Craftsman Logos

Dove launched an interactive campaign for Valentine’s Day, which was yesterday. It has been launched as part of the cosmetic company’s on-going Real Beauty stance which has seen the company opting for nonprofessional models, mainly their customers.

Dove used digital outdoor screens in London’s Victoria station to engage consumers and “spread a little love” around Valentine’s., as of Monday customers were able to post a different question each day on the large-format Transmission screens in the station, which invited passers-by to respond with thoughts and reflections on beauty and happiness.

Those responses were streamed in real time on the screens. Dove also gave out free gifts that relate to the day’s question.

Speaking about the Dove campaign Jocelyn Hsieh, senior brand development manager on Dove Global said: We hope the engagement and interactive nature of our campaign will bring a smile and a moment of Dove’s warmth to Londoners during their daily commute. We look forward to seeing Londoners’ reflections on beauty and their thoughts on the women in their lives shared on our billboard at Victoria Station.”

The campaign will be running until the 19th of February.

Marks and Spencer always like to be the pack leaders and now they are the first UK retailer to launch their own TV app for Samsung’s internet-connected TV range.

The app will be on the Samsung Smart TV’s and M&S product ranges will be showcased as well as tips on high-street trends, lifestyle, food, fashion and technology. Speaking about the new app, a Samsung spokesman said the app was not transactional, but added that this was something that might feature in the future, “as Smart TVs continue to advance in technology and more people are becoming aware of it”.

Most Samsung Smart TV apps have predominantly involved partnerships with media companies; however this partnership shows where TV apps might head in the future. At the moment the only other apps available include BBC iPlayer, LoveFilm, Netflix, YouTube, Teletext Holidays, Rightmove, Thomson Local, Facebook and Twitter.

Director for new channels at M&S, Susan Aubrey-Cound, said: “This app enables customers to discover more about our products and innovations from the comfort of their living rooms, whilst supporting our broader marketing channels.”

According to Samsung, more than ten million apps have already been downloaded from the Smart TV app store across the world, which just shows this technology is really starting to be embraced by the public. For those that aren’t up on this type of technology, yet, Smart Hub interfaces on TVs allow viewers to open content from branded apps and the internet with the TV’s allowing allows people to connect wirelessly to other devices including smartphones, laptops and tablets.
Smart huh?

Innocent, who make Innocent Smoothies and other naturally good drinks and food are encouraging consumers to unleash their romantic side in the run up to Valentine’s Day. As an alternative gift idea for your loved one, Innocent is giving you the opportunity to personalise a label on their favourite Innocent smoothie.

The company have launched a dedicated site, valentines.innocentdrinks, where you can generate your own “love label” to print out and stick onto a smoothie bottle. More information on Innocents Valentine’s campaign can also be found on their Facebook, Twitter sites as well as online advertisements.

Innocent have altered their logo which is a circular face with two eyes and a halo so it is now heart shaped to fit the logo’s and the theme better. On the dedicated site you can pick your favourite smoothie and edit the label to include phrases such as, “It may or may not have an aphrodisiac effect. Sip it and see,” and “It’s a gift from someone who’ll set your groin on fire”.

You will also be able to choose from a range of poems or messages to appear on the labels or if you have a creative side you can write your own.

Innocent Smoothie label

They may look like normal posts, however you will be surprised to know that some of the posts on your news feed will now be paid adverts, with the only difference being that they will say ‘featured content’. For now Facebook will insert one advert per day however they haven’t ruled out that there may be more per day in the future. In the past adverts has come under ‘sponsored content’ however Facebook thought that they blended in too easily.

It’s possible that if you have ‘liked’ anything in the past you could now start advertising to your friends through news feeds. According to critics, you could unwittingly click on them thinking they are just a news feed from friends without realising. Facebook have assured users though that it will only display adverts for goods and services that somebody has already ‘liked’. The adverts will only be seen on full versions of Facebook and not on mobile sites.

This isn’t the first time Facebook has run adverts in the news feed the company ran them between 2006 and 2009, before Facebook reached the popularity it now has. However it’s thought it could be very lucrative now for the company to do so, because of the number of people now signed up to the social networking site.

It’s not yet clear how the adverts will go down with Facebook users as many don’t seem to like change. The recent changes made to the interface including the constantly-updated ticker and the Timeline feature has not gone down well with users. According to a poll by 86 per cent of users hated the update and an even higher number of teenagers, 91 per cent hated it.

In the UK there are over a 140 different dating sites, the number of single people who are registered on dating sites in the UK stands at around 15 million, one in five people in the UK have dated someone they met online, whether it be a dating website or through social media sites such as Facebook and MySpace and 17% of UK couples who have recently married, met online.

As it stands the world dating market in worth more than $4billion annually, this does go to explain why there are so many different dating sites out there. One of those is Parship. Different to some dating websites out there Parship looks to offer their clients long term partnerships through their services. For some dating sites offer the chance to find people to ‘hook up’ with rather than form lasting relationships and this is what Parship looks to avoid.

The Parship dating site was founded in 2000 and went online on 14th February 2001 (Valentine’s Day) in Germany. The company since then has expanded from Germany and it is now active in another 13 countries: Belgium, Denmark, France, UK, Ireland, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, Austria, Sweden, Switzerland, Spain, and Mexico.

Like some other dating sites, Parship uses a compatibility test and compatibility matching to help you find the right partner, these tests was developed by Parship co-founder Psychologist Professor Hugo Schmale. This has been developed after thirty years of scientific research into couples and their relationships.

As well as offering its services to heterosexual couples, Parship also offers dating services for homosexual couples, so everyone can find the person for them.

The UK’s leading used car supermarket; Carcraft has picked up the top award from the Experian Hitwise Top 10 Awards for being the most visited website in the UK’s Automotive and Dealerships industry. An improvement on last year where they were named the second most visited website in its sector.

The ten most popular websites are ranked twice a year by Experian Hitwise and they cover over 160 categories, basing the final score on popularity according to the market share of visits a website receives relative to other websites in their industry.

Carcraft came top for the period January – June 2011, they have seen a 25% increase in online visits this year, compared to the previous six months. The Rochdale-based business which offers used cars for sale, operates 11 showrooms nationwide, is now proving to be a popular car retailer with an increase in visitor numbers to their website.

Julia Dallimore, head of marketing at Carcraft comments: “As a business it’s very satisfying to have reached the top spot in the Experian Hitwise Awards for visitor numbers. The automotive industry is highly competitive and this achievement recognises our growing brand awareness and the strides we have taken in enhancing our customer experience. We are hoping to further build on our customer relationships with the recent launch of our ‘Drive Happy’ guarantee. The industry leading package not only covers parts and labour but also a year’s free servicing, MOT if required and a year’s RAC roadside assistance, which coupled with the selection of vehicles we offer ensures that we stand out in this crowded market place.”

Carcraft

When buying anything online, time and consideration is needed, to make sure you have the best price and that you are buying from a reputable source, which means doing a bit of research first. Over the last decade, the travel industry has grown and this is partly down to online travel advisers and companies offering great deals online.

Cruise holidays, it should be noted have increased in popularity with many companies popping up to help cope with the increase in demand. One such company is Imagine Cruising, they are a team of travel advisors who have the right knowledge to help you find the cruise holiday of your dreams. They have up to date knowledge of cruise destinations as well as the latest offer from cruise lines including Royal Caribbean, Thomson, Carnival, Cunard and P&O to name just a couple!

For some the first time on a cruise can be daunting and it’s hard to know what to expect, which is why it’s good to know you can seek advice from travel advisors as to what to expect on board. Even if it’s not your first time on a cruise holiday, if you are sailing with a different travel line to one you have been with before, all cruise lines and ships vary so its handy to know what’s different with each.

On Imagine Cruises website you will find all the information you need to help you choose the cruise holiday for you whether its cruises from the UK, fly and cruise holidays of stay and cruise holidays and if you still have more questions you can always speak to an advisor who can help you out.

For many a cruise holiday will be a holiday of a lifetime, there is so much possibility that you no doubt want to make sure you get the most from it, and even though there is a lot to be found from travel advisors it’s always worthwhile doing some research yourself. Online there is a whole host of travel information available, so it has never been easier to check ratings or find out about the best attractions, where to go or where to avoid!

The art of decorating textiles is an ancient one, dating back as far as 3000 B.C.  Woodblock and stencil prints appeared centuries ago, and screen-printing has been with us since China’s Shang Dynasty (960-1279 AD). 

The T-shirt, however, only came to prominence in the 20th century and owes its current iconic status mainly to its versatility as both medium and message.  It did not achieve its global all occasion popularity until partnered with the printing industry.

Early printed T-shirts targeted the children’s market: the only demographic to take them from underwear to outerwear in the 1940s.  Davy Crockett, Roy Rogers and Joe DiMaggio were popular images but even political shirts for Dewey, Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson were child-sized.

Advances in materials, equipment and inks in the late 50s and early 60s fuelled the market for printed T-shirts as they became increasingly acceptable for men, women and children.  Souvenir shirts led to team branding and product promotion.  Many early offerings are valuable collectibles today. 
 
T shirt printing is now a stand-alone industry, adapting new materials and printing processes along the way to improve the end product.  Processes vary from screen-printing to airbrushing, heat press, inkjet and laser transfer to dye sublimation.  Depending on the process, designers then choose compatible colours, textures and finishes from an ever expanding palette.

Current technology makes single, unique T-shirts a viable option, and simplifies batch orders at accessible prices from supplies like Adlogo.  Based on available evidence, it appears that the T-shirts we love and now cannot live without are better than ever, and will be with us for a long time to come!

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.

Cartoon Network which is run by Turner Broadcasting is teaming up with Microsoft’s Xbox as part of a new branded partnership which will feature across Xbox and Kinect networks so they can promote their new show The Amazing World of Gumball.

The new show launched in the US in May and it is the first cartoon show produced by Cartoon Network in the UK. For the partnership it will be the first time bespoke animation has been created for the Xbox, The Amazing World of Gumball will be found in Xbox Live homepage called Spotlight and will be accessible on Kinect, to create a branded environment.

The animated environment within the Xbox for The Amazing World of Gumball which is aimed at children aged 4 to 11 has been created by Turner Broadcasting’s UK marketing team, The Amazing World of Gumball production team and the Xbox senior design team in the UK and the US. Players will find themed player avatars and wallpapers that they can download as well as millions of Xbox credits to give away.

The partnership between both parties also includes cinema, TV and online activity. Director of consumer marketing at Turner Broadcasting Sally Bezant says: “This is a truly engaging partnership which takes our content out to where kids are, and allows them to experience and interact with it in a totally new way.”

Chris Breeze, solution sales executive for Xbox adds: “Xbox will help Cartoon Network reach the core audience of 4-11 year old kids, as well as the parents who are the ultimate decision makers. The experience for the users will be highly interactive and engaging encouraging dwell time and repeat visits.”

After research by Mediacom London found that that games consoles and in particular Xbox, are becoming a core media platform for younger kids in the UK, the Xbox partnership was then brokered by Mediacom because 4.1M of the 6.7M Xbox’s sold within UK in the last 12 months to households with children 3-15yrs.