UK Regulator to Expand Supervision Over Online Ads

PC World

The U.K.'s advertising regulator will increase its oversight of online marketing, scrutinizing how companies advertise on their own Web sites as well as social sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said on Wednesday that the new code, which will take effect starting next March, is in response to nearly 3,000 complaints in the last year over advertisements that were not within its purview to act on.

The ASA already oversees paid-for online advertisements and sales promotions, investigating complaints over misleading advertisements and other issues, such as social responsibility and child protection. In some cases, advertisements have been withdrawn or removed by search engines, said Matt Wilson, ASA press officer.

For advertisements that are not withdrawn, the ASA has worked with search engines to publish a notification next to the ad that there is a problem with it, Wilson said.

The new rules will cover companies or organizations running promotions in unpaid space, including their own Web sites and social-networking sites. Companies are increasingly using platforms such as Facebook and Twitter to draw people to their brands or causes.

The ASA said that assessing whether material constitutes advertising or marketing communication will require a "careful assessment."

User-generated content, for example, is created by private individuals, the ASA said in its guidance notes. But if a website owner solicited the content and used it in marketing material, it would be subject to the code. Even if a private individual provided unsolicited content that is incorporated into marketing material, that would also be subject.

The code will apply to companies and organizations that have a U.K. presence or a U.K. registered website, Wilson said.

Advertisements targeting the U.K but placed outside the country "are subject to the jurisdiction of the relevant authority in the country from which they originate if that authority operates a suitable cross-border complaint system," the ASA said.

The initiative will be funded by a 0.1 percent levy on paid-for advertisements appearing on Internet search engines through media and search agencies. The ASA, which has a £7 million (US$11 million) annual budget, will have to add 9 or 10 staffers to enforce compliance, Wilson said.

OFT to Review Outdoor Ad Market

Guardian UK

 

The Office of Fair Trading is to scrutinise the £800m-plus UK outdoor advertising industry to examine the dominance of the few players in the sector and the role played by commissions.

The OFT said that it intends launch a study, which is expected to be completed in December, that will look at the "high concentration" of specialist buyers, outdoor media owners and the "payment of commission and "how these affect the incentives of those buyers".

The OFT said it would also look at contracts between outdoor media owners and local authorities because some agreements may contain clauses that stop deals being done with rivals, or directly with advertisers, which may ultimately be "detrimental" to taxpayers.

"This study will consider whether there are any distortions of competition or barriers to entry at different levels within the sector," said the OFT.

The outdoor advertising industry is estimated to be worth £833m this year, yet the number of companies effectively controlling the sector is small and the commission system is described by one senior media executive as "murky". Commissions are likely to account for about £167m of the total amount spent by advertisers this year.

Four big players own the majority of the outdoor advertising sites across the UK: Clear Channel, JCDecaux, Primesight and CBS Outdoor.

In terms of specialist buyers, those who actually buy the campaigns booked by media agencies on behalf of advertisers, the market is effectively dominated by two companies: Aegis-owned Posterscope, which in 2008 did a deal with the then third largest player IPM, controls close to 60%; and Kinetic, which is owned by Sir Martin Sorrell's WPP, controls about 40%.

Of every pound spent on an ad campaign, about 15% commission goes back to media agencies, which in practice often end up pushing the money back to their clients behind the campaign, and 5% goes to specialist buyers.

"It has traditionally been a fiddly medium that is difficult to deploy, more labour intensive than say buying TV, which is why there has been the 5% extra to specialists," said one industry source.

The market study is thought to have been kicked off at least in part due to recent consolidation, such as when JCDecaux, the world's second largest outdoor advertising company, bought rival Titan Outdoor back in January.

"The cost of all forms of advertising is reflected in the price consumers pay for goods and services," said Heather Clayton, senior director of infrastructure at the OFT. "This market study into outdoor advertising will take a look at whether the market works well in terms of offering firms and local authorities deals that are fair, competitive and transparent."

British Media Revel in April Fools' Tradition

LONDON (AP) - In today's headlines: flavored newsprint, high-tech ferrets and the revelation that Britain's greatest writer was - quelle horreur! - half French.

The stories Thursday weren't true, it was just the British media carrying on its proud tradition of April Fools' Day spoofs - the unofficial April 1 competition to dupe the naive and unsuspecting.

This year, The Sun reported it has developed the world's first flavored newspaper page and invited readers to lick a square of newsprint "to reveal a hidden taste." Just below the spot to be licked was the fine-print warning: "May contain nuts."

The Daily Telegraph said an Internet service provider plans to use tunneling ferrets to deliver broadband services to remote areas, and BBC radio's "Today" program ran an item claiming new research in Stratford-upon-Avon had revealed that William Shakespeare's mother was French.

After noon - the traditional cutoff time for April Fools' pranks - Paul Edmondson of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust in Stratford revealed the story was a joke in honor of the day the French call "Poisson d'Avril," or April Fish.

The Daily Mail, meanwhile, claimed staff at car-breakdown service the Automobile Association are to be fitted with jet packs to fly over traffic jams and reach stranded motorists.

The Daily Mirror ran a picture of Queen Elizabeth apparently taking a a flight with the budget airline easyJet, while The Independent reported that nuclear scientists want to turn London's Circle Line subway into a particle accelerator similar to the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland. It said there were safety concerns about "a mini-black hole being created at Westminster (home to Britain's Parliament) when the two proton beams collide."

Some say April Fools' Day started with the creation of the Gregorian calendar in the 16th century, which changed the starting date of the new year from April 1 to Jan. 1. But associations between April 1 and tomfoolery stretches back to the Middle Ages, and some say the day's origins lie in ancient Indian and Roman festivals that celebrated foolishness and misrule.

The British media prides itself on a long tradition of elaborate hoaxes. In 1957, the BBC news program "Panorama" aired a story about the unusually strong spaghetti harvest that year in southern Switzerland. Straight-faced and convincing, it is now considered a classic April Fools' hoax.

Several spoofs on Thursday targeted Britain's next national election, which must be held by June 3.

The Guardian reported the Labour Party plans to tackle rumors that Prime Minister Gordon Brown has anger-management issues with a campaign slogan "Vote Labour. Or else."

It said strategists plan posters based on classic films "casting Brown as The Gordfather, the Terminator or Mr. Brown from 'Reservoir Dogs.'"

The age of the Internet has created new opportunities for fun. Google's British home page on Thursday offered a new service, Google Animal Translate, promising to let you know exactly what your pet is thinking.

Advertisers get in on the act, too. A BMW ad invites British drivers to "show your true colors this election" with special hood ornaments in red, blue and yellow - the colors of the Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties.

"In the event of a hung Parliament, we'll replace your badge for free," it said.