Digital Relevance

Microsoft has reported a 35% increase in profits for the first three months of 2010, buoyed by increasing sales of Windows 7 which has been backed by a multi-million pound “I’m a PC” advertising push.

Labour Party direct mail tactics have again come under attack after Tory leader David Cameron accused Labour of telling “lies” in party leaflets.

The report, which is widely considered the benchmark for the advertising industry, reveals that for the first time in ten consecutive quarters, around 21% of companies reported a rise in their budgets, while only 16% noted reductions.

Over a third of the 300 UK-based companies surveyed have set 2010 budgets higher than 2009 spend. This meant that the net balance for total marketing budgets rose from -7.2 to +4.5, the first signs of positivity since the third quarter of 2007.

John Smith’s is to bring actor and comedian Peter Kay back as the face of its ale. Kay, who starred in the John Smith’s ’No Nonsense’ TV ad campaign from 2002 to 2005 renewed his partnership with John Smith’s this weekend, presenting the winner’s trophy at the Grand National at Aintree – sponsored by John Smith’s. Some old favourites can be seen here…

The computing giant previewed iAd in the US last night, saying it “combines the emotion of TV ads with the interactivity of web ads.” iAd  will display full-screen video and interactive ad content within apps

Local service to challenge US heavyweights Google’s DoubleClick and Yahoo’s Right Media in digital display market

Friday Fun today is again all about great beer commercials, I did a bit of searching and found a real gem, simple and great product placement, something that some funnies miss (thanks for the post last week Craig !).

Please take a look and this week’s challenge is simply point us at a better example. The winner will be posted in the Blog next week.

Regular visitors to this blog will know we are fans of the Meercat Aleksandr Orlov. He’s conquered the internet – now he’s taking on the iPhone !

EasyJet has named Guardian Media Group boss Carolyn McCall as its new chief executive. McCall has been with Guardian Media Group for 24 years and group chief executive since 2006. She is said to have been one of the driving forces behind the success of the Guardian’s website, guardian.co.uk, which has about 37 million unique users worldwide.

Today’s Friday Fun today is all about great beer commercials, I did a bit of searching yesterday and found some real gems. Please take a look and post a comment on which you feel is best, or point us at a better example.

Heineken – Guinness – Carlsberg – Budweiser