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Print to take on Web Media at its own Game
Posted by Montage comms | 28.06.07
Traditional print media have responded to the threat of internet advertising by establishing their own strong web presence. But does this mean the end of the morning newspaper?
Statistics released by the Internet Advertising Bureau have revealed that advertising spend on the internet has now overtaken that in the national newspapers, and, with a total of two billion pounds spent on web advertising in 2006, the gap with TV advertising is closing too. In fact Google overtook Channel Four in advertising revenue last year!
As a result those publications that have not moved with the times have suffered. There have been some high profile casualties, for example, the company which owned the Oxford Courier and Oxford Journal has gone into administration recently. (For more information on the advertising decline follow the link – “Declining ad revenue hits traditional press hard“)
In a repsonse to the online news threat, the Western Daily Press has used News Editor Cathy Ellis as a TV news presenter. We at Montage think she is doing a good job! The newspaper has a videocast set up in order that Cathy can give you the latest news and comment on today’s Western Daily Press headlines.
Using new media to good effect, the Bath Chronicle’s” front page splash on the anger of residents kept awake by night-time rail engineering work was illustrated on its website with an audio file of the noise itself. News editor Paul Wiltshire said: “We couldn’t do justice to the sheer level of disruption this work was causing to people in print, but we could demonstrate its impact powerfully on the website. It gave a striking extra dimension to our coverage.”
The online news provided by local press and by newswires such as Reuters is great for the news junkies here at Montage. However, once we have read the morning news paper and digested most of the headlines online through out the day, should we bother with evening newspapers at all?
I personally think that the web resources of the Financial Times, Telegraph and the Guardian are actually better than the printed versions, as these include blogs, podcasts and video with the latest news.
The focus on getting our up-to-the-minute news from Ft.com on our blackberrys may be a reserve for young IT savvy professionals, but surely the newspaper traditionalist will be steadfast to the Sunday morning newspapers?
Only time will tell how the new media revolution will truely affect the traditional media, but I would expect one almighty scrap over the next year!
Calling all Digital Designers
Posted by Clarered | 25.06.07
Cut & Paste international design event is coming to the UK for the first time and is on the look out for digital designers who want to showcase their work on an international stage.
This live digital design tournament is happening in 11 cities round the world, and Germination is bringing the event to the Truman Brewery London on Saturday 20th October. Competing in three single-elimination rounds, the designs will be web-cast globally, projected in real-time for the live Cut & Paste audience and featured on a new designers’ social network site.
Judges include Patrick Burgoyne, Editor of Creative Review, Daljit Singh Creative Director and Founder of Digit, Laura Bambach Head of Art at Glue London, James Sommerville co-founder of ATTIK and Fiddian Warman Managing Director and Founder of Soda Creative Ltd.
The London Cut & Paste champion will receive a Wacom®21UX Cintiq interactive display, with the semifinalist taking home a Wacom®Intuos3 6”X8” Tablet. The winner of the Audience Prize will win an Adobe®Creative Suite 3 Master Collection Suite and all competitors will receive the new Adobe® Creative Suite 3 Design Premium.
If you’d like to take part, enter now by entering your contact details, a link to your work online and a bit of blurb, until July 17th on the Cut & Paste website.
Test rounds will be in central London at the end of July – a relaxed opportunity to audition while networking with other designers.
For a look at a previous event, check out this short clip on Cool Hunting.
Television Highlights w/c 18th June 2007
Posted by Attentional | 25.06.07
Monday 18th June 2007
ITV1’s new six-part series The Time of Your Life took its place at 21:00 with an audience of 6.7m (29.4%), enough to comfortably win the slot. The emotional thriller, another drama following the currently popular theme in which dramatic events in the past have devastating repercussions on the present, stars Genevieve O’Reilly as Kate, a 35 year-old women who wakes up after an 18-year coma, following an accident which killed a fellow pupil. ITV1’s previous 21:00 Monday drama, Diamond Geezer starring David Jason, was enjoyed by an average audience of 5.1m (21.3%), airing in April earlier this year.
Tuesday 19th June 2007
Business is big at the moment, as we saw last week when the final of The Apprentice pulled in 6.8m. Two new business-themed shows launched last night: Tycoon on ITV1 at 9pm, and Syed Ahmed – Hot Air? on Sky One at 10pm. Tycoon is produced by Peter Jones TV, and features Peter Jones (of Dragon’s Den fame) challenging six would-be entrepreneurs to set up a viable business in just 10 weeks. Extra interest stems from the fact that the contestants live together in ‘Tycoon Towers’ for the duration of the challenge. Tycoon attracted 2m (9.1%) between 9-10pm, but the story of Britain’s Got Talent last week shows that it’s difficult to judge a new format on its first episode. Optomen Television’s The F Word won the 9-10pm slot for Channel 4 with 4.2m (19.3%), a huge increase on last week’s 2.9m.
Wednesday 20th June 2007
It’s been 18 months since UK citizens feasted on the first series of the BBC/HBO historical drama Rome, so doubtless some viewers were eagerly anticipating the debut of the second (and last) series on BBC2 at 9pm last night. The 10-part second series picks up on events following the death of Julius Caesar, but the real story is behind the scenes – the first series was rumoured to have cost around $100m to make, and the lavish drama boasts the world’s largest standing film set. The first episode of series 1 attracted 6.6m viewers back in November 2005 amid much hype, but the ratings for that series then trailed off to a low of 2.3m. This time viewers know what to expect from the off, which was perhaps reflected in an audience of 2.2m (10.4%).
Thursday 21st June 2007
ITV1 launched an updated version of the Holiday Showdown strand, Holiday Showdown Extreme, at 9pm, followed by Hollywood Lives at 10pm. Holiday Showdown has had five series on ITV1, but this was the first Extreme. The basic premise remains the same: two families (who have never met before) spend a fortnight together, with a week at each of their favourite holiday destinations. Conflict often ensues, as the two families often have radically different ideas of what constitutes a good time. Holiday Showdown Extreme averaged 2.2m (9.6%) between 9pm and 10pm. The last series of Holiday Showdown in January 2006 averaged 3.7m.
Friday 22nd June 2007
True music fans spent the weekend knee deep in mud on a Somerset farm, but for those who like to keep clean and dry the BBC brought Glastonbury into the living room. The first of the highlight shows on BBC2 (8 – 8:30pm) attracted 1.1m (5.7%), and BBC2 returned to the festival at 11pm to party into the small hours, reaching a peak of 786,100 (8%) at 11:30pm. With so much going on at Glastonbury, the BBC is able to make full use of its range of television channels and radio stations. BBC3 had extensive coverage focused on ‘mainstream’ acts, hitting a peak quarter-hour audience of 733,900 at 10pm. That was also the peak period for BBC4’s more eclectic coverage of the evening, attracting 174,000.
Saturday 23rd June 2007
Tony Blair hasn’t quite closed the door on 10 Downing Street yet, but Channel 4 has got in ahead of the inevitable rush of programmes reviewing his decade in power with The Rise and Fall of Tony Blair (7-9pm). Political commentator Andrew Rawnsley explored the first two terms of Blair’s office in this Brook Lapping documentary, looking at the highs and lows of his early years as Prime Minister. Politics is rarely a topic for mainstream success (especially a two-hour documentary), but The Rise and Fall of Tony Blair averaged a credible 1.1m (6.2%). The concluding part is on Monday evening at 8pm.
Sunday 24th June 2007
The environment is a hot topic at the moment as global warming continues unabated. BBC1 is highlighting the damage we humans are wreaking on our planet in a new series entitled Saving Our Planet, stripped nightly over the next 10 days. Each episode sees a different celebrity highlighting the plight of an endangered species, with names such as pop-singer Will Young (gorillas), presenter Fiona Bruce (tigers), and cricketer Phil Tufnell (rhinos), taking part. Venerable natural history presenter Sir David Attenborough set the scene in this opening episode (7-8pm), with footage from his journeys highlighting the conflict between man and nature. The programme attracted an average audience of 4.7m (22.3%). This was above average for a Factual programme in this slot.
For more information – www.attentional.com
Screenwriters Festival another star-studded line up
Posted by Clarered | 20.06.07
With only a few weeks to go, the Screenwriters Festival, which takes place in Cheltenham on the 3 – 6 July, has again secured an outstanding line up:
Speakers include David Hare (Plenty, The Hours) Diana Ossana (Brokeback Mountain) Bill Nicholson (Gladiator), Michael Goldenberg (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix) and UK Producer Stephen Woolley as well as representatives from BBC Films, Film4, and Telefilms.
For full programme info and to book visit the Screenwriters Festival website
Poor 2012 logo PR has led to speculation of a Tizwas logo influence
Posted by Montage comms | 19.06.07
The media frenzy around the launch of the controversial 2012 logo has been made far worse thanks to poor PR handling.
Leading the team at Wolff Olins – the brand consultancy paid £400,000 for designing the logo that triggered online petitions and a motion from MPs – was the Chairman, Brian Boylan, who has remained silent on the subject.
This silence has allowed the press and blogs alike to speculate on the origins of the logo. The most popular being the Tizwas logo.
Many may be aware of the online competitions that are ongoing to suggest a replacement. Including the BBC competition that was hastily pulled.
I would like set a new competition and see the Bristol creative submit 2012 logo ideas to this blog, to show the talent and (value for money) that Bristol can provide in supporting the 2012 effort, rather than all the work go to London agencies!
To get the creative juices flowing, you may be interested to know that the Kenyan Olympic team are coming to Bristol in 2012 and the sailing will be taking part in Weymouth too. So you may want to do a 2012 logo for Bristol / South West?!
For those of you interested in the 2012 PR campaign and crisis PR analysis, we have created this on my blog (click on link to view).
Television Highlights w/c 11th June 2007
Posted by Attentional | 18.06.07
Monday 11th June 2007
Prison Break, Fox’s action-packed chase drama concluded on Five at 22:00, with the 22nd and final episode attracting an audience of 1.3m (7.6%), 103,000 up on last week’s episode. This brought the series average to 1.6m (8.2%). This is down on the ratings for the first series, which ended in June last year and drew an average audience of 1.8m (9.2%). Five has not been able to outrun Sky in its pursuit of the third series so, as was the case for Channel 4’s Lost after its second series, Prison Break will make the transition from terrestrial to multichannel, and a new home on Sky One, for series three. Lost has become one of Sky One’s most successful dramas since it moved to the satellite channel and established itself in the 22:00 timeslot on Sunday.
Tuesday 12th June 2007
Anybody responsible for commissioning Light Entertainment (especially sit-coms) would pay a king’s ransom to find out what makes people laugh, so I hope they were paying attention to Lenny’s Britain (BBC1, 9pm) last night. In this new four-part series, affable comedian Lenny Henry travels the length and breadth of the country to find out what raises a chuckle. The programme was a BBC/Open University co-production, hinting at a serious side to Henry’s investigation into the dynamics of humour. The programme faced tough competition from Britain’s Got Talent over on ITV1 (going strong with 7m, 29.9%), leaving Lenny Henry with 2.6m (11.4%).
Wednesday 13th June 2007
Business tycoon Sir Alan Sugar’s search for a third ‘apprentice’ reached a climax last night as 27 year old internet entrepreneur Simon Ambrose heard the famous words ‘You’re hired!’. The final of The Apprentice was also good business for BBC1, pulling in 6.8m viewers and a 27.4% share. This was the highest ever rating for the show, vindicating the decision to switch it from BBC2 to BBC1 for the third series. Last year’s final on BBC2 attracted 5.8m (26.6%). BBC2 didn’t entirely miss out to its older brother – a sizeable audience of 4.2m (18.4%) tuned into BBC2 at 10pm (as the main BBC1 show ended) to watch The Apprentice: You’re Hired!, a sort of Big Brother’s Little Brother for Apprentice fans with Adrian Chiles in the Dermot O’Leary role.
Thursday 14th June 2007
Detective duo Dalziel and Pascoe returned to solve some more murders on BBC1 at 9pm last night. The story is split across two episodes, with the concluding half on Friday evening. This tactic can work well, provided the first episode can hook enough viewers. The last series averaged 6.2m (26.1%) back in September 2006, but last night’s audience was down from this at 5.3m (22%).
It seems the talent of actors Warren Clarke (Dalziel) and Colin Buchanan (Pascoe) could not compete with the ‘talents’ of ITV1, as Britain’s Got Talent saw its ratings increase for the fifth night in a row. Last night’s bumper audience of 7.9m (33.8%) between 9pm and 10:30pm was a 60% increase on last Saturday’s audience of 4.9m. ITV1’s highest quarter-hour share nearly always coincides with one of the soaps, but last night it was the 10pm slot with an average share of 40%. This was well above the slot average, and second only to the Champions League between Chelsea and Liverpool back on 1st May for the year to date.
Friday 15th June 2007
It’s 60 years since India was under the Raj, and to mark the occasion BBC2 is showing the three-part series Lost World of the Raj (21:00 – 22:00). The opening episode mixed home-video footage with accounts from those who lived the life to take us back to a time when expats tried to instil some quintessential Englishness into their daily lives, whilst riding elephants into the jungle wearing pith helmets. Given the stiff mainstream competition from Dalziel and Pascoe on BBC1 and Britain’s Got Talent on ITV1, Lost World of The Raj attracted a respectable 1.8m (7.6%).
Saturday 16th June 2007
Saturday evenings have become synonymous with Light Entertainment recently, so it made a change for BBC1 to launch new drama series, Jekyll, in a Saturday 9-9:55pm slot. Hartswood Films’ six-part series stars James Nesbitt as Tom Jackmann and James Nesbitt as Tom Hyde, the only living descendent of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic tale is ripe for a reworking, and Nesbitt seems a perfect choice for a man battling against his alter-ego. Episode 1 got off to a solid start, attracting 5.1m (23.5%).
Sunday 17th June 2007
The live final of Britain’s Got Talent took centre stage on ITV1 on Sunday between 8pm and 9pm. The Talkback Thames/Syco co-production has steadily been picking up viewers all week, and the indications looked good for a blockbuster finish. It didn’t disappoint, with a phenomenal average audience of 11.1m (44.3%) and a peak of 13.5m (51.7%) at 9pm (the show overran by five minutes to finish at five minutes past). This meant that ITV1 had more viewers than the other four terrestrial channels combined for the duration of the show. The results show (10 – 10:30pm) was equally impressive, as 10.9m (46.9%) tuned in to watch unassuming opera singer Paul Potts win the competition (and book a place in the line-up for this year’s Royal Variety Performance). The real winner was the format itself, reinventing the concept of the variety show such as 1960’s hit Opportunity Knocks for the X Factor generation, and appealing to viewers of all ages in the process.
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