According to company executives the online gambling operator wants to increase its share of of the healthy sports booking industry in Britain.

The company plans to divert some of its advertising expenditure from elsewhere in Europe and seek inroads into established territories, says CEO Andrew McIver.

At present, Sportingbet spends just under $100 million on advertisements throughout the EU each year.

“We are coming from a low base and can compete with the likes of William Hill and Ladbrokes,” said McIver.

The company head is hoping, that with proper marketing, Sportingbet can build its UK business from its current 6 per cent of company revenues to ten per cent, in a year and a half.

Their new agressive strategy began with its signing of sponsorship deal with the Wolverhampton Wanderers, less than a month before the football club earned promotion to England’s Premier League, the world’s most popular and visible football association.

Sportingbet is shifting its focus to sports as poker participation overseas is fading, and casino competition is fierce.

Meanwhile, sports betting continues to grow in opportunities and market size.

The online gaming site reported a 34 per cent leap in third quarter earnings this week and said that the summer had got off to a strong start despite the end of the football season.

Sportingbet had revealed that despite the recession, underlying profits had risen to £9.8 million and net gaming revenues had lifted to 8 per cent in the three months to April 30th.

Sportingbet said they are “cautiously optimistic” over the full year outcome, with year-to-year date adjusted earnings ahead by 37 per cent to £26 million.

Air New Zealand

The edgy marketing campaign due to depart on 13th October 2009 will see the flight depart from Los Angeles and arrive in Auckland, New Zealand attempting to attract American singles to visit New Zealand. However, it is open to other travellers as well. Round Trip ticket prices start at $780 (USD).

“New Zealand is often positioned as a thrill seeker, adventure destination, but it’s also very romantic too,” said Sarah Miller-Reeves, PR and sponsorship executive for the Americas at Air New Zealand. “This allows us to present the romantic nature of New Zealand… really engaging a wider cross section of American consumers.”

To engage the attention of potential single travellers to the flight, Air New Zealand created an online community using Ning, www.thematchmakingflight.com The online community has been designed for people to sign up, create profiles, interact with one another and pose flight-related questions to a moderator.

Once the consumer has booked their flight, additional features on the network are unlocked, such as the ability to become acquainted with the flight crew and send Facebook gifts to fellow passengers.

Once on-board, the flight will feature romantic movies, speed dating, and other matchmaking games to encourage interaction between those on-board.

There will also be a pre and post flight parties in Los Angeles and Auckland.

“Air New Zealand is always looking for fun ways to improve our customers’ experience, and we love the thought of playing matchmaker to help them find a mate in New Zealand or in the air,” said Roger Poulton, Air New Zealand’s vice president – the Americas. “If your dating profile says you enjoy fine wine and long walks on the beach, then New Zealand is your perfect place for romance. And let’s not forget our charming Kiwi accents—what more could an American want?”

Through its marketing campaign, Air New Zealand are playing with the idea that the cities are on opposite sides of the world and have different climates by incorporating the idea of ‘opposites attract’ into its messaging.

The airline company are also taking full advantage of social networking sites such as Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and Flickr, and video site 12 seconds to boost the advertisement of the campaign.

Miller-Reeves said the airline, which is working on this campaign with its AOR, CRT/tanaka, will likely work with its usual partner organizations like Tourism New Zealand and the New Zealand Wine Growers to further promote the flight.

The matchmaking flight is one of many edgy marketing campaigns by Air New Zealand. Previous campaigns have included, the ‘Pink Flight’ for LGBT travellers and the ‘Cranial Billboard’ campaign in October.

“We definitely try to be more edgy and kind of push a little bit and really think outside the box,” Miller-Reeves said.

The British Red Cross has pulled in the support of actor Dougray Scott to launch a new campaign for Refugee Week.

As well as using the Brit actor, the charity is harnessing the power of social networking sites by calling out to for people to pledge their support to help refugees by collectively ‘changing their online status’ across their social networks, instant messenger and email accounts during Refugee Week, which is from 15^th-21^st June.



The charity said that refugees arriving in the UK are commonly labelled as a group, and not regarded as individuals.

In attempt to stress this issue, and get others to empathise with the feeling of loss of identity, the British Red Cross are asking citizens to sacrifice their online identities and change their status to ‘label’.

 The campaign idea was formulated by LBi and opens with a teaser film presented by Desperate Housewives star Dougray Scott.  

The viral film, which will be released on 26^th May, depicts the stories of refugees who have been helped by the British Red Cross.

 The viral will be available for viewing at www.lookbeyondthelabel.org and will run in conjunction with an email marketing campaign calling for everyone to alter their online status. 



The campaign can be located on Facebook, Twitter, MSN, Yahoo and Bebo, enabling users of these sites to get involved.

The British Red Cross will also be making history as the first charity to create an online movement to accrue support and fight prejudice via online profiles.  

 The campaign will be supported with a survey of public attitudes towards refugees, seeking to diminish negative beliefs around those who seek sanctuary in the UK. This will be targeted at newspapers, and Refugee Week events at Red Cross centres across the country.  

MP’s from the Health Select Committee quizzed representatives from both the on and off trade, on supermarket, pub and bar promotions, as part of a wider enquiry in to alcohol misuse.

When asked about the number and prominence of in-store promotions and their role in the irresponsible consumption of alcohol, David North, community and government director at Tesco said that promotions do not lead to further consumption.

North added that research conducted by Tesco found that customers buying alcohol on promotion do not by the same alcohol again for a couple of weeks, suggesting, “customers use promotions to stock up, not to consume more.”

Labour MP, Stephen Hesford questioned whether their contributions as a proportion of marketing budgets is “derisory,” which both North and Jeremy Blood, managing director of Scottish and Newcastle defended saying their contributions to industry funded responsible drinking site the Drinkaware Trust.

Blood, who estimated that S&N’s contribution is between £1-£2 million against a marketing budget of about £50 million, says he is “comfortable” with that amount especially considering the amount the Treasury receives from the industry in excise duty.

North estimated that Tesco contribute about £750,000 to the Trust and further support the scheme by providing health information at point of sale while encouraging staff to “think 25″ when serving young people.

Research conducted in 2008 by Dr Petra Meir from the University of Sheffield, which linked the price of alcohol and consumption was also presented to the committee.

North says that Tesco is willing to play an “active and constructive role” in Government-led discussions with the industry on the role of price, although both Blood and Jeremy Beadles, chief executive of the Wine and Spirit Trade Association, said that minimum pricing would penalise the majority of responsible drinkers while having little effect on alcohol misuse.

The debate led on May 14th comes a day after the Government launched plans for mandatory code which forces supermarkets to display information on the health impacts of alcohol and a crackdown on “irresponsible” on-trade promotions, although it confirmed it is not planning to introduce a minimum per price unit.

Tango owner, Britvic is turning the labelling on cans of the soft drink on it’s head in response to a dare by social networking site, bragster.com.

The limited edition can, which also carries the bragster.com logo, comes shortly after Britvic’s move to change the brand name on its cans to the word “Thanks!” This move was part of the drink brand’s campaign to “thank the public for saving the brand” 

In March, Tango formed a partnership with bragster.com, that has resulted in the production of 2.5 million upside down Tango cans.

The interactive campaign has also seen bragster.com users from all over the globe, engage in a range of Tango-themed pranks including covering themselves in the fizzy drink. 

The strategy has been supported by experimental activity this week, which saw a number of dancers donning orange bikinis standing on their heads in London.

After posing on the London Underground, Tango’s PR stunt was moved to the Tate Modern, and later the Millennium Bridge, where the girls continued to balance on their heads.

A spokesperson for Bragster said: “People in the Tate Modern actually thought this was a new piece of art; I personally also love the reactions in the tube.”

The Tango and Bragster partnership has also directly led to the creation of new user-generated content. The campaign is expected to continue throughout the year, with more co-branded stunts highly anticipated.

Sally Symes, Tango senior brand manager, says: “The new upside-down cans will only be available for a limited period but will significantly increase visibility in display units and consumer interest in the two and a half million cans available.”

In November, Britvic launched the “Save Tango” campaign as part of its bid to return the once much loved brand, back to a market leading position.

The company reported that the campaign resulted in an 8% increase in value sales of the 330ml can in impulse and a 20% increase in distribution to impulse outlets, according to Nielsen data.

As it prepares to re-launch next week, the Evening Standard are in a worrying position following a fall in net circulation.

The latest ABC figures for April show a 6.11% drop in net circulation from March to 263,312.  The title is also down 1.01% for the six months from November to April, year-on-year. Of the circulation total about a third were given out as “bulks” in April.

However, the latest ABCs show the national tabloids dropping an accumulated 3.96% for the six months November to April 2009 year-on-year. News International’s The Sun fell below 3 million again after struggling back above commercially important figure in March.

The Standard which is now under the ownership of Russian oligarch Alexander Lebedev, will relaunch on Monday (May 11) under the title London Evening Standard. It will be backed by a huge promotion offering 650,000 copies of the 50p paper for free for the day.

The re-launch edition will follow on from a teaser advertising campaign saying “Sorry” to Londoners for the paper’s editorial stance under previous owner Daily Mail & General Trust.

Since Lebedev took control of the paper, it has seen a series of inventive pricing and distribution models.

In February, the Standard began to trial a tiered pricing system with copies offered free or heavily discounted in key locations late in the evening.

Additionally, it has introduced a strategy that includes offering the paper for 10p to late-night travellers at all mainline London stations.

Yesterday evening the Standard was being distributed for 10p outside the Lord’s cricket ground in north London, where England are playing a Test match against the West Indies.

DMGT’s afternoon freesheet London Lite and its News International rival the London Paper are handed out to homeward-bound travellers free until about 7.30pm.

As well as the latest ABC figures, it emerged yesterday that Lebedev has been forced to delay payment to 120 journalists on Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta, in which he owns a 39% stake.

The setback has been attributed to cash-flow problems linked to the grounding of his budget German airline Blue Wings

The budget hotel chain Premier Inn is launching a ruthless multimillion pound print advertising campaign that targets mid-market rivals.

Previously, the chains ads featured  Lenny Henry as brand ambassador, however he is absent from their new aggressive campaign which  lists the value, offerings and services at Premier Inn and includes copy line such as “Looks like its time to take a holiday from Holiday Inn” and “So what exactly is it that’s best about Best Western?” The brand said that they will be using Henry to front future campaigns.

The hotel chain is owned by Whitbread, who also own Costa Coffee, and accounts for the majority of the company’s profits. 

The announcement of their new advertising offensive comes shortly after Whitbread posted a 9% rise in pre-tax profits and said it had made “good progress” in spite of the “increasingly difficult economic conditions.” However the company  admitted that Premier Inn had felt the impact of the downturn,with reduced occupancy rates pushing group like-for-like sales into negative territory in the fourth quarter and lowering further in current trading.

It is these figures which have  prompted the company to target leisure travelers as bookings from budgeting businesses dwindles. Even so,  the chain said they have continued to outperform the market and it plans to entice new business customers with offers for account holders, including a £20 food and drinks package.

The firm, which also owns the restaurants Beefeater and Brewers Fayre, has seen its profits growth slow from the 26% gain it saw at the previous full year.

The group said like-for-like revenues per available room – an important measure for the hotel industry – at the re-branded Premier Inn chain were up 2.8%. But it said like-for-like sales, which were 6% ahead for the year, entered predominantly negative territory in December and remained low.

Chairman of Whitbread, Anthony Habgood said the chain’s value offering would help see it through the difficult economic climate.

The owner of T-Mobile, Deutsche Telekom is under great pressure from key shareholders to either sell or merge its  UK business, T-Mobile, with a rival company.

Deutsche Telekom  finance chief, Timotheus Hoettges, said yesterday at the company’s annual general meeting (April 30) that it may report writedowns of around 1.8bn euros (£bn) for its mobile operation in Britain when it relays first-quarter results next week.

“The British market is highly competitive and has comparably low margins,” he says.

“In our view consolidation is a means to take excess capabilities out of the market. Nothing is unthinkable on our side.”

According to the Financial Times, a large part of the pressure is coming from the firms two biggest shareholders, the German government, which owns 32% of DT and private equity group, Blackstone which owns 4.5% of the group.

T-Mobile is the fourth largest player in the telecoms market, followed by Hutchinson Wampoa’s 3, who they merged  3G Radio Access Network with to form Mobile Broadband Network. In light of this move, it is rumoured that another fusion with them is being considered to resolve T Mobiles current problem. 

This worrying news comes after last night’s launch of T-Mobile’s sing along stunt at Trafalgar Square, where 13,000 people, including US singer Pink, came together and sang their hearts out in a mass karaoke session.

The moment was caught by Saatchi & Saatchi to be used in a T Mobile advert that will launch on YouTube and on television during ITV1 show Britain’s Got Talent tomorrow (May 2).

The new  campaign follows on from the company’s Dance” ad launched earlier this year which saw 350 dancers performing a routine at Liverpool street station.

The Travelodge will launch a new price check campaign to position itself as the cheapest hotel chain against other hotel chain rivals.

The campaign focuses on savings customers can make if they book a room at least seven days in advance of their stay.

The campaign, organised and ran by the Travelodge’s agency, DCH is currently being run across national press titles including, The Times, The Guardian, The Telegraph and The Sun and as online banners.

The basis of the campaign uses a Union Jack pillow-case as an emblem, highlighting the ‘Travelodge Price Check’ printed across the flag and featuring the strapline ‘we price check our competitors so you don’t have to.’

One of the ads from the campaign features room rates for leading rivals, Premier Inn, Express for Holiday Inn and Hilton Hotels, comparing them to room rates at Travelodge at £38 per night when customers book at least seven days in advance.

Travelodge teamed up with an independent price monitoring company to check more than 1,300 hotel rates every day.

The chain is currently making lots of price cuts this year, with the aim of selling 2.5 million rooms at less than £30.

This is the second campaign led by DCH who took over the marketing of Travelodge in 2006 with the successful ‘Hotel Revolution Campaign’ to promote the relaunch of the hotel chain.

Travelodge’s managing director Guy Parsons said that the hotel chain had worked hard on reshaping the brand to enable them to steal share with a competitive price offer.

Travelodge UK managing director Guy Parsons said: “Consumers are now in a daily battle to manage their finances and maintain their lifestyle. 

“We are all now being uncompromising on value and rightly so.  This new approach will ensure that Travelodge is the undisputed leader on price and customers will feel that with us, they have secured the best possible deal.”

 He added, “It cannot be right that mid market hotels such as Hilton and Marriott can charge up to £70 more for the same location on the same night. 

 “Our price checking shows that even fellow budget operator; Premier Inn is charging up to £20 more a night for the same night’s sleep.

 “Offering shower caps, trousers presses and fluffy bedspreads does not justify hiking prices beyond consumers’ reach. Customers must be able to access maximum value when they stay away in this country.”

The campaign is currently running alongside Premier Inn’s press ads promoting itself as winner of the most improved hotel brand in the BDRC British Hotel Survey.

The new video channel will host Endemol’s digital series, ‘The Gap Year,’ which was produced and featured on social networking site, Bebo.

‘The Gap Year’ is a multiplatform digital series which follows six students around the world on their glob-trotting travel adventures. The series see the six travellers face challenges, experience new cultures and meet local celebrities.

The first series will be broadcast on The Independent’s online student section, despite already being documented on Bebo’s social networking site via video diaries, blogs and photographs.

Complimentary sponsors of the online video site will be organised by The Web TV Enterprise. Through the sponsor, advertisers will receive in-paper promotional branding, on-site exposure, and pre-roll ads around the content.

Bill Swanson, Managing Director of Independent.co.uk, said, “It is key that Independent.co.uk continues to seek content that is relevant to its audiences.

“The brand fit is fantastic, while the content will provide a regular destination for our users.”

The series is due to run from June to August 2009, in the build up to the university clearing process in 2009; the busiest time for the Independent.co.uk student section.

Promotion of the series will be ran through the newspaper, website, allowing the content to be used as a travel guide.

Endemol specifically created and developed the series ‘The Gap Year’ for Bebo to offer a fully interactive online video entertainment experience. The contestants for the series were carefully selected from the Bebo community, from all around the world, including, UK, Ireland, America, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. On a weekly basis, viewers are able to vote on decisions about the group’s journey.

Peter Cowley, Managing Director of Digital Media at Endemol, said, “We are delighted that The Independent will be carrying the first series of ‘The Gap Year.’

“We are very proud of the success the show garnered on Bebo and the extensive catalogue of travel content it created that deserves a wider audience.”

James Estrin, MD of The Web TV Enterprise, said, “The Web TV Enterprise has brought ‘The Gap Year’ to a whole new audience due to its partnership with The Independent.

“The Endemol series will complement existing online content on The Independent, which includes guidance and advice for students looking to find accommodation, research courses and plan a gap year.

“In my opinion, ‘The Gap Year’ is one of the best examples of how compelling short-form content works best on the web.