David Moth

Costa's Facebook app and content strategy doubles its 'likes' in Q1

Costa Coffee has revealed that it increased its Facebook fans from 240,000 to 500,000 in Q1 after implementing a new content strategy and creating a 'Fan Favourites' app.

In the same period average daily page views have increased from 1,500 to 10,000 and the average reach of status updates went from 50,000 users to 200,000.

The campaign to increase engagement on Costa’s Facebook page was implemented by PR agency Paratus Communications.

Paratus head of digital Adam Vincenzini said that the page had previously been updated about six times per month on average, but this was increased to three posts each day with a focus on emotional, visual content.

by David Moth 16 April 2012 14:13pm 6 comments

Fortune 500 social media statistics: infographic

Fortune 500 companies aren’t all suited to having a huge social media presence – you can’t imagine many people ‘liking’ Exxon Mobile, for example.

However, for the consumer brands and FMCGs on the list having a strong social media presence is an important marketing consideration.

by David Moth 16 April 2012 13:00pm 3 comments

Major alcohol brands band together to self-regulate

Several major alcohol brands have announced plans to establish a common set of standards that will allow them to self-regulate marketing campaigns across the EU.

The Responsible Marketing Pact – which includes Diageo, Carlsberg, Heineken and Bacardi – will work with the Word Federation of Advertisers to agree standards for responsible advertising.

by David Moth 16 April 2012 12:00pm 1 comment

Luxury goods sales increase 96% in January across LinkShare network

Luxury goods sales through Rakuten LinkShare UK increased 96% in January 2012 compared to the same period in 2011.

Statistics from the affiliate network show that though average item value has dropped 14% year on year, total order value is up 7%.

Rakuten says that the increase shows that luxury shoppers are taking advantage of sophisticated publisher sites that help them browse hundreds of luxury brands.

by David Moth 16 April 2012 10:23am 1 comment

Q&A: Microsoft VP of advertising for EMEA Laurent Delaporte

Microsoft’s broad portfolio of products means it has interests in search, gaming, smartphones and entertainment - as well as its dominant brand of office software.

As VP of Microsoft advertising for EMEA Laurent Delaporte is tasked with trying to coordinate a coherent ad sales strategy across all these diverse and evolving platforms, which is no mean feat.

Three of his portfolios - Xbox Live, MSN and Bing - have been revamped in recent months to make them more attractive to advertisers.

by David Moth 13 April 2012 09:30am 0 comments

Zeebox announces Monterosa partnership

Zeebox has partnered with second-screen technology provider Monterosa to allow the social TV app to offer new ways to engage with audiences.

Monterosa has already worked with the BBC, Channel 4 and Living TV to create online games and apps, and the deal with Zeebox will give broadcasters, producers and brands early access to Monterosa’s latest product.

This service, which is invitation-only at the moment, will allow users to reach consumers simultaneously through Zeebox and their own websites or mobile apps using a web-based control centre.

by David Moth 12 April 2012 14:33pm 0 comments

Mothercare to focus on e-commerce as it shuts 111 stores

Mothercare has announced plans to shutdown 111 UK stores as it moves to become a more streamlined business with a greater focus on e-commerce.

The news comes after the maternity and childrenswear retailer reported that full year like-for-like sales for 2011 dropped 6.2% in the UK.

It estimates that the 'store reduction' programme, which includes closing 36 Mothercare stores and 75 Early Learning Centres, will help boost profits by £13m by 2015.

by David Moth 12 April 2012 12:30pm 1 comment

Confused.com tries out a Pinterest-based competition

Confused.com has launched a Pinterest competition that aims to highlight the dangers of driving in heels.

The ‘Driving in Heels’ campaign asks women to pin a picture of their “most extravagant heels” to a specially-created pinboard by Confused.com.

A supporting video outlines the associated dangers of wearing inappropriate footwear - and the ten women judged to have pinned the most outreagous will win a pair of Butterfly Twist flat pumps.

Using a competition to grow followers on Twitter and Facebook is now commonplace, and we've started to see more brands doing this on Pinterest - last month Peugeot launched a competition that asked people to complete puzzles by repinning images of its cars.

by David Moth 12 April 2012 11:29am 2 comments

Amazon extends '1-Click' payments to mobile

Amazon has launched an in-app purchasing API for its Android Appstore that uses its 1-Click payment system.

The API has already been installed on Kindle Fire apps from Disney, The Wall Street Journal and New York Post offering users a fast, convenient method of paying for virtual currency and subscriptions.

Amazon frequently scores highly in consumer surveys and the recent eChannel Retail Benchmark from eDigital found that its checkout process scored joint first with Asda for usability.

by David Moth 12 April 2012 10:00am 3 comments

Associated Press launches online Video Hub for digital publishers

The Associated Press (AP) has launched a Video Hub to allow faster delivery of news content to online publishers.

Though still in beta, the Video Hub will give AP’s digital customers access to world news, sport and lifestyle video.

Journalists in the field will be able to upload content via mobile, where it will then be curated and linked to relevant footage from AP’s archive.

The organisation says that the interface is “simple and intuitive" for users and includes an integration with Twitter so customers can follow a particular story then be updated when new content is available.

by David Moth 11 April 2012 15:00pm 0 comments