Freeserve, Lycos, Demon and Kelkoo, which once appeared among the web’s elite, have now been replaced in the Top 50 by brands such as Facebook, Twitter, Sky and John Lewis.


click here for top 100 UK site info and further story

Tuesday, February 08, 2011

Creative use of Media



This is a great example of how creative and media teams can work together to ensure that the media channel and placment can be used to amplify the key creative messaging.

Not more to say really - the ad says it all.

Daily Telegraph - 07/02/11

Monday, February 07, 2011

Gorby Eighty



We launched a campaign yesterday, announcing the Gala Concert
celebrating Mickhail Gorbachev's 80th Birthday.

Running in quality newspapers, on ClassicFM and on poster sites
across the London Underground in Feb and early March.

The event will be held at the Royal Albert Hall on March 30th 2011
with a line up of stars performing including Bryan Ferry, Mel C,
The Scorpians and Katherine Jenkins, plus the London Symphony Orchestra
conducted by Valery Gergiev and lots more musicians and artists. Hosts
for the evening will be Sharon Stone and Kevin Spacey.

It is a charity event - with all proceeds from this and associated events
being shared between the Gorbachev Foundation (66%) and Macmillan Cancer
Support (33%) after the deduction of costs.

For more information go to:-

WWW.GORBY80.COM


OR

WWW.ROYALALBERTHALL.COM

Thursday, February 03, 2011

Q4 RAJAR Results - 03/02/11



HEADLINES

talkSPORT increase reach to almost 3.1 million listeners

Magic number one in London again

The national digital station Planet Rock have taken their listening to over 800,000


LONDON'S MARKET SHARE

Magic 105.4 6.3%
Kiss 100 5%
Heart 106.2 4.6%
LBC 97.3 4.6%
95.8 Capital FM 4.5%


For more information and full details of all Q4 Results published
03/02/11 - visit - www.radioworks.co.uk

Saturday, January 22, 2011

PURE PROMOTIONS


CONGRATULATIONS to Caroline Dowsett and Grace Butcher, who have been promoted from the roles of Media Managers to Account Directors at Pure.

This is in recognition of their ongoing commitment, hard work and progression over the past year and is reflective of the roles they have been conducting over the past months.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

'APP'y New Year


Dominos UK iPhone pizza orders top £1 million in just three months

Demonstrating the power of smartphone apps and the ability to add an additional revenue stream to existing business, successful worldwide pizza delivery chain Dominos has announced that its iPhone application has helped process over £1 million of orders since its launch in September 2010.

Noting its progress in its fourth quarter trading update, Dominos displayed significant growth via e-commerce during the year, posting £128 million in sales, up £49.5 million (63%) from a year previous.

As a result sales made via it’s website or iPhone application now account for 35.8% of UK delivered sales, an increase from 27.8% in 2009. iPhone sales are small in comparison to its website but as the smartphone and tablet markets continue to grow, app use will increase as consumers become aware of its availability.

The pizza chain has an Android app in development, launching soon, which is only going to help drive sales for the company as consumers look to their mobiles to purchase their weekly shop, buy gifts or order a takeaway.

Source: http://thenextweb.com/uk/

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Another win for Forex.com!


We are delighted to say a huge congratulations to our Client Forex.com for another big win - this time for the 'Best Forex Platform' at the FT IC Awards.

They do say good news comes in threes, so we will be eagerly awaiting news of a hat-trick!

Sunday, December 19, 2010

PPretty ImPPactful PPosters



The latest Pretty Polly campaign featuring legs to die for clad in styles from the PP 'Fashion' range as well as the 'House of Holland' range designed for PP by Henry Holland goes live today.

The stunning ads can be seen towering above the streets in key London locations on large format illuminated poster sites for 3 weeks across Christmas and the New Year.

Friday, November 12, 2010

Forex.com win Best FX Broker!


Awards evenings are always a great opportunity to gather a group of colleagues, don your best cocktail dress and let your hair down whilst celebrating outstanding industry achievements, and last night The Shares Awards at the Grosvenor House Hotel was no exception.

One of Pure Media’s Clients, online FX broker Forex.com were up for two awards in the categories of Best Mobile Trading Platform, and Best FX Broker. It was a tense time as we waited to hear their fate, with nerves on edge as the presenters seemed to crawl through the other categories before finally getting to the ones we were most interested in.

However, I am pleased to say that it was worth the wait, with Forex.com being announced as the proud winners of Best FX Broker!

So congratulations to Forex.com for this great achievement and may there be many more awards evenings and wins to come in the future!

Friday, November 05, 2010

Remember Remember the 5th of November - Oh yeh, and not to place an ad for fireworks next to a story about a burn victim!!




Did anyone at Metro think that running a Tesco Ad promoting FIREWORKS alongside a story warning people of the perils of bonfire night, with a picture of a of young burns victim who suffered 3rd degree burns, and is scarred for life as a result, consider the sensitivities????? (Metro 05/11/10)

Not only that, but there is another Tesco ad running the same space size later in the issue advertising 'gaming' products ... so an eleventh hour decision could have been made to do a straight swap to avoid such a faux pas in placement if this was a case of ensuring delivery of an advertisers positional guarantee... ie. first 25x4 LH colour.

But even more ironic is that the latter (non controversial) Tesco ad is on a spread facing another ad of the same spec ---- but for the LFB ---- London Fire Brigade ----with the message : DON'T RISK IT ... relating to fireworks and safety.

Understandably, London ads often have to run later than page 11 - but this is just a case of serious oversight and a lack of consideration and judgement on behalf of the flat planners in my opinion.

'Every little helps' may be the Tesco proposition - but 'Every little bit of common sense' should really be the Metro one.

Friday, October 29, 2010

More Benefit than a Back Rub



What a week for the Media Jolly! – Monday kicked off proceedings in style with a lavish champagne charity event at the Guild Hall, followed on Tuesday by a ‘quiet client lunch’ which ran right thorough to an evening spent supporting the French wine growers of Bordeaux in their dominance of the London market. This was then followed by a truly decadent Wednesday enjoying treatments including a facial and massage at a luxurious spa day kindly laid on by a media owner in thanks for recent business. Now Friday has arrived and it goes without saying that there are hangovers a plenty today following the City am and Media Week Awards last night.

Yes, even though media agencies are no longer quite as liberal in the drink trolley department as those portrayed in the ever popular Mad Men, the Media Jolly remains a firm favourite pastime. But is this penchant for wining, dining and entertaining merely an indicator that media types like to indulge themselves more than the norm? Or are there other benefits to be gained from such seeming frivolity?

In recent years overtly lavish hospitality spending has come under scrutiny as being surplus and inappropriate to the environment in which we have been working – an environment in which companies have folded and people have been left unemployed. Indeed, many traditional fixtures in the Media Jolly calendar have been cancelled over the last year as the industry gave a nod to the sensitivities of the situation; cocktail dresses were left languishing in the wardrobe, tuxedos gathering dust waiting soberly for their next outing…

Because of course there will always be the next Media Jolly to look forward to, no matter what the economic climate. Those with enough vision to realise that the benefit of such events runs deeper than mere personal enjoyment – from the contacts made, information exchanged and gleaned, to the deals done signed and sealed, will always continue to put their hand in their (often rather large) wallets. To my mind it is true that success within the media industry is synonymous with success at building human relationships – both inside the workplace and at the 19th hole when most self-respecting professionals are working slavishly over a keyboard. Therefore experience tells me I can look my boss in the eye with a clean conscience and tell her that I really did get more benefit from my day at the spa than simply just a back rub.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

i spy with my little i...


... something beginning with i .... 24 years since the last national daily newspaper launch - The first new national daily newspaper goes on sale today in what's described by many as "a last throw of the dice" for its owners.

This morning - The Independent newspaper rolled out it's new publication 'I', dubbed The Indy 'light'.

The 56-page newspaper will draw its content from The Independent, but the articles are shorter with a more populist approach.

Independent executive Andrew Mullins said: "Time-poor newspaper readers, and especially commuters, have been telling us for years that they are inundated with information and just don't have the time to read a quality newspaper on a regular basis."

The last daily nationals to launch were Eddy Shah's Today and the Independent itself, both in 1986.

But unlike the London Evening Standard and the Daily Mail's offspring Metro - to read 'I', readers will have to pay - 20p


Links to articles include ..

http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=1&storycode=46192&c=1

Monday, October 11, 2010

Boris Bikes, Barclays and BANKSY


With Banksy across the Altantic working on attaining Global Exposure with the design of the credits for the Simpsons latest episode ... it looks like a disgruntled creative prodigee has been working their magic over the past week or so in the UK ... this time using Boris J's London Barclays bikes as the new canvas.

My personal favourite ..not the version as pictured, but the simple, yet very effective....BARCLAYS BONUS SHAKER

Freedom of speech


So Andrew Marr has outraged bloggers across the sphere with his 'stereotypical' descriptive comments - resulting in 1,000's of rants and defensive comments about not being...

Spotty
Balding
Living in their mothers basement
Constantly musing on blogs whilst drunk
Any or all of the other comments he made.....

Goes to show the power of established macro 'journalists' comment vs personal and so called micro civilian journalism given the coverage it has generated so far.

Friday, October 08, 2010

Adding another dimension to a static medium


Excellent to see the creative use of an 'old fashioned' standard
format 48 sheet poster this week.

A Johnson's World of Softness pop-up billboard was unveiled,
featuring live models advertising 24 hour body lotion, at
Westfield Shopping Centre, in west London. 07/10/10

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

FREE SOLAR


Fantastic new TV campaign launched this week for our visionary new client HomeSun.com who are offering homeowners free solar as a result of a government backed scheme.



Saturday, July 24, 2010

Five Alive!


Richard Desmond has added to his media empire, buying Five for a
cool £100M




Friday, July 16, 2010

A Media Milestone


225 years since it's launch - the Times published it's 70,000th
issue yesterday. Which makes it the only National paper in
the English speaking world to have reached that number.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

The Power of the BBC


The BBC trounced ITV in the battle of the ratings for the World Cup Final on
Sunday night ....

Almost 17 million viewers watched the final, the majority of whom, 13.9 million, opted
for BBC1's coverage, with only 2.8 million viewers choosing to watch the match
on ITV1.

The BBC may have scored with a line up of slick pundits - Linekar, Hanson and Shearer vs
the less credible ITV faces including Chiles, Southgate and Keegan.

But the reality of the situation is that the BBC's commercial-free offering is likely to have been
the biggest pull.

So whilst we know the power of TV and TV advertising - given a commercial free programming
alternative , it looks like the BBC will win every time.


Thursday, June 17, 2010

The power of TV



The UK may have been one of the first major economies to see ad spend on the web exceed tv spend in recent stats published, but it is worth remembering.......

60% of all online advertising budgets are spent on Google search and only 18% of spend is attributed to display activity. The web is a powerful medium, no doubt, but it is doing a different job for advertisers across the piece.

Recent ITV audience figures prove that it is still possible to reach millions of people with a traditional TV spot.

The final of 'Britains Got Talent' on Saturday 5th June peaked at 15M viewers watching, with an average audience of 12.3M

The World Cup got of to a fast start, despite the relatively boring performances to date... the first England game vs USA on Saturday 12th June pulled in nearly 20M viewers.

So don't write the old box off just yet.

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

All in the name...


Fantastic new radio and online campaign running for
Cheapflights - reitterating the literal premise ...
The Name Says it all "It's called Cheapflights for a reason"

Copy and paste link below in to nav bar to listen to the radio ads

http://www.vimeo.com/user3965278

Tuesday, June 08, 2010

Media is the Message



Great examples of how Denver Water used media to deliver highly synergistic messages - quite literally.

Wednesday, June 02, 2010

Unprecedented Market Share








"Are there any other brands in the UK who can boast a market share of + 90%?"

Latest Hitwise stats for the UK Search Engine Market(May 2010)shows the power machine, search generic, that is Google, have increased market share to an unprecedented 91.7%

Monday, May 24, 2010

Radio Silence...


...it appears we've been very remiss and have ignored our Blog for some months now...... not a good example of how intuitive, topical and tactical blogs can be.

More so illustrative of how busy we have been over the past few months - clearly prioritising our efforts elsewhere.

So, before flares come back in to fashion - AGAIN, we intend to get the Pure Media blog back up and running.

The intention being to share the odd bit of agency news, media musings etc before the summer is out.

Friday, February 26, 2010

Guaranteed to win


Mecca Bingo return to the TV screens today - with the next burst of activity promoting a great new guaranteed daily jackpot of £10,000 per day every day until the middle of March

http://www.meccabingo.com/home


BINGO!

Time Flies....

... When you're having fun!

And really BUSY.

It's been a great start to the New Year for Pure Media - with lots going on for current clients and on the New Business front.

Suddenly March is upon us and the year is not so New afterall.

So the Pure Media 'Not so New Year's Resolution' is to set an example and keep this Blog up to date.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

A perfectly simple idea executed beautifully



Can you believe this ad was developed 27 years ago?

It was a treatment that resulted in being the catalyst for re-appraising outdoor media and its use above and beyond paper and paste back in 1983.

The box shape of the car vs the sleek streamlinecurves of vehicles manufacturered these days is pretty much the only giveaway.