INDUSTRY VOICES

LONDON - MiTAC, the information technology group behind sat nav brands Navman and Mio, has launched a review of its estimated £10.5m pan-European media account.

LONDON - Sportswear retailer Puma has signed as sponsor of Eurosport's television coverage of the African Cup of Nations football tournament.

LONDON - Senior media agency executives saw their salaries drop in 2007, while an increase in demand boosted salaries at the junior end of the industry.

LONDON - Global Radio's advisers have begun making contact with GCap Media shareholders to divine their reaction to its 190p-a-share offer, which was turned down by GCap's board last month.

LONDON - Benson for Beds is supporting its £1.5m January sales TV campaign with a direct drive.

LONDON - ITV1's decision to remove its high rating soaps Emmerdale and Coronation Street from its Sunday night line-up has caused the programmes' sponsors to demand urgent talks with ITV in an attempt to get the broadcaster to deliver guarantees on value.

LONDON - ITV has boosted its digital operations with the appointment of the Sun Online's assistant editor Marc Webber and IMG's Kate Bradshaw.

Food products that are deemed essential will be well placed to deal with an economic downturn, while more premium items face the prospect of being banished from shopping lists as consumers tighten their belts.

LONDON - The Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA) is kicking off 2008 with a pre-emptive strike against the threat of recession.

NEW YORK - Hyundai/Kia has appointed Interpublic Group's Initiative to handle its US media business, estimated to be worth around $800m (£404m), following a review.

LONDON - This month's Golden Globes Awards film ceremony, the traditional prelude to the Oscars, has been cancelled because of the ongoing strike by the Writers Guild of America, which began in November.

LONDON - Kerry Katona, the former popstar now better known for her lifestyle excesses, has lost her contract as the spokeswoman for supermarket chain Iceland, which will not be renewed when it comes to an end in March.

LONDON - News Corporation has spent €287m (£213m) on a 14.6% stake in Germany's biggest pay-TV broadcaster, Premiere, which shows live German football league games, movies and hit drama 'Lost'.

NEW YORK - Starbucks has sacked its chief executive Jim Donald and reinstalled its chairman, and former long-time chief, Howard Schultz, in the top job.

NEW YORK - DraftFCB has appointed Wendy Lurrie from its New York office to the new worldwide role of chief strategy and marketing officer.

LONDON - Aegis agency Carat has picked up the AA's prized £22m online ad account from digital media agency I-Level without a pitch.

LONDON - A think-tank with close links to the government has attacked confectioners for rolling out their Easter egg ranges and associated marketing straight after Christmas.

LONDON - Mercedes-Benz has appointed Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO to its £14m ad account, ending its six-year relationship with AMV's sister Omnicom agency, Shop.

LONDON - Friends Reunited, the social networking site owned by ITV, is set to undergo a name change as part of a strategic overhaul in response to growing pressure from rivals.

LONDON - Diageo is to cut back on the number of products it launches, as part of its five-year innovation plan.

LONDON - InBev, the world's biggest brewer, is holding a pan-European digital pitch for its premium beer brand Beck's ahead of an increase in online adspend.

LONDON - McDonald's is building its first UK digital agency roster as part of an overhaul of its marketing strategy for the coming year.

LONDON - Prime Minister Gordon Brown has called for the creation of a single food labelling scheme to avoid consumer confusion.

LONDON - Digital design agency Chameleon Net has won a contract with French international humanitarian medical aid agency Medecins Sans Frontieres to redesign its website.

LONDON - Social history website Ancestry.co.uk is launching a direct response acquisition campaign to capitalise on the rising interest in genealogical searches, helped by the success of BBC programme Who do you think you are?

LONDON - Volkswagen has signed up to sponsor documentary programming across Channel 4 in a 12-month deal.

LONDON - Furniture brand DFS is to sponsor ITV's third series of Dancing on Ice for the second year running.

LONDON - 'Top Gear' presenter Jeremy Clarkson has revealed that his bank details have been used fraudulently after he claimed that the government's recent loss of data was a 'storm in a teacup'.

LONDON - Sky has made an agreement with Land Securities to become the exclusive retailer of entertainment and communication services on the concourses of all its flagship shopping centres.

LONDON - Retailers using loyalty card schemes are being urged by a new report to increase the incentives offered to customers who buy and use environmentally friendly products.

LONDON - Michael Parkinson, the recently retired and knighted chat show host, is the new face of AXA Sun Life Direct.

London - Nearly a quarter of 18 to 24-year-olds believe that brands have to work harder to earn their respect, according to a survey of 2,500 people by social networking site MySpace.

LONDON - Guardian Unlimited, the most visited UK newspaper online, is set to jump on the social networking bandwagon after striking a deal with Pluck, a provider of social networking platforms.

LONDON - Outdoor advertising outfit Look Media and specialist media agency Ambient Media have teamed up for a campaign to promote a new computer game based around Disney's High School Musical.

LONDON - ScottFree Productions, the company set up by film director Sir Ridley Scott, is to produce a film pitched by Edelman PR executive Jere Sullivan, based on the events of the 1986 summit in Reykjavik that helped bring about an end to the Cold War.

LONDON - James Bennett has been promoted to the new role of group head at thelondonpaper.

LONDON - Toby Courlander, a partner at the production company Outsider, has resigned to concentrate on writing a feature film.

LONDON - The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and NatWest will sponsor 4Homes, Channels 4's property strand. From January, RBS and NatWest's mortgage and insurance businesses will sponsor a raft of programmes returning in 2008, including Relocation, Relocation; Grand Designs; Property Ladder and Location Location Location.

LONDON - Times Media is set to launch a promotion featuring classic children's TV DVDs with the aim of targeting families and nostalgic adults.

LONDON - The Financial Times has increased its cover price for the second time in seven months by 20p to £1.50.

LONDON - Bounty, the direct to parent marketing company, has promoted Ian Beswetherick to managing director.

LONDON - Environment minister Joan Ruddock has warned the direct marketing industry that it needs to improve its environmental record if it is to avoid legislation such as a mandatory opt-in for direct mail.

LONDON - Aegis Group, owner of market research company Synovate, has acquired US market research firm Oncology.

LONDON - Oris, the Swiss watch maker, has extended its sponsorship agreement with Formula 1's AT&T Williams team for a further three years.

LONDON - Major online retail brands Play.com and Amazon UK have come top for customer satisfaction over the Christmas period, according to a survey.

LONDON - ITV1's Sunday night favourite 'Foyle's War' has made a triumphant return, pulling in an audience of 6.7m and an average share 28.7% of all viewers, and beating BBC One's latest costume drama 'Sense and Sensibility'.

LONDON - DoubleClick has appointed Andy Mihalop, from Reed Business Information, as director of strategic services within DoubleClick Performics.

LONDON - Denise Van Outen is reported to be joining DJ Johnny Vaughan as co-host of his Capital Radio breakfast show this month.

LONDON - Decorative paint brand Crown has hired Code Computerlove to create a new consumer website and overhaul its digital marketing, following a three way pitch.

LONDON - Haven Holidays, which operates 35 family holiday parks, has chosen ITV 1 sci-fi drama Primeval to make its first investment in sponsorship.

LONDON - TMN Group has acquired Netherlands-based digital direct marketing agency TAPPS BV for an initial sum of £5.7m.

LONDON - Nigel Bogle, the group chief executive officer at Bartle Bogle Hegarty is to take the role of group chairman as part of a series of senior management changes at the agency.

LONDON - JWT has appointed Orlando Hooper-Greenhill, head of international planning at Bartle Bogle Hegarty, to the new role of director of global planning.

I'd say yes, and use as an example the fact that Gordon Brown has been wrong-footed yet again, writes Stephen Foster.

LONDON - Nivea Visage, SanDisk and Yell.com Mobile are among the first displayer advertisers on Microsoft's MSN Mobile portal.

As the US heads towards recession, Stephen Foster looks at the effect a possible UK downturn will have on media stocks and Global Radio's bid for GCap.

LONDON - The News of the World has followed sister newspaper The Sun by launching its own pre-paid MasterCard, in partnership with Tuxedo Money Solutions, a pre-paid cash card company.

LONDON - GCap Media's share price has surged by as much as 50% this morning after it emerged that the company had rejected a £310m takeover bid from rival Global Radio, which offered a 57% premium on Friday's share price.

LONDON - Jamie Oliver has criticised Sainsbury's, whose advertising campaign he fronts, for failing to turn up to a debate about chicken farming on his Channel 4 TV documentary 'Jamie's Fowl Dinners'.

LONDON - The British armed forces have been criticised for their recruitment techniques in a new report that says marketing materials glamorise warfare to children and fail to highlight the risks of military careers.

LONDON - Sony has dealt a blow to rivals Microsoft and Toshiba in the next-generation, high-definition DVD format wars, after its Blu-ray technology secured a deal with Warner Brothers.

LONDON - Jimmy Wales, the founder of online encyclopaedia Wikipedia, has unveiled a community-oriented search engine that allows members to rate results and improve relevancy and accuracy for other users.

LONDON - Cancer Research UK is to launch a Watson Phillips Norman-devised DRTV campaign on terrestrial and satellite channels encouraging donor support from men.

LONDON - Video search engine Blinkx has added property to its searchable content through a deal with the UK channel Real Estate TV.

LONDON - Intermarketing has created a new identity for Safe@Last to raise awareness of the charity's work, providing services for children and young people in South Yorkshire who have run away from, or been forced to leave, home.

LONDON - Toyota and Marks & Spencer have topped a ranking of 198 multinationals according to how ethical they were perceived to be in 2007, while oil giant ExxonMobil finished bottom.

LONDON - Bluepod Media has signed up eight Premiership and Championship football clubs, as well as the Scottish Premier League champions Celtic, to install its Bluetooth units in stadiums.

LONDON - Virgin Radio has signed a six-figure deal to promote the launch of the Fiat 500 with a campaign that will culminate in a live event at the London Eye.

LONDON - As Injurylawyers4u tops Marketing's public poll of irritating ads for the second year running, David Tiltman asks why advertisers deliberately set out to annoy the nation's TV viewers.

LONDON - New alcohol marketing rules have been introduced by the Portman Group, the largest financial backer of charity The Drinkaware Trust.

LONDON - Greenfield Online has unveiled global plans for real-time sampling, beginning with the UK and Canada this month.

LONDON - GMTV managing editor John Scammell has resigned from the breakfast TV station with immediate effect.

LONDON - Adventure holiday company Explore has teamed up with restaurant group Giraffe to promote its responsible tourism credentials and range of family holidays.

LONDON - Beehive Research, the online market research firm that launched in October last year, has appointed Rune Wennesland as head of operations.

LONDON - Tributes were this week being paid to Phil Dusenberry, the highly acclaimed BBDO creative and one of the most influential figures in US advertising, who has died aged 71.

LONDON - WPP agency JWT has acquired a 75% stake in Belgian digital and relationship marketing agency for an undisclosed sum.

LONDON - Skipton Information Group, the parent company of EuroDirect, Callcredit and Gmap Consulting, has acquired Broadsystem from News International for an undisclosed sum.

LONDON -- Two of adland’s most high-profile new-business executives, Lowe’s Judy Mitchem and Saatchi & Saatchi’s Adam Kirby, have left their respective posts.

LONDON - London-based talk radio station LBC 97.3 has reshuffled its presenter line up to create a new drivetime presenting team featuring the broadcaster's James Hartigan and Petrie Hosken.

LONDON - The celebrity hijack spin-off of 'Big Brother', in which various celebrities are invited to be Big Brother for a day, debuted last night with only half of its predecessors' audience.

LONDON - IPC Advertising has promoted Amanda Wigginton to the newly created role of director of Insight, the group's consumer research division, after she successfully led the launch of several initiatives last year.

LONDON - Digital radio station Oneword Radio appears to be set for closure as Channel 4 sells its 51% stake back to its partner UBC Media for £1.

LONDON - Music CD sales fell by 15% in the US last year as consumers turned to legal and illegal digital downloads, according to research.

LONDON - Broadband company Tiscali is planning to launch a mobile phone service this year by rebranding ToucanMobile, which it acquired last summer.

LONDON - Bebo has been named the safest and most user-friendly social networking site, edging out rivals MySpace and Facebook, in a poll conducted by Computing Which? magazine.

LONDON - Consumer technology company Logitech has launched a viral game to drive sales of its webcam products.

LONDON -- Malcolm Earnshaw, the former director general of ISBA, received a CBE in the New Year’s Honours List.

The AA is the dominant brand leader in the roadside assistance market. Over the last 100 years, the brand has been built on the quality, expertise and dedication of its patrol force. Their expertise is not only with cars (they fix over 80%of breakdowns at the roadside); but with car owners. This is key to AA's market leading position.

LONDON - Pearson, publisher of the Financial Times, has acquired Money-Media, a US-based online news and commentary business, for an undisclosed sum.

LONDON - BSkyB is to show a brand new, award-winning feature film on its pay-per-view film channel on the same day as it is released in UK cinemas in a deal with Curzon Artificial Eye.

LONDON - Online loyalty business Ipoints.co.uk has hired two senior management staff in the form of Adam Maher and Megan Stevenson, as part of the expansion of its UK presence.

Consumers are finally taking to the mobile internet. So how can brands create a successful presence through the medium?

Websites used to be design-led, with usabilty an afterthought. That's changing as a more scientific approach proves its worth.

The loss by HM Revenue and Customs of the UK's child benefit database has left clients such as myself wondering if it could happen to us. What is the best way to store and transfer customer data?

No one could have missed the hullabaloo surrounding the loss of the UK's child benefit database. What has been often overlooked, however, is the fact that the laws that were broken were only ten and five years old respectively.

Product: Avail Intelligence

Michael Toothill, Head of data management, Cancer Research UK

MDM (Master Data Management) may be just another acronym but it's also a process that aims to help brands standardise data and eliminate errors. It emerged in the US around 2001, with the advent of the Sarbanes-Oxley laws, and is starting to gain ground in the UK.

What does your job involve? Ensuring our database is comprehensive in terms of coverage and key information, up to date and that it can integrate across our channels and customer touch points.

1. Spain's Data Protection Agency has issued its 2006 annual report. Fines imposed for breaches totalled more than 24m euros, including 14 sanctions for unsolicited commercial email.