David Moth

Q&A: eBay's Olivier Ropars on m-commerce

If you were to think of the five companies that are making the most of m-commerce, eBay would certainly be near the top of that list.

The auction site was on track to generate $5bn of revenue through its mobile platform in 2011, and is constantly seeking to innovate through its range of apps. Today it announced that its barcode scanning app, RedLaser, has been downloaded more than 2m times in the UK.

But what does the future hold, and how does eBay plan to grow its m-commerce revenues in 2012?

To find out we talked to eBay's senior director of mobile commerce in Europe, Olivier Ropars.

by David Moth 24 February 2012 12:02pm 4 comments

3 things you should know about mobile advertising: infographic

With Mobile World Congress just days away, Smart AdServer has published an infographic that reviews the three things you should learn from mobile advertising in 2011 - with a view to using them in 2012.

It shows that 50% of mobile traffic occurs after 5pm, and that CTR increases by 23 times the average if you use rich media ad units.

by David Moth 24 February 2012 10:06am 8 comments

Nike+ extends digital footwear range in time for the Olympics

Nike has announced a new range of digitally-enabled footwear that uses interactive mobile applications to track and measure the wearer’s movement.

This extends the existing Nike+ product line, which has to date created a community of over 6m users.

by David Moth 23 February 2012 12:19pm 1 comment

Walmart remains world's most valuable brand, but e-tailers show biggest growth

Interbrand has released its list of the world’s most valuable retail brands and, in the US at least, e-tailers are among the companies showing the biggest annual growth.

The Best Retail Brands 2012 report shows that Walmart remains far and away the strongest brand in the US with a value of $139.1bn, followed by Target with a brand value of $23.4bn.

by David Moth 23 February 2012 10:54am 0 comments

Agencies feel the pinch as costs rise quicker than fees

Agencies could be at risk of eating into their profit margins during 2012 as running costs increase faster than fees.

Recognising the difficulty agencies have encountered when working out how best to charge for their services, the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA) has joined forces with the Incorporated Society of British Advertisers (ISBA), Marketing Agencies Association (MAA) and Public Relations Consultants Association (PRCA) to release an updated Agency Remuneration best practice guide.

The launch coincides with research from the MAA that shows clients are paying agencies almost 20% less in fees than they were ten years ago.

by David Moth 23 February 2012 10:20am 4 comments

Does Plan UK's facial recognition ad have any benefits beyond PR?

Non-profit organisation Plan UK has installed a digital billboard on London’s Oxford Street which only displays its full content to women.

Plan’s ‘Because I am A Girl’ campaign aims to raise awareness of the issues faced by world’s poorest women, and prevents men from viewing the content to mirror the fact that girls “are denied choices and opportunities on a daily basis due to poverty and discrimination.”

by David Moth 22 February 2012 11:40am 4 comments

eBay bolsters Motors platform with WHI Solutions acquisition

eBay has moved to expand it automotive offering by acquiring WHI Solutions, a provider of software and digital catalogue solutions for auto parts distributors and retailers.

A blog post said that the move will help the auction site extend its catalogue "from auto replacement parts to specialty equipment".

by David Moth 22 February 2012 10:21am 0 comments

Pinterest publishes code to stop users 'pinning' copyrighted content

In an effort to shield itself from allegations of copyright infringement, Pinterest has released code for companies that want block users from ‘pinning’ their content.

The social media site includes the following coding for the 'nopin' tag in the help section of its website as follows:

by David Moth 21 February 2012 12:11pm 7 comments

Q&A: Somo's Thomas Schulz on AdMob and iAd price wars

The battle for mobile ad revenues picked up pace last week as Google and Apple both amended their pricing models ahead of Facebook’s imminent entry into the marketplace.

Google shifted its AdMob platform to an AdWords-style auction, where the winning price is determined by the quality of the ad and the other bids on that impression.

by David Moth 21 February 2012 11:03am 0 comments

US web users watched 40bn online videos in January

More than 181m US internet users watched a combined total of 40bn online videos in January according to data from comScore.

Google sites, driven overwhelmingly by YouTube, ranked top with 152m unique viewers, followed by music video website VEVO with 51m and Yahoo sites with 49m.

by David Moth 21 February 2012 09:32am 1 comment