Online Business Blog

2008 was, in no uncertain terms, a flop for ITV, a £2.7 billion flop to be precise; this was the figure of the actual loss ITV made in 2008. 2009 saw profits, £25 million pre tax profits and the start of this year has shown advertising revenues, thanks to UK advertising agencies, grow by 7%, with predictions that this will rise to 15/20% in April. There is a new prosperity within ITV and with thanks to hit show like the X Factor and Dancing on Ice, being in the black for the first time in a while is reassuring. However, hopes are reserved, with many fearing there is along way to go to keep ITV afloat. The network has been criticised for not successfully riding the boom in internet services like their competitors BBC iPlayer and YouTube and because of recent woes the network scrapped its dividends last year. Debts still stand at £612 million.

ITV is still a major force in the UK commercial television industry but viewing audiences have been falling for years and the competition of digital and cable TV have added to the pressure. In a bid to adapt to multi channel television with freeview ITV launched their free to air digital channels ITV2, ITV3, ITV4 and ITVplay. ITV admits that it is no longer in such a dominant position because of the big growth in digital rivals which is led by Sky and realizes that ITV would have to become a very different business over the next five years. With increased internet viewings and free to air TV being threatened by digital media, ITV has a big challenge ahead of them.

In the 21st century adverts are everywhere we turn and we can’t help but notice and be influenced by them. All manner of products and services advertise and compete for our attention, be they government services, recruitment adverts, the latest game or a tin of salmon. With so much competition advertisers are having to be more and more creative to stand out from the crowd.

Here are some of the ads that managed to stand head and shoulders above the competition

John West Salmon: Bear Fight

John Smith’s: Peter Kay ads

Sony Bravia: Bouncy Balls

Guinness: noitulovE

Compare the market: Compare the meerkat

Honda: Cog

Honda: The Impossible Dream

In an inevitable turn of events, product placement on TV has finally been accepted by the government in the UK. Until now, the UK, along with Denmark were the only EU member states that had not yet allowed TV product placement or indeed express an intention to do so. But following heightened pressure and a realisation that if they didn’t allow product placement they could jeopardize the competitiveness of UK programme makers against the rest of the EU, the UK realized it was something that they had to be a part of which will mark significant opportunities for UK Advertising Agencies.

Stringent legislation will prohibit the placement of alcoholic drinks, foods and drinks that are high in fat, salt or sugar, gambling, smoking, accessories, infant formulas and follow on formulas along with over the counter medicines. Health Secretary, Andy Burnham said that without these restrains, advertising these products could lead to further obesity and alcohol related problems.

These restrictions bring mixed reviews to the table, whilst ITV and other commercial broadcasters have been lobbying for product placement for some time to generate higher levels of revenue are against the limitations of certain products, cabinet ministers and certain charities such as Children’s Food Campaign have had their concerns alleviated somewhat. Another concern over the movement in the UK was that product placement would blur the distinction between programmes and advertisements, but with every other country participating and the need for commercial broadcasters to generate revenue to invest in original content in the UK, the legislation seems to be a good compromise to start with.

How product placement will develop over the years in terms of its level of presence on screen and content, only time will tell, but what is for sure is that it is an advertising venture new to the UK which is set to grow substantially.

You may not realise it but your email address could be seriously hindering your chance of getting a new job.

A funny email address might have seemed like a good idea at the time, indeed when you were younger all your friends probably had one too, but now when entering the world of work your humorous or cheeky address might seriously put you at a disadvantage in a highly competitive jobs market.

Try putting yourself in the position of an employer who had just employed a recruitment services company to advertise your vacancies. If you have had many applications back for the position, all of which are equally qualified, who do you think are more suitable, someone with a standard email address such as firstname.lastname@gmail.com or something like chunkylover53@aol.com. The chances are you would, even if it’s wrongly, assume that the applicant with the first email would be a more appropriate candidate for your company.

It is perhaps then a good idea to cerate a more professional sounding email to put on future job applications, you don’t even have to use the email address long term simply just use for any job related situations. Though if its not your regular email account make sure you remember to check it often, you don’t want to miss an email inviting you to an interview!

A while ago I wrote a blog about the effects of controversial advertising campaigns that Direct Response Advertising agents have used for the likes of Benetton over the years. The latest national campaign to cause a stir was designed to prove there is more to getting the message across than advertising on Google.

The 1.25 million ad campaign was intended to run on more than 11, 000 billboards and poster sites across the country and was backed by one of the biggest media owners in the sector. The three messages that were planned to run were: “Career Women make bad mothers”, “1966. It won’t happen this year” and “Educashun isn’t working”. Each of the ads asks the viewers whether they agree with the statement and pushes them to join a discussion on the website: Britainthinks.com.

The campaign, which launched with its first statement ‘Career women make bad mothers’ on Monday 4^th January quickly ruffled the feathers of women the length and breadth of the nation and an influx of angry and upset Mothers posted their rage on the Mumsnet website stating their contempt and hurt at the blazon statement.

The Outdoor Advertising Association had intended these posters run for a fortnight on buses and billboard sites but have had to be scrapped due to the bad attention it has received. The next to run is the statement “1966. It won’t happen this year” which is sure to risk offending football fans and rubbing salt in old wounds, but its got to be said that whilst this campaign has already offended a great deal of people, the attention it has achieved is exactly what it set out to do, which many UK Advertising Agencies often can only dream of.

Whilst advertising in 2009 as a whole has been down on 2008 there have been successes across the board with digital and online advertising continuing to grow and become more competitive. The war of the Internet Search Engines began with Microsoft’s Bing launching globally in June, much to Google’s annoyance. They have teamed up with Yahoo and now have a Market share of 10%, Google is a little worried and has launched its first ever global advertising campaign. The question is will people be coining the new phrase ‘I binged it’ in the new decade?

Internet advertising has been the most innovative marketing medium in 2009 which is supported by the Internet Advertising Bureau (LAB) reporting that it had grown by 4.6% in the first half of 2009, overtaking television spend for the first time ever. Now more than ever people should be looking at utilising the Internet for their marketing and many UK Advertising Agencies are fully equipped to manage campaigns as paid for searches continue to grow and be in demand.

The mobile phone market is also driving innovation in marketing with 2009 being another strong year. In June, consumers camped outside O2 stores across England to get their hands on Apple’s 3G iPhone, a launch which secured a 40% share of the smartphone market. The future for mobiles look set to get bigger and bigger and the medium is now accounts for 11.7% of ad spend.

TV has struggled this year but with shows like X Factor, Strictly Come Dancing and Britain’s Got Talent, TV advertising revenues will be up by 4% year on year this month. The BBC has been suffering with their networks and need to find £75 million in order to kick start its cost cutting programme for the next five years. Whilst Channel four has signed a ground breaking deal with YouTube this year which will make the broadcasters programmes available on demand, in full and free of charge via the video sharing website.

With these new avenues of marketing looking set to grow and continue to be fiercer in competition who knows what other ground breaking deals, new innovations and jaw dropping tactics will be used in 2010 by search engines, phone companies and direct response advertising . Watch this space.

British Government intelligence organization GCHQ are to launch a recruitment advertising campaign through online gaming. GCHQ plan to use the hugely popular Xbox Live, the online gaming platform for the Xbox 360, as a new inventive way to display their ads. This will mark the first time that the organization, who works with the Foreign Office, MI5 & MI6, has targeted online gaming.

The adverts which will feature the strapline “Careers in British Intelligence” and will feature on poster in the backgrounds of game being played online in real-time. A number of top games are being lined up to carry the posters.

This move in to new territory shows that GCHQ are looking at new ways of attracting today’s techsavy graduates. While traditional forms of recruitment adverts still have a place in GCHQ’s future plans the orginisation is clearly looking beyond the traditional outlets advertising to target new audiences to find the employees of the future.

GCHQ has two remits to cover signals intelligence and information assurances. Signals intelligence provides information to support the government in national security, law enforcement and military operations. Information assurance helps keep the Government communications and IT systems safe from hackers and other threats.

Advertisers and those who depend on advertising for income are keeping their fingers crossed this Christmas that after a long period of decline ad revenues might stabilize or even make a recovery.

Overall advertising is down again in 2009 compared to 2008 with many struggling to cope with the downturn. Its not just the like of local newspapers who are struggling either, big national papers as well as the likes of ITV and Channel 4 are all finding life difficult as their incomes continue to fall. Advertising agencies are also feeling the pinch with many have to scale back operation or having to close altogether.

The sign for the industry are not all doom and gloom though; many believe that this Christmas period could see advertising spend either match or beat last years spend. ITV is one such company who are predicting that December’s advertising revenue could be up 4% following a 3% fall in October and just a 1% fall in November.

It is hoped that the more positive outlook of many companies and consumers this year compared to last year and the likelihood of exiting the recession soon will see companies increase their advertising budgets. Many London advertising and UK advertising agencies are also predicting an upturn across many different advertising sectors such as TV advertising, outdoor advertising and recruitment advertising.

2008 saw the financing world dramatically hit by global economics, subsequently leading to a market where employees in banking jobs chose to stay in their current roles and jobseekers opportunities were reduced with hiring volumes greatly diminishing and supply far outweighing demand.

As an employer this provides you the opportunity when recruiting for finance jobs to pick from a highly competitive and meticulous job seeking market where more than ever before the demand for highly skilled, experienced professionals is expected and needed. 2009 has been a year of recovery and whilst job volumes have stayed relatively low, the financial sector has stabilised with permanent and temporary recruitment particularly in the financial control sector. Studies have shown that in spite of the economic downturn, there is still a skills shortage so finding the right candidate can be testing. Choosing a specialist professional recruitment consultancy to fulfill your recruitment project should provide you with a solution to meet your needs.

The right recruitment consultancy will help give you a competitive edge and find the right candidate for areas covering financial control, product control, audit, systems projects, treasury, tax, compliance disciplines to name but a few. They should be able to identify a candidate that will optimise your business performance and achieve the job role required of them. They will also be able to advise you on a range of market issues including salary surveys, organisational planning, payroll, contractual matters and training support. A good recruitment consultant will be trained to understand their market fully and their clients recruitment objectives and create and deliver a personalised service.

When choosing a recruitment consultancy it is wise to find out some key information. Consider their experience, how long they have been established, what their core values, vision and mission are. What benefits they can offer you as a client?  What their recruitment solutions are and how do they generate the right candidates? Ensure that you choose one that is expert at placing accountants at all levels of business from part qualified to finance directors to ensure you are paying for a service that will greatly reward you with the candidate you deserve.

I have often considered leaving the UK. There have been numerous times, as I sit at my work desk looking out of the window watching the rain pour down that I have felt slightly depressed at the reality of the winter season. But I am not alone, we all have our cross to bear and being a UK resident is often one of them. This doesn’t have to be the case though, as more and more people are deciding to move abroad the opportunities are increasing and becoming more tangible, especially if you have a skill set that is transferrable and in demand. Moving abroad not only provides you with an opportunity of a lifetime, gaining cultural experience and a diverse lifestyle but can also provide you with strong career development opportunities if you choose wisely.

Many employers regard candidates who have gained experience with international jobs as highly employable due to the experience and versatility they can demonstrate, so when the time is right to move back to the UK (if ever) your overseas credentials will work in your favour. Jobs abroad can be difficult to locate, so one of the best ways to find them is to contact a UK recruitment agency that specialises in your field of work. Many reputable companies abroad source agencies in the UK for them to find talented personnel through international recruitment. The agency will be able to present you with a range of choices and advise, from opportunities across countries and continents, market conditions, how to maximize your international experience to further your career and help you to prepare for the move. They can also identify job opportunities for your partner if this is a consideration.

Many misconceptions surround the opportunity of working abroad; one of the leading myths is that you have to be senior in your field of expertise. This is not necessarily true, international job opportunities can exist at all levels from newly qualified to Director/Partner. The main attributes an agency will look for is a confident personality, excellent interpersonal skills along with some international awareness and understanding of cultural and business practices.