Telegraph poles

Simon Waldman, The Guardian's digital media chief, has hit back at the Telegraph's number one website claim.


He tackles the whole web auditing business in detail and if you were ever a little shaky on what exactly means (and why it matters) what then you should be reading it.

His piece comes in response to the claim that the Telegraph started talking up late last year in a £300,000 ad campaign created by Clemmow Hornby Inge. If you've sat on a Tube recently you've probably found it hard to miss the ads from the Telegraph Group proclaiming that, according to figures from internet monitor Hitwise, Telegraph.co.uk had the most amount of visitors of any quality UK newspaper website between July and September 2006.

Of course, anyone who knows even very little about web stats knows that Hitwise figures are not quoted by publishers when it comes to auditing their websites or selling advertising on them.

However, the problem is that because there are multiple currencies in use it’s confusing and allows people like the Telegraph to come out and say "We're number one (according to someone or other)".

So why are the Telegraph using them you ask? It’s a good question. If you're not the number one or even number two, er, or even number three newspaper (ouch) and someone shows someone within your organisation figures showing you're suddenly an all-conquering number one, then I think someone, who really shouldn't be allowed to, starts making stupid decisions – resulting in £300k ad campaigns.

The campaign has clearly irked a number of people because complaints have been made to the Advertising Standards Authority about the Britain's No.1 quality newspaper website claim.

You might wonder how the Telegraph managed it, when in November the ABC Electronic had Guardian Unlimited with 13,841,182 users, followed by the Times Online with 9,028,963 and The Sun Online 7,578,042. Telegraph.co.uk had 6,374,362.

Going from 4th to 1st would be something of an achievement. Who knows maybe the silver surfers, (no not the Marvel one) have suddenly gone web crazy, allowing the Telegraph to soar.

Waldman writes: "Initially, I thought this was just a marketing wheeze - just to put themselves back in the frame. But word gets back that they really believe it. There has been a complaint to the ASA (not from me, I should add), and ultimately it will be their call whether this is legal, honest and decent etc. But, in the meantime, I think it probably makes most sense to have a look at the figures in a bit of detail here and let people make their own mind up.

"And yes before I get going, the big question is does it matter anyway? But I’ll get to that at the end."

Read the rest of Simon's piece here.

Inside out upside down

News International does magazines. Just not very well. Today it pulled the rug on home style magazine Sunday Times Inside Out. The title never published an ABC and is thought to have struggled in a tough market. News International spent £6m on the launch marketing campaign alone with two million 28-page sample copies given away.

The Two weeks ago it pulled the plug on its project Dannii women's magazine…before it had even launched.

That title was due to launch last September, but a series of delays have meant the date has moved back several times.

This doesn't exactly bode well for News International's next magazine launch a rumoured weekly news, comment and analysis magazine that could draw on the editorial resources of The Times.

The company had registered the name Spectrum with the Patent Office and news analysis is thought to be the most likely route for the new magazine.

Still there has been some success it did win the contract to publish Sky Magazine…oh wait it won that from sister company BSkyB.

That said celebrity real life magazine Love It! recorded an initial ABC of 405,441 exceeding its 400,000 sales target.

There also meant to be a proposed Sunday Times-branded motoring title, but with star columnist Jeremy Clarkson involved with BBC Top Gear magazine that's not likely to happen anytime soon.

Sun does Britishness

In a striking front page today The Sun tackles Britishness.The effects of 'Celebrity Big Brother' are still rippling out and today The Sun has suspended Page 3 to replace it with a double page spread supporting its striking front page, which tackles what it means to be British to 12 kids from across the ethnic spectrum.

While the splash shows them all holding cards with vile terms of racist abuse they have suffered, inside they tell their stories. It's a great idea and a tabloid newspaper working at its best. It’s the kind of thing you would expect the Daily Mirror to be doing.

 

"They are some of the most offensive and ugly words in the English language. Words like 'nigger', 'spic' and 'raghead'.

"But today The Sun makes no apology for printing them -- or the pictures showing children who are the innocent victims of such repugnant insults.

"The youngsters, whether Muslim, Jewish, Sikh or Christian, have two things in common.

"Like 'Celebrity Big Brother' winner Shilpa Shetty, they have encountered racism in this country. But they are also all BRITISH.

"Shilpa's victimisation by bullies Jade Goody, Danielle Lloyd and Jo O'Meara ignited a national debate on how racism, like a monster from the deep, still lingers and lurks in 2007.

Sour times

The Sunday Times took a huge swipe at The Guardian yesterday. The paper laid into The Guardian accusing its Berliner relaunch of being a failure, saying that it was looking tired and old, and that there was discord at senior levels about the digital future of the paper. Ouch.

The piece sketched a number of storm clouds ahead for Alan Rusbridger, editor of The Guardian, not least of which is dwindling online classified revenues at Guardian Media Group cash cows such as Trader Media Group, which owns Auto Trader, not to mention Society and Media Guardian for jobs. It went so far to go right over the top and suggest that "the looming classified crisis threatens to put the business on the skids".

The piece, which damns the Berliner as being slightly larger than the Daily Mail, and lauds the cheaper conversion by The Independent in 2003 before adding that The Times moved successfully to compact format the following year (although, let’s face it, it is one of the dullest rebrands a paper has ever had in merely copying the Indie -- which loathe it or loathe it [sorry I mean like] did break new ground).

It goes on to say that The Independent and The Times are both taking sales from The Guardian. Although I'm not sure how -- in December, The Times' circulation was down by 3.9% to 635,777, while The Guardian fell by 4% to 365,635. Admittedly the Guardian was down, but no way did the Times take those sales.

While The Guardian is damned, its sister title The Observer is praised and Roger Alton "is now widely seen as having produced a better paper with the new format".

It quotes an unnamed media "pundit" saying "The Guardian is boring and already tired-looking, whereas The Observer has become a lot livelier. Worse for The Guardian in some ways is that The Independent is punchier and has achieved success at a much lower cost."

No that's just plain wrong, the Independent is dull dull dull. Interesting one-trick pony frontpages, but if you want news -- go elsewhere. So much for punditry. Despite producing a good paper, Alton's job is reported to be on the line, with Ian Katz, long seen as a replacement for Rusbridger, as the one who might get it. 

The Sunday Times then moves on to the Guardian Unlimited, which remains one of the best newspaper sites around and says that poor integration is causing friction with Rushbridger wanting them closer together and Emily Bell, editor-in-chief of Guardian Unlimited, resisting. The paper has done a great job online and while sometimes you wonder about a design revamp, is more integration what’s needed?

There is more from the Sunday Times, which I suppose is worth noting, but its only contribution to fresh newspaper development is to stick its cover price up to £2 without offering anything much new in return.

Pom victory

The Australians love to call Brits “whingeing Poms”, but no more. A group of Brits in Australia have succeeded in their long campaign to ban an ad that depicted Englishmen as whingers.The Australian version of the ASA, the Advertising Standards Bureau, yesterday ruled that the Englishmen were right to be offended by an ad for beer that negatively stereotyped and demeaned English people.

The radio ad for Toohey’s New Supercold beer (let’s face it they advertise nothing else in Australia other than beer) featured a group of Englishmen singing Land of Hope and Glory with various synonyms for whinge, including whine, moan, slag and complain.



The ad ended with a voiceover saying: "Introducing Toohey’s New Supercold, served so cold it’s a Pom’s worst nightmare".

The bureau ruled that negative words in the ad detracted from what it said was the otherwise playful nature of the word Pom. It said that Pom had been given "a derogatory and almost hostile meaning", Mark Jeanes, the acting chief of the bureau, said. The ad has been withdrawn.

The Aussies are obsessed by us in a way we're not about them. The ASB considered five TV, print and outdoor ads that made reference to the Australia-England rivalry in the advertising material.

While complaints were held against the Toohey's ad, others were not. Some examples of other ad taglines used last year included "sends shivers down a Pom's spine"; "the Poms are going to choke"; "Aussie cricket fans can stick it to the Poms"; and "for backyard fun, tonk a Pom". It's a strange place.

In deliberating on the complaints, the ASB considered that the use of the word "Pom" is part of the Australian vernacular and largely used in playful and often affectionate terms.

The board also said that Pom is not used in a way to vilify, or incite racial hostility towards, people of British extraction, particularly when considered in the context of the cricketing tradition and affectionate rivalry between the two countries.

Dream jobs

Apparently most people are not in their dream jobs.
According to a report on Reuters the dream job for most Americans is something that is "fun" and 84% are not in their dream job. So I guess that means 84% are not having fun at work. It’s a tough life. You have to wonder what they were expecting with the whole world of work thing.

I mean I like work, but fun isn't an adjective that I generally use to describe it.

Oddly, salary was one of the least important requirements of a dream job and was cited by just 12%. Clearly, none of these people have to live in London if cash is their least important requirement.

"That fun was more important than money, that was reassuring when you're looking at the workplace and what defines happiness for people in their jobs," said Jennifer Sullivan, spokeswoman for CareerBuilder.com.

No Jenn, what it means is that people were lying.

According to the survey having fun at a dream job was cited by 39%, with 17% percent saying making a difference in society was most important.

The survey was carried out by jobsite CareerBuilder.com and Walt Disney, which is holding a contest in which winners can get a chance to work at a Disney theme park job for a day.

Disney theme park for a day? Isn't that where you get punched by kids and generally abused and have to wear a stupid suit? This sort of reminds me of a story in Irvine Welsh's The Acid House.

Apparently the people in dream jobs are most likely to be firefighters and policemen, followed by teachers and estate agents. I tell you that makes no sense. Not surprising people in retail thought they had the least dreamy of jobs.

No mention of hard-working new media and journalists. What gives guys?

Asked what they had wanted to be when they grew up 22% of children said firefighter, 17% said princess and 16% said professional dancer. An equal number of people – 14%-- wanted to be cowboy or president.

Cowboy, I understand for the obvious reasons, but my careers officer had nothing doing when I suggested this.

The only presidential job worth having is surely Martin Sheen in the 'West Wing' or 12 colonies president Mary McDonnell in, yes you guessed it, Battlestar Galactica. She gets to order bad people out of airlocks. Clearly not something that gets advertised as part of the job.

Alas Wendy's

For a moment it looked like McCann Erickson had held onto the $400m Wendy's account.


Sadly, clearly proving that fast food is really bad for you this was just a sub-editor's error over Advertising Age, which sent out this breaking news at 18:23.

Wendy's $400 Million Creative Account Goes to McCann Erickson Unclear if Media Buying and Planning Will Also Move

By 18:46 it was all change as the US magazine had a change of heart and sent out this breaking news instead.

Wendy's $400 Million Creative Account Goes to Saatchi & Saatchi Unclear if Media Buying and Planning Will Also Move

New York (AdAge.com) -- Wendy's is moving its $400 million creative account from Interpublic's McCann Erickson to Publicis Groupe's Saatchi & Saatchi, according to executives familiar with the situation. It was unclear if media buying and planning, now at Universal McCann, will also move. The agencies either couldn't be reached or referred calls to the marketer. Wendy's CMO Ian Rowden declined to comment.

Life on Mars

The BBC's time-travel show 'Life on Mars' is back next month and if you haven't seen this promo trailer its really worth watching.

Created by Red Bee Media the viral transforms the show's two star coppers, modern day Sam Tyler, played by John Simm, and the unreconstruced 70s 'Sweeney' man Gene Hunt, played by Philip Glenister, into 'Camberwick Green' style claymation characters. A nice idea that's really well executed.

It's worth mentioning that Red Bee weren't first on the band wagon with this. Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO were there last year with its cheeky TV ad campaign for Quaker's Oatso Simple porridge range. That spot featured Windy Miller and ended up with a bit of a genital controversy if you remember. It involved Windy's eccentric Uncle Gruber, a naturist, coming to stay and exposing himself to viewers as you do.

I'm still intrigued how they are going to resolve this show. Is it a bump on the head? Seems a bit obvious and too close to "and it was all a dream". Time travel is another option, but again how likely is that?

Saying sorry

Channel 4 is unsurprisingly not going to axe 'Big Brother'. It isn't even saying sorry.In a statement issued last night, Channel 4 chairman Luke Johnson launched a review of the show, which might involve some slapped wrists, but it seems that the broadcaster has become too attached to the piles of cash that the original reality show makes it.

This despite the complaints total about the racism row between former 'Big Brother' contestant Jade Goody and Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty now standing at 40,000

Johnson said: "The Channel 4 board recognises that the events of the last week on ‘Celebrity Big Brother’ have provoked an unprecedented level of public complaint. We believe this has triggered an important debate

"Clearly many people were worried and offended by what they saw. I want to reassure them that we take the views of our audience very seriously and profoundly regret any offence that may have been caused.

"On behalf of the board the chief executive and I have commissioned a review of the editorial and compliance processes that support Big Brother. The board will receive a full report and seek to identify any lessons that can be learned for the future. The programme remains on air for a further week and the channel is focused on its completion.”

Oh hang on a second, does that last bit sound like it has some bite in it? The "channel is focused on its completion", sounds like almost a veiled threat that the show, which has one week to go before the summer orgy for real gets going, could still be in trouble.

Clearly, nothing is going to happen now, viewing figures, which hit almost 9m for Goody's eviction, will slope off and Shilpa, who is odds on favourite to win the show, will be crowned 'Celebrity Big Brother' queen and all will be happy.

Personally, I'd like to see it go. I'd like to see a lot of them go. Where do they get these people from. If it's dimwits like Jade, it's post Lucy's like the one on 'Shipwrecked' who supports slavery!?

Channel 4 could then free up its schedules for some half decent programming and spare us from the vile mutterings of talentless media wannabes.

It should buy some programmes, did I mention that that the revamped 'Battlestar Galactica' is the best show on TV?

But don't take my word for it, The Guardian among others raves about it and said the other week that it was the only "award-winning drama that dares tackle the war on terror".

Bomb scare

What with the evacuate "the building for two hours there's a bomb threat" today completely slipped away from me and I didn't get around to posting.

I'm trying to work out if it was a disgruntled former Haymarket employee, someone late for work or some genuine nutter. Possibly a combination of the two.

Great day for it, January 22 was officially misery day (there was a story about it somewhere today, but all I could find at this hour was one referring to misery day 2005, but you get the picture). This must be why my lunch appointment was 45 minutes late and when he did turn up it emerged he had been made redundant.

MyLawSuit

MySpace is being sued and it's a serious case of child safety, but…
…why is that Americans reach for their lawyers faster than you can say 1-800-so-sue-me? Just asking.

The families of five teenage girls are suing MySpace over claims that they were sexually assaulted by men they met through the social networking website.

The case argues negligence on the part of the Rupert Murdoch-owned site. It is obviously a very upsetting case, but is it really MySpace's fault?

The site has increased its security and hired experts. It has, for instance, made it impossible for users aged 18 and above to contact 14 and 15-year-old members unless they know the younger person's email address. The girls involved in this case were of that age, but really there is only so much that can be done. The rest is up to the guardians and parents of the children involved.

Sadly, this kind of thing is going to happen. People always find ways to abuse systems to the ill of others. Just like the case of some other teenage girls posting video clips on YouTube of them beating up another girl. Someone's going to be suing over that one as well.
While getting a pile of cash is no doubt an attractive prospect, it doesn’t actually have anything to do with protecting the children concerned. Nor will it likely stop other attacks.

Dear Jade

The Indian Tourism Office is writing to Jade they want her to come visit. In an open letter to Jade that has run in a number of the nationals including the Times, Daily Telegraph, Guardian, Independent, Metro, and Evening Standard.

The India Tourism Office is welcoming Jade and her "friends" to experience India for themselves. Actually not a bad move by them to jump on the bandwagon. The idea was the brainchild of Smarter Creative Director Rob Scott and was put together in record time yesterday afternoon.

Apparently she has already been. The bottles for her perfume (pulled from the shelves of The Perfume Shop yesterday) were made in India and she went and met the factory manager.

She is 50-1 odds on favourite to go tonight, but sadly her public will not be there to greet here.

In a statement re tonight's eviction, C4 said:

"Over the past few days, Celebrity Big Brother has generated an intense and, at times, heated public debate which the evicted housemate will be unaware of.

"As a result, Channel 4 and Endemol have taken the decision to conduct tonight's eviction in front of a studio audience and without a crowd."

Stop C4

Someone please stop Channel 4. It's all a little embarrassing and rather hard to watch.

This has blown out of all proportion. I watched some of it last night and had to stop. Jade Goody is on some mission of self destruction that maybe even the Impossible Mission Force could not accomplish. Brand Goody is toast. Really burnt toast at that. I guess if she knew the word irony she could lament "Big Brother made me and now its broken me".

I think just about every national newspaper has gone overboard with it as effergies are burnt and Gordon Brown ruing the day he decided to go to India when 'Big Brother' was on.

Sponsor this

After days of dithering and trying to weather the storm and sidestepping the issue Andy Duncan, Channel 4's chief executive, has finally said something about what is going on inside the Celebrity Big Brother house, but its worth noting that he only made thes statment after Carphone Warehouse suspended its Celeb Big Brother sponsorship.
"The latest series of Celebrity Big Brother has strayed into particularly controversial territory - the issue of racism and whether or not it remains ingrained in British attitudes despite all the progress we have apparently made towards becoming a truly multi-cultural society.

"The level of complaint and comment shows the programme has touched a real nerve.

"The debate has been heated, the viewing has at times been uncomfortable but, in my view, it is unquestionably a good thing that the programme has raised these issues and provoked such a debate. These attitudes, however distasteful, do persist - we need to confront that truth.

"What constitutes racism is a complex question. We have been monitoring extremely carefully events in the house and have reached the view that we cannot with certainty say that the comments directed at Shilpa have been racially motivated or whether they stem from broader cultural and social differences.

"We have already intervened with Danielle and, as viewers will see tonight, again with Jade where we felt their comments might be construed to have racist overtones. Producers also spoke to Shilpa today who said she did not feel that behaviour towards her was racist.

"We will not hesitate to intervene again if apparently racist behaviour occurs.

"Big Brother's unique strength is that it is ultimately the public who will decide whether or not the behaviour of certain contestants has been unacceptable.

"Tomorrow night Jade and Shilpa will face the public vote. The British public has the opportunity to cut through the claim and counter-claim and pass its judgement on the events of the last week."

Big Brother

There's an MP involved, so it must be serious if the scent of free electoral publicity has wafted its way to the House of Commons.
Worse still for Channel 4, Carphone Warehouse might review its lucrative multimillion-pound sponsorship forcing the broadcaster to do something.

The count is all over the place. If you read the Metro this morning, 20,000 people are complaining. Elsewhere its 10,000, but whatever the number it has five digits and reality TV is in for a welcome kicking.

Although Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty, the focus of the alleged racist abuse, has not yet complained to the outside world it does appear she is being picked on with some racism thrown in to boot. She has, however, been reduced to tears by her gang of white working class tormentors and their manifest conservatism.

It was bound to happen you throw in morons like Jade (is it worth mentioning how sad it is that someone celebrates what a dimwit they are? Probably not), coupled with a couple of newly acquired minor celeb side kicks in the Jo O'Meara, who was in S-Club (not that there is anything wrong with Romford... OK now you mention it), Goody's boyfriend Jack Tweed and disgraced former Miss Great Britain Danielle Lloyd.

Keith Vaz MP was yesterday talking of an early day motion in the Commons after constituents in his Leicester East constituency contacted him. He was on Channel 4 News last night calling for the broadcaster to intervene and to set higher standards, although a vox pop done before his segment aired had several members of the public saying it was more bullying and ignorance than racism.

The text of the early day motion reads: "This house views with concern the comments made about’ Big Brother’ contestant Shilpa Shetty by other housemates; believes that ‘Big Brother’ has a role to play in preventing racist behaviour in the ‘Big Brother’ house; regrets that these comments have been made; and calls on the programme to take urgent action to remind housemates that racist behaviour is unacceptable."

It is on course to beating 'Jerry Springer: the Opera', which racked up almost 9,000 complaints when it aired, but had already picked up more than 55,000 before it aired. Those Christians know to hit the phone (should you ever be holding a telethon).

Goody has said such things to Shilpa as "She makes me feel sick. She makes my skin crawl." Her boyfriend Tweed is thought by some to have called her a "Paki" although what it was exactly he called her was bleeped out by Channel 4. The broadcaster said it wasn't racist abuse and what he actually called her was a "cunt". Well that's all right then. Lloyd called her "a dog" and also accused of her wanting to be "white". This related to use of cream to bleach her facial hair.

Channel 4 is so far doing nothing and says that much of the furore has arisen after misreporting of the exchange between Goody and Tweed ("she makes my skin crawl". However, a sponsor getting jittery could change all of that.