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Virgin Media has proudly announced that ‘TV on Demand’ (its catch up television service) has reached the very important 1 billion views milestone. Nearly 490 million hours of television is watched in this way.

The Virgin TiVo box was launched last year. Since then, Virgin Media has managed to increase the number of users to its catch-up service by 14 per cent since 2010.

Virgin is putting the rise in percentage down to the innovations found in its set-top, including the likes of backwards EPG functionality, not to mention the amount of personalisation the TiVo service offers – that, with the addition of the famous Sky Anytime on its platform.

According to Virgin Media, the most watched boxset the much-loved ‘The Vampire Diaries’. ‘Paul’ has been the most watched film of the year, according to the company and traditional Coronation Street was the most-watched TV for the second year in a row.

Cindy Rose, the executive director of digital entertainment at Virgin Media explained about the numbers: “Essentially people are watching more TV; whether that’s On Demand, suggestions recorded for them, or as a result of new and exciting interactive experiences. We know On Demand is incredibly popular as it’s watched more than any channel except for BBC1 or ITV1 but we far surpassed our expectations in 2011.The TV world is changing, with TiVo’s powerful functionality and ease of use giving people even more control over what they watch and when. The advocacy we’re seeing from users is vociferous with over half telling us they’re recommending the service to their friends and family.”

Lynx which is a well know MALE grooming brand is looking to give girls the ‘Lynx effect’ after it launched a women’s body spray in the UK on Monday. It will be the first time the brand has entered the women’s market.

Lynx which is owned by Unilever, is launching their new female range in conjunction with their new Attract range which is aimed at men, Attract for her will be part of the range and will be marketed as limited edition. The mens range however will be permanent and includes a body spray, antiperspirant and a shower gel.

According to Selina Sykes, Lynx marketing manager at Unilever, the Lynx brand is established enough to have the permission to launch a women’s fragrance. She said: “As a brand, Lynx has got to constantly find new ways to entertain guys with a new variant that tops the previous years. Lynx is about surprising and entertaining consumers to generate conversation around the brand. Lynx will not be marketing the women’s Attract fragrance directly to women. Sykes said Lynx already has a high “spontaneous awareness” of the brand within the female deodorant market, which means the brand “doesn’t need to market to girls. The women’s fragrance is being marketed as a limited edition product to encourage consumers to engage with the Attract variant, she said, emphasising “when it’s gone, it’s gone”.

Lynx is looking at different marketing options for their range across the globe last October Marc Mathieu announced their “more magic, less logic” marketing strategy. Selina Sykes spoke about this strategy and said: “Everything we do has that implied magic.” Plus Lynx has always been based on strong insight and the “magic”.

It has also been announced that the Lynx brand will also be launching the female fragrance in other markets under their Axe name, it will be called Axe Anarchy and will of course use the same advertising format that we see with Lynx and the same strapline; “Unleash the chaos”.

You can find more information about the new female fragrance on Facebook and the TV ad will be screened on 1 February and will be supported by digital, outdoor and PR activity. The new ad features a female American “cop” and a male “robber” running through the streets of a city, where they are undressing while in pursuit of each other. At the end of the ad the pair are gazing at each other, about to kiss.

Please see video below.

To help the company expand and engage more with customers L’Oreal has launched its first CRM programme which can offer consumers exclusive rewards. The scheme is called the L’Oreal Insider and it encourages consumers to open an online account for access to offers of free samples as well as expert advice, reviews and money-off vouchers for its products. L’Oreal have invested £20 million into this project and the company hope it will bring them closer to their existing customers but also bring them new ones. The rollout comes as the company marks the 40th anniversary of its ‘Because I’m worth it’ slogan.

To join the scheme you need to register your details on the L’Oreal Insider site, encouraged by the tag line; “The more you tell us, the more you’ll be rewarded”. Like a lot of other sites now you can also connect through Facebook and merge your account which means you can share promotions and content with your friends. The new site is aimed at women, however there is a similar scheme for men, which involves the companies Men Expert product range.

There has also been a major competition launched which will see three members of the public featuring alongside celebrity ambassador Cheryl Cole in a TV campaign for its Casting Creme Gloss range next year. This contest launched by L’Oreal which is tied to the Insider scheme is only available to those signed up.

Cheap Monday, H&M , Monki

Leading fashion retailer H&M will be debuting on London’s Carnaby Street its first standalone stores in the UK for their Cheap Monday and Monki brands next year.

The brands Cheap Monday, a jeans retailer, and Monki, a quirky brand for young women were bought by H&M in 2008. They currently have their own concession stalls in London’s Selfridges department which they have occupied since September however H&M are keen are to push them further with the new shops opening in February.

Also this year entered into a partnership with footballer David Beckham which will see his range of underwear being sold exclusively in its 1,800 shops worldwide. The company is also ready to hit store with their new fashion collaboration which will see a collection designed by Donatella Versace:

“The collection for H&M is the essence of Versace,” Donatella Versace stated. “For the collaboration we’ve brought back from the archives, as well as from more recent collections, some of the icons of Versace, such as the bright prints, the Greek key, and daring cuts. I can’t wait to see how H&M’s wide audience will make these pieces their own.”

Versace for H&M

Donatella is following a number of other designers who have had successful collaborations with H&M including Stella McCartney, Madonna and Chanel’s Karl Lagerfeld.

Highstreet retailer New Look have seen orders from their mobile site increase by 60% in three months, which is a good sign for the fashion retailer which paired with Mobile Interactive Group to launch their first m-commerce site back in April this year. Popular online retailer ASOS are also looking at their action as well launching their first transactional smartphone app to run with its m-commerce site which saw revenues increased by 800%.

Many customers appreciate the opportunity to look at retailers on other devices making it more convenient, not all sales for retailers come directly from m-commerce sites but a lot of interest can be generated from them. Plus with the wider availability of free Wi-Fi consumers are able to spend more time looking at these sites.

As with ASOS improving mobile sites is key which is why they have brought out their new app, James Hart, ASOS’ ecommerce director, said, “Following year-on-year growth of over 800% in mobile revenue… We decided to… release these first apps, so that their foundations were rock-solid, thereby allowing us to develop and improve the experiences at pace.”

New Look /Asos

It looks like Amazon could be looking to lunch their ‘click and collect’ service in the UK after they secured a deal which will customers to collect online purchases from specified shopping centres, rather like some highstreet retailers currently do.

Two years ago Amazon became to look into ways to help customers collect large items such as TVs and PCs so they didn’t have to wait around for costly deliveries.

There are rumours that an agreement with the shopping centre owner Land Securities has been made with the US online retailer to install banks of lockers in locations in the London area such as One New Change near St Paul’s. It will see customers being able to select the select the pick-up option, where they will then be sent a code that will enable them to open the locker and retrieve their product.

In the US Amazon runs a similar service where it has lockers in retail outlets that operate 24-hours a day. ‘Click and collect’ is becoming more and more popular, other retailers who let you ordering shopping online and then collect the items include Currys and Best Buy who use a similar service to the one Amazon propose as well as a number of submarkets.

For many they are a bit behind with the times, most highstreet retailers, have online website to purchase their clothing from, so it’s no surprise that Primark are joining the rest of their competition and launching a transactional website. Primark have continued to focus on increasing their highstreet sales recently rather than looking to sell online, however the company looks like it is ready to make an online move to move forward.

Richard Perks, director of retail research at Mintel, said: “Primark was late to move into online retail because it wasn’t obvious that the sums would add up. Primark would risk losing market share if it wasn’t online, so to a certain extent, it’s a defensive move and not about growing revenue. Primark is about disposable fashion and I don’t feel as though it’s about long-term, considered purchases.”

Primark which is a subsidiary of Associated British Foods has put out a tender for a digital agency to build its first ecommerce site. It’s thought that the site could go live in 2012. Primark is also looking at increasing its expansion they have 36,000 employees and operates 220 stores in Europe, boasting that they are the second-biggest clothes retailer, in terms of volume sales, in the UK.

In the past few years many retailers have joined the online market, one of the most recent is H&M and according to the trade body for online retail, the Interactive Media Retail Group in 2010 online retail in the UK was worth £58.8 billion. Although at the moment the rate of growth is in decline, with year on year sales only increasing by 11.5% the lowest since January 2010.

Sarah Peters, lead analyst at Verdict Research, said: “Primark is still growing rapidly through its stores, so it has not been necessary to focus on digital. Now is about the right time. It’s more difficult for value retailers because they have a very low selling price and will have to sell high volumes. It’s a growth sector – there are people that can’t get to Primark stores and some may be put off because the stores get so busy at the weekend. It can also open doors internationally, if you look at what retailers such as ASOS and Next have done.”

With a lot of retailers now moving into more ecommerce, it’s no surprise to hear that British highstreet stalwart Marks and Spencer are moving closer to launching their first independent ecommerce and multi-channel platform. The company will be able to collect and use customer data to shape its international and UK business with this new platform, much better than they have in the past.

The new platform will be built by SapientNitro as part of the new CEO, Marc Bolland’s strategy to transform the retailer from a UK to an international multi-channel retailer by 2015. The company already had plans last year to sever ties with Amazon who currently hosts their online platform. This was so they could create a more flexible bespoke platform to help accelerate international growth and better integrate its multi-channel operations as part of Marc Bolland’s vision for the company’s future.

The development of the new platform will be overseen by M&S’s first multi-channel chief, Laura Wade-Gery who was appointed to that position last year after previously heading up Tesco.com.

Wade-Gery, executive director of multi-channel ecommerce at M&S, says: “We have had a very successful relationship with Amazon but in order to fulfil our multi-channel ambitions we need to build and manage our own platform.”

Over the next three years M&S aims to more than double its online sales to reach £1bn, after completing their new platform. Ecommerce, content management, search and analytics platforms for the site will be built by SapientNitro.

Orange Thursdays is a new film download service from Orange, which has been launched in retaliation to O2’s new cinema offer, in a bid to retain its association as the movie mobile network. The new service called Film To Go allows Orange customers a free film download from iTunes worth up to £4.49 from Thursday 11 August.

This new deal for Orange customers comes as part of the companies new “more from Orange, for you” customer loyalty strategy which is aimed to complement the existing “Orange Wednesdays” offer, which enables customers to get two-for-one cinema tickets at a variety of venues. You can also enjoy 2 for one at Pizza Express too.

O2’s latest offering is Priority Moments, which includes a partnership with Odeon that allows its customers half price adult cinema tickets from Sunday to Thursday. They also offer numerous exclusive high street offers as well under Priority Moments.

The new Film To Go will be promoted with a £5million campaign which will highlight to customers that they will be able to watch their free downloaded films on a variety of devices such as tablets and smartphones.

Facebook has launched a new site called Facebook for Businesses, which is aimed at helping small businesses use social media effectively. It offers tips on how to create pages, ads and use the Facebook platform for social plug-ins or apps specifically designed around small businesses rather than big business.

Facebook for Businesses is Facebook’s latest site in a series of pages and websites launched by them to help companies understand how using Facebook can benefit them. A Facebook spokeswoman says: “Facebook allows small businesses to create rich social experiences, build lasting relationships and amplify the most powerful type of marketing – word of mouth. We created Facebook.com/business to make it even easier for people to reach these objectives and grow.”

The social network launched Facebook studio in March this year, which is an online resource to showcase creative campaigns that have used the social network for brand activity. They also have their own pages across categories such as music, media and marketing.

Facebook have launched their business site after recent success of Google+ who are also now trialling business accounts on their too. Brands have been asked by the search giant to apply to take part in their tests before a full Google+ business which will be launched later in the year.