StealthNET Ltd

The Daily Mirror launched a competition today (February 25th) for two readers to win a Dolan bicycle worth £1,300 by texting a premium rate SMS line.

Entrants can also try by calling the premium 09 number with the answer to the multiple-choice question: Which of the following was David Walliams' sporting achievement for Sport Relief in 2006?

Readers can choose from swam, sailed or surfed across the Channel.

This comes in support of the BT Sport Relief Million Pound Bike Ride, which will see stars including David Walliams, Davina McCall, Fearne Cotton, Jimmy Carr, Miranda Hart, Russell Howard and Patrick Kielty take turns to cycle from John O'Groats to Lands End to raise £1 million for the charity.

Winners of the two Dolan bikes will be receiving the same models that the celebrities will be using for their journey.

BT will also be contributing to the cause, with its "Chat for Change" day tomorrow. The phone company will donate 1p of every call and 25p of every Directory Enquiry calls.

People looking to expand their marketing skills in the digital arena have been urged to sign up to a training course or apply for a professional qualification.

Lisa Wand, events manager at the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) has encouraged people to take a course after the successful turnout at the annual Technology For Marketing and Advertising event held at London's Earls Court earlier this week.

The event is the UK's only integrated marketing and advertising conference, which looked at the latest trends and developments in the sector.

Ms Wand said: "We've got a whole stream of digital marketing courses – they're half day, one day, that type of thing."

She also said there had been an interest from people wanting a professional qualification in digital marketing, which could help businesses utilise their mobile marketing capabilities.

According to a survey by CIM, the future of digital and mobile marketing is set to increase, as 51 per cent of those surveyed expect the economy to increase this year, leading more businesses to invest in marketing.

Young men have been found to use the internet more than others, with 99 per cent going online every day or nearly every day, according to research.

Further results in the study by Sparkler for Microsoft Advertising, found that 50 per cent of these men use their mobile phones to access the web.

Mobile marketing businesses may take advantage in targeting the group as 80 per cent say that they 'would be lost' without the internet, making it easier for businesses to reach them with marketing tools.

This comes as new evidence has shown that internet and mobile compulsion is now considered to be an addiction in some people.

Martin Smith addiction treatment programme director at the Priory in Roehampton, said: "We are seeing people who are addicted to mobile telephones and social networking sites."

He added: "We are increasingly seeing people with the illness of addiction who form attachments to all sorts of things which twenty years ago would be considered non addictive."

Businesses that are looking at introducing internet micropayments to gain revenue from content supplied on the web are gradually winning over consumers.

In a survey produced last week by market research firm Nielsen, 52 per cent of users would prefer an internet micropayment system as an easy and stress-free way to pay for online content.

However, businesses and the media still have to battle with the majority of users who have become used to not getting content for free. In the same survey, 85 per cent of people said that they would prefer all content to be free.

If they were to pay for content, 64 per cent agreed that there should be no adverts or marketing on the content sites, although users would be willing for internet and mobile marketing to increase if content were to stay free.

Markets that consumers would be more willing to pay for content were found to be in gaming, television and music rather than news and blogs.

A Universal internet micropayment service is one solution for businesses and individuals to be awarded for their creativity.

This is the view of Jaron Lanier, IT expert and commentator.

In an interview with the Guardian, he said that businesses should return to the "very first vision of the web", that of a universal internet micropayment, where users pay a small cost to access an information source.

For the most part, Mr Lanier wanted to go back to the system to protect creative thought.

"I'd much rather see a world where, when you make some quirky comment on a blog or news story or you upload a video clip, instead of just a moment of fame for your pseudonym, you'll get 50 bucks," he explained.

This would allow not only large and small businesses to make a profit from the internet through means other than advertising, but individuals would benefit as well.

Mr Lanier blamed the iPad, the Kindle and Xbox Live for creating a "big studio system" where users download content for free, a system which he likened to be stealing.

ITV mid-morning lifestyle show This Morning has launched a competition offering one winner £25,000 and a range of kitchen appliances by calling a premium line phone number.

Entrants can also enter by sending a text to a premium SMS number.

The show will ask a question each day until February 26th for viewers to take part and have their chance at winning the prize.

Along with a cheque for £25,000, the winner will receive a handheld blender, juicer, hand mixer and food processor from the new heavy-duty metal and power-efficient Robust Collection from electrical company Philips.

Each week the mid-morning show offers viewers the chance to win life-changing money by calling the 09 number. In the past it has offered a pot of £100,000.

Presenters Philip Schofield and Holly Willoughby also co-host the celebrity skating competition Dancing on Ice together, while Schofield joins his ex-This Morning co-host Fern Britton for game show All Star Mr and Mrs.

The proposed merger of mobile carriers Orange and the British arm of T-Mobile may go ahead, the Times has reported.

A fast-tracked deal by the European Commission has been predicted by the newspaper as both sides have come to an agreement. It will announce its decision on March 1st.

However, phone regulator Ofcom and the Office of Fair Trading must accept the terms before an agreement goes ahead. The two companies have said that they would give up some bandwidth.

This merger would mean that the one company would own 37 per cent of the UK market share and operate to 30 million customers.

For businesses, this could be an advantage as it could improve mobile marketing as companies would only have to make contracts with the one phone carrier rather than two.

There have been concerns and opposition to the merger, the newspaper claimed. Rival mobile carriers with a smaller UK-share worry that they will be priced out as the merger is likely to bring down call charges. It will also provide faster broadband speed than they could compete with.

Multimedia campaigns are blurring between mediums, according to one technology expert.

Advertisers are using television, online and mobile marketing to promote their products, crossing boundaries more than ever before.

Eva Berg-Winters, senior manager and new media specialist at PricewaterhouseCoopers said: "We are seeing that TV and online are becoming increasingly close and with the launch of Seesaw this week [an online multi-channel TV source], this is an example of how TV is moving towards online.

"As these media become closer so too does the respective advertising and the two will soon become hard to distinguish."

This comes as research from ITV and the Direct Marketing Association found that consumers responded to marketing 143 per cent more when TV and online were used together to promote a product.

With the increase in the use of smartphones, there is a possibility that this could eventually be the case for mobile marketing. Certain phone makers such as Apple are advertising for consumers to watch television shows like the Vancouver Olympics on a smartphone, broadening marketing possibilities for businesses.

Early-morning breakfast show GMTV launched a competition yesterday (February 22nd), requiring entrants to call a premium rate phone line.

One winner will be given a trip to Singapore as well as a cheque for £25,000.

The winning GMTV viewer will be able to take one more person with them on the holiday and stay for four nights with breakfast at the deluxe Park Hotel Clarke Quay.

A holiday to Singapore, the 'Gateway to Asia' is usually around £600 for five nights and return economy flights.

GMTV teamed up with holiday specialist Travelbag.co.uk and British Airways to offer viewers the prize.

Entrants can call the 09 number to have their chance at winning or send a premium rate SMS with the answer to the question.

Each day, the show's presenters will announce the question for the prize, which will run until March 4th.

GMTV is presented by familiar faces Penny Smith, Ben Shephard, Lorraine Kelly and ex-British number one tennis star Andrew Castle, among others.

Sharron Davies was the latest contestant to be kicked off Dancing on Ice after a premium line vote yesterday (February 21st).

The former Olympic swimmer was left in the final two against Inbetweeners star Emily Atack where they both had to perform a skate-off in front of the panel of judges before one was chosen to leave.

Judges, who include Spice Girl Emma Bunton, voted unanimously, after Davies refused to perform the routine chosen for her by mentors Tourvill and Dean. Instead, she chose to dance her own routine.

On losing, she said: "Thank you very much for the experience - I will not be hanging up my skates."

This comes after news that judge Jason Gardiner was cleared by Ofcom for making his comments about Davies in a previous show broadcast on January 31st. The show received over 400 complaints after the outspoken stylist compared her performance to "faecal matter".

« ‹ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 › »