Category Archives: Business News

Gala Bingo to shut bingo halls

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Bingo halls across Britain are struggling to make the numbers work after falling income and a tax increase could spell the end of many halls. Even the biggest player in the bingo industry Gala Coral are looking to close up to 6 clubs with the loss of 180 jobs. This could be joined by another 100 clubs right across the country.

Some insiders believe that this is not the end of the closures but only the beginning. Over the next two years some believe that 40 to 50 more clubs may be closed or sold off, many of which are former cinemas, allowing Gala to concentrate on the more popular flat floor halls. Since the smoking ban, which many blame a down turn in business on, and the scrapping of section 21, Gala have closed 13 bingo hall and 4 casinos.

The recent rise in duty on bingo from 15 per cent to 22 per cent has forced many bingo operators to reassess their futures. The Rank Group, owners of the Mecca Bingo chain, has had to issue a profits warning estimating that they will now lose £9 million a year in lost profits.

Its not all bad bingo news at the moment though, online bingo is continuing to grow bigger and bigger and has become the fastest growing form of gambling on the internet. In 2008 the world wide online bingo market is worth $1.4billion, this year it is expected to hot $1.7billion with it rising to £2billion in 2010.

The online market is good news for Gala too. Gala Bingo is currently sitting pretty as the number one online bingo site in the UK; thought is position could be under threat with the impending sale of internet rival Cashcade.

Bingo Budget Bust

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Latest bingo news is not looking good. Amidst tough times for the bingo industry the government delta bother blow in their recent budget, despite belief that the government was sympathetic towards the industry.

The government has brought in partial exemption for bingo clubs yet it has stopped VAT reclaims which has previously been so beneficial to the industry to help reduce there large tax burden.

GPT meanwhile has seen an almost 50% increase to 22% from 15%. Some in the bingo industry are seeing this as an even heavier tax burden laid onto to struggling sector.

Many bingo games, specifically those involving cash for prizes, were originally tax exempt, under new government proposals however they will see there current tax levels rise from 15% to 22%. It was also revealed on Wednesday that VAT will be exempt from bingo rather than the zero rated that many had been hoping for. Leading bingo company Ranks chief executive Ian Burke said to the Daily Telegraph “I don’t understand what the UK land Bingo Industry has done to justify the government’s vindictiveness.”

The news of the tax increase spread quickly through the city and it traders. Shares in the Rank group tumbled by almost 14% after Alistair Darlings budget. The company has been predicting that the tax increase could see almost £6million wiped off its profits in the coming year while it could be as much as £9million annual in the future. As a result the company has had to scale down there pretax profit predictions, for 2009 the group are now predicting profits of £34million compared to £40.3million previously, while in 2010 forecasts are down to £32.5million from an expected £41million

Online bingo sector seems to have been much more fortunate that its offline counterpart. This has been largely due to the fact that many online operators are based outside of the UK so they get to avoid the tax burden. Those Online bingo operators who are in the UK have predicted an extra 7% of there income will go in the treasury coffers.

Bingo Breaks the Bank on TV millions

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online bingo

Recent research by one of the internets leading bingo directories has found that online bingo sites are spending millions on TV advertising.

The focus of the report was the amount of money spent on advertising by the major bingo operators and the size of the online bingo industry.

The report showed that Foxy Bingo was by far the biggest spender. Their totals spend accounted to nearly a third of the total spending by the industry by spending $3.27 million. Its nearest rival in the spending charts was online bingo newcomer Tombola who spent over $2.5 million.

The report also showed that there are now over 230 online sites in Britain. There combined spending on TV accounted for more than $10 million.

The likes of Think Bingo, Party Bingo and Crown Bingo were also responsible for a considerable amount on advertising spending, with $1.09 million, $993,000 and $622,000 spent respectively.

During the research of the report it was noted that despite the current economic down turn bingo sites are still holding with plenty of people playing bingo online on strong and it’s likely they will continue to spend big on TV advertising in 2009. So far this year we have already seen big advertising campaigns from Foxy Bingo and Tomola.

Interestingly the report shows that the two biggest players in bingo, Gala Bingo and Mecca Bingo, where not among 2008′s big spenders. Both companies felt that it was not necessary to advertise heavily during 2008 after years of successful TV advertising has bought huge volumes of customers to its sites. It will remain to be seen if they change there stance in 2009.

How the Dutch view the current Financial Crisis

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While researching the state of financial recruitment and accountant jobs in the Netherlands we came across some interesting information on the views of the Dutch public when it came to the recent recession / financial crisis that we are having.

Due to a recent poll, the majority of people in the Netherlands think that the current financial crisis we are facing will come to an end in one to two years time.

The people in the Netherlands are confident that things will be sorted out sooner rather than later. Nearly half of the people who were asked thought that the current crisis will last between one to two years. A small, fifteen percent of the poll thought the crisis will be over within a year and a fifth are of the opinion that things will stay bad for two to three years.

These results were taken from a poll conducted by the central bank in the Netherlands, De Nederlandsche Bank. The poll was part of the bank’s quarterly report that also announces that 39 billion euros were lost last year by Dutch banks thanks to the current financial problems.

While the opinions of the Dutch people may seem optimistic, they do correspond to predictions from the economic policy unit that were recently released. These predictions from the CPB show that the economy in the Netherlands is expected to fall by 3.5% in 2009 and by 0.25% in 2010, then recovery is expected to start. Consumption levels are expected to stay the same during this period despite problems.

According to the bank’s poll, the Dutch public are planning to cut back on their spending. Half of the people interviewed said that they will reduce their spending as the think their purchasing power to diminish. This statistic is strange as it is generally expected that purchasing power will increase due to wage increases and improved unemployment benefits.

An average of 80 euros is the figure that people will be expecting to cut back on per month and around half of consumers are said to not be making large purchase until things get better.

When it comes to employment and jobs, half of respondents feel safe in their current jobs despite warning of a strong rise in employment. The main group of people who are worried about being laid off are from the low income groups which is understandable. Out of currently employed people around 40% think it will be difficult to find a new job.

Has the online bingo bubble burst?

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Some of the latest reports concerning the online bingo sector show that after bucking the credit crunch for so long bingo sites might finally start feeling the pinch. In the last quarter of 2008 online users increased just 1% which is down significantly on the 10% increase the market experienced in the previous quarter.

The on going recession is a clear impact on the performance of online bingo. With more people unemployed or facing the prospect of unemployment people are cutting back on their spending, especially on non essential items like internet bingo.

Recession is not the only problem however. After years of growth more and more bingo sites sprung up in an attempt to cash in on the massive popularity of bingo. As a result the online bingo market has now reached a saturation point. Before long many bingo sites will be closing down as they fail to compete with the bigger competitors. We will also see many sites merge and other bought out in an attempt to solidify market share.

The fact that growth in online bingo games slowed in the last 3 months did not come as much of a surprise to some. Some see the lack of advertising in the last quarter of the year as a reason for a lack of new customers. With Christmas falling in the last quarter bingo sites are simply unable to match the advertising spend of the high street companies in the last few months of the year. Companies spend millions each in advertising and marketing leaving the vast majority of bingo sites unable to buy advertising space or to make it cost effective enough.

All eyes will be on the figures for the first quarter of 2009 to see if the slow down is a mere blip or a sign of things to come.

How Ford plot their future dominance

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The new generation of Ford Fiesta’s have recently been manufactured in their Cologne factory, Germany. The small Ford cars that have proved very popular in the past are receiving a slight makeover in order to attract new customers.

Newly conceived by the European Ford Development Team the hopes are that the Ford Fiesta can meet the heavy expectations of both customers and critics worldwide. The plans for the future of Ford will be different for each main continent meaning that the new Ford will be tailored and made differently in Europe, Asia and the Americas.

The factory in Cologne has been given the privilege of being the first assembly line to make the new car anywhere in the world. This month work will start in Valencia on the new Ford making it the 2nd plant to manufacture the model. The other plants outside of Europe that will be making the car are Nanjing – China, Cuautitlan – Mexico and Rayong – Thailand.

The Ford Motor Company CEO and President, Alan Mulally celebrated the developments with a message for the Ford employees saying : “Today we are celebrating the start of a new era for our fabulous Ford Motor Company. The first product of our Global Product Development System, the all-new Fiesta is an outstanding symbol for our One Ford vision of a single, global company designing and building cars for customers around the world. Be proud of what you have achieved and be proud of your contribution to a model that will get the world talking.”

If you are interested in finding a Ford dealer in Poole or perhaps purchasing a Ford Fiesta from Poole then please contact a Local Ford Dealer

The paradox of marketing in a poor economy

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Through these tough financial times the usual knee jerk reaction towards Marketing Advertising is to reduce budgets. Surprisingly, in comparison with this fairly natural reaction when business and the economy are thriving some advertisers do feel the need to hold back.

Most markets and niches have had to consider the paradox of reducing budgets in a time of financial meltdown. Reports and data from previous recessions have shown that in times like these the worst time to cut down on marketing budgets is now and that also whilst everyone else is being cautious, now is the time to be attracting new customers and clients that you may not of been able to get 12-18 months ago. By building your brand up now and overtaking rivals you can make sure that you are top dog in your market when the money comes around again.

In tough economic periods, slicing marketing resources for personal injury businesses is a non rational response based on the doom and gloom market fed from the media. Why are they working at the same amount of risk as they are in financially healthy times? Because personal injury companies are based around calculated risk, therein working on a contingent fee basis means that whether we are in a recession or not, the amount of work they’ll be getting shouldn’t change. Funnily it is predicted that personal injury claims could rise in the next 12-24 months because of stretched finances and unemployment.

The centre of the debate revolves around we plan for the future. Do we continue, increase or decrease with Advertising Recruitment budgets? This all depends on how we view advertising, is it an expense or is it an investment? The former can be cut to ensure the future but the latter needs to be secured to ensure future stability and growth in times of strife.

How Social networking could threaten marketing growth

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Nearly 70% of UK Advertising Agencies are unprepared for online changes that will have to be implemented after the rise of social networking and other forms of internet social media.

A damning recent report has revealed that Direct Response Advertising Agencies will grow at a very slow rate of 1.2% a year by 2016 if other agencies are slow to change the way that they work after the emergence of social media sites like Twitter, Facebook and Youtube.

Social networking has enabled users/possible customers to pass on product, brand or service information to and from friends and this new technique is now seen as more powerful than other traditional ways of advertising.

Companies like Cadbury have hit the ground running in terms of social interaction with a recent advert showing a gorilla playing the drums being popular on the television but even more so online with Youtube saying that the advert has been viewed over 10 million times! The “Campaign for real beauty” from skincare giants Dove has also seen an increase in sales thanks to viral marketing videos shown on Youtube.

Although these two do appear to be success stories it appears that not enough companies are following in their footsteps and adjusting to the digital world. The worst case scenario has predicted that 16 million pounds could be lost by 2016 if UK Advertising Agencies fail to make new products and advertise them for the social media world.

7 out of 10 businesses most likely to use online marketing

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Recent reports have found that a large percentage of marketing executives are most intrigued by internet marketing strategies when it comes to choosing a online advertising agency.

This is thanks to the latest study by business development consultancy Reardon Smith Whittaker (RSW) which states that nearly 70% of advertising professionals from some of the biggest firms world-wide, rated online marketing as the most interesting niche that they wanted to find out more about.

After internet marketing there was experiential campaigns, mobile advertising, buzz marketing, travel marketing and search engine marketing. Reardon Smith Whittaker also confirmed that the two most important criteria when deciding to work with a new online advertising agency was being able to understand their clients planned direction and creative thinkers.

Mark Schneider – Managing director for RSW explained what people are looking for, particularly in this current financial climate “Given the challenges clients are facing in light of the economy, they need agencies that can get up to speed quickly, add smart value-added thinking and are a trustworthy lot.” This doesn’t come as a massive surprise considering that online advertising has now risen to 20% of the advertising market in the UK.



Five reasons to use an advertising agency in the recession

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Consumer relevancy:

A lot of data and information can be taken from viewing habits of people watching TV online. E.g. an advertising company can add specific adverts for specific viewers. Two neighbouring houses are watching a football match online, during the break the marketing advertising company can send adverts for the person supporting the blues and separate adverts for the person supporting the reds. Thus contacting the appropriate viewers and more likely to get a sale.

Accountability:

This new form of interactive advertisement means that customer interest and clicks can be finely measured. Companies now can tell what their most popular product is and what isn’t. Meaning that the famous quote “I know that half my advertising doesn’t work. The problem is, I don’t know which half.” can eventually be retired.

Advertisement Capping

This clever idea is saving alot of money for alot of companies. If an advert has been shown to a particular user over four times and there has been no click through or a poor return the advert is then sent to a different group, targeting a different demographic. This form of capping is particularly popular with recruitment advertising agencies

Filtering Different Markets:

Alcohol adverts avoid certain times and programmes for the obvious reason of marketing for people under the age of 18 and wasting budgets. User data can be implemented to block adverts for people outside of the adverts market and replaced with more relevant messages.

Pricing:

More and more companies, particularly those on a tight budget are able to advertise on online TV instead of through more traditional TV advertising. Thanks to the superb target market filtering system adverts for Ferrari or Omega are available to millionaires in their yachts on the coast of Monaco. This specialised advertising looks to be the future and long may it continue.