Tag: Advertising
COLUMN: Facebook – will it still be around in five years?
Facebook’s now been around for five years, but will it still be around in five years’ time? There’s a long and a short answer to that question. The short answer is yes. A website, operating at www.facebook.com, will still be going in five years. That, assuming the internet survives the next five years, is a given.
But will it still be the cultural force that it is today – 150 million users worldwide, twice the size of its nearest competitor, leading to academic misconduct, arrests, multiple lawsuits, house-trashings and viruses? I suspect the answer might be no. Click over the jump to find out why.
Mobile phone company lied about "unlimited data", but that's OK says ASA
unlimited: not limited or restricted in terms of number, quantity, or extent.
It seems that the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) has a problem interpreting the standard dictionary definition of “unlimited”, because it has ruled in favour of a mobile phone company which used the word before “data” but really meant “250MB per month”.
Yes, it’s one of those words that should bring joy to the hearts of consumers (well, unless it precedes “torture” or “bills” or some other unpleasantness) — and yet so many tech-related companies abuse it mercilessly.
The ASA has already proved itself ineffectual in complaints against broadband providers who boast of “unlimited data plans” and yet cap or throttle users for breaking the obscure “fair use” policies…
Facebook bans Burger King ad campaign
A week or so ago, Burger King announced an advertising campaign where deleting ten friends would get you a voucher for a free whopper. It spread quite quickly, and 233,906 friends were removed by 82,771 people in less than a week.
Facebook, unsurprisingly, isn’t too happy – it knows its value lies in those friend links. As a result, it’s banned the campaign, citing privacy reasons. Turns out that Facebook isn’t keen on apps notifying users when they’ve been ‘cut’ by another friend. Full statement over the jump.
TECH BEEF 2008: Apple/Microsoft marketing war continues – Microsoft attempts to enlist the world
Ages ago, Apple released the “I’m a PC, I’m a Mac” ads, which were hugely successful. Much more recently, Microsoft moved to reclaim “I’m a PC” from Apple’s negative stereotyping. Apple responded with some rather nasty ads criticising Microsoft for spending loads of money on marketing that didn’t mention the V-word (Vista).
Microsoft aren’t taking that lying down, though, and they’re attempting to enlist THE ENTIRE WORLD in their defence. They’re taking signups for people who are happy to say “I’m a PC” in an attempt to show the broad range and diversity of PC users, and also to contrast with Apple’s rather more limited demographic of users. People who sign up might feature in Microsoft’s internet, poster, and television ads…
Spotify – stream all the music you could ever want
Gosh. I can get a bit jaded with all the rubbish new music services I get bombarded with every day, which is why it’s such a breath of fresh air when something comes along that ticks every single box. For me, Spotify is that thing. Spotify is a streaming service. It just streams, but by golly does it do it well. It has three things that set it apart from other, similar offerings – catalogue, speed and social functions…
Google still trying to monetise YouTube, adds "click to buy" links on videos
Google has long admitted that it’s having trouble making any money from its purchase of YouTube. The latest wheeze is to add clickable “Buy this now!” links on videos of buyable stuff. I’d love to show you you a less-grainy picture, but it only works in the USA so far. Check out the Amazon and iTunes links below the video.
The Goog is promising to expand the program internationally, as well as expanding the range of things it advertises next to. This scheme might also placate content owners, who will be happier to learn that there are now “Buy this” links next to the content that they own, but didn’t upload themselves…
Vodafone radio ad banned, it zips through T&Cs too fast
The Advertising Standards Agency has been busy vetting technology ads recently. No sooner has it finished rapping Apple for misleading iPhone ads, or Virgin Media for sending bullet-hole mail through people’s letterboxes, then it’s on Vodafone’s case for blurting out the terms and conditions too quickly on a recent radio ad.
A whale-eared listener complained to the watchdog because the words were so fast that it was hard to hear the message. To be honest, I’m of the opinion that there are always several reams worth of finely printed contractual legalese attached to any product, and am happy for the cursory nod any radio advertiser gives to them to be over with as possible…
Advertising watchdog clears BT Gremlins ad following complaints that it gives children nightmares
The Advertising Standards Authority has given the all clear to a recent BT TV advertisement after some people complained that a recent ad featuring Gremlins wreaking havoc on a hapless office worker was frightening children and giving them nightmares. The ad stars Peter Jones who you may know from such thrilling business TV shows as Dragon’s Den.
Virgin Media's broadband speed claims misled the public, ASA rules
A recent advertising campaign for Virgin Media’s broadband packages has been deemed misleading to the public, because it didn’t make its traffic management policies plain enough.
BT complained about Virgin Media’s “hate to wait” campaign, which claimed it possible to download a half-hour TV show in under 26 minutes on their “up to 2Mbps” ‘M’ package. The size of the TV show used in the ad was 341MB, which exceeds the 300MB peak-time download threshold…
Sony PlayStation 3 to become a dynamic in-game advertising platform
Sony Computer Entertainment America and Sony Computer Entertainment Europe have announced that a new dynamic in-game advertising system is being launched in order to harvest the rapidly growing in-game advertising market. Advertisement distribution company, IGA Worldwide, has been selected as its first partner though more are expected to follow…
