PR blog awards open to nominations

[Tags: interactivepr, pr]. Quoted at length from Journalism.co.uk:

"Media company MarketingSherpa is calling for nominations for its Best Blog Awards, commending bloggers’ contributions to the marketing, advertising and public relations communities.

Users have until 15 May to nominate blogs in seven categories including best small business marketing blog, best PR blog and readers’ choice. MarketingSherpa will issue a list of qualified nominees in late May.

...Last year’s winners included US-based Dana's Blog, which covers internet marketing. Recently Dana reported on one of blogging's key issues – how to protect privacy and freedom of speech – highlighting the advice by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) on how to blog safely."

Campaigning using games

[Tags: interactivepr, pr, flash]. Article from the BBC which reports on the United Nations's release of a video game which aims to teach children about global hunger. Here's the detail:

"There are six missions, each beginning with a briefing by one of the Food Force characters, who explains the challenge ahead. The player then has to complete the task - in which points are awarded for fast and accurate play and good decision making.

"The missions range from dropping food parcels from the air to a Sim City type game in which players use food aid to rebuild the country's economy.

"At the end of each mission, players are shown a short video explaining how the aid agency would have dealt with the situation."

An argument against intrusive pop-ups

[Tags: interactivepr, pr]. ...well made by Colin Meek. Key quote: "Ads that so clearly ruin a viewing experience are probably inconceivable on television - so why do some publishers think they are acceptable in online news?"

Interactive PR mailing list now live

[Tags: interactivepr, pr]. It's overdue but who's complaining: this blog now has a mailing list, so if you'd rather receive new postings to your inbox than have to actually check this blog every now and then (what a chore), take a trip over to the Interactive PR mailing list. Alternatively, type your email address into the box on the right hand column. Enjoy!

More huge figures for online advertising

More good news for online advertisers according to this article in The Guardian and this piece on the BBC website.

The Guardian says: "Spending on online advertising will increase 12 times faster than on national newspapers and nearly 40 times quicker than on direct mail, according to the latest figures from the Advertising Association.The online advertising market is forecast to grow by over 33% in 2005 as companies spend more money on internet marketing."

While the BBC (and this Guardian piece) reported that, "The amount of money spent on internet advertising in the UK has exceeded the amount spent on radio ads for the first time, a report has found.

"The online advertising take surged to £653.3m ($1.23bn) in 2004, a 60% rise on the previous year's £407.8m figure. This represented 3.9% of the total spent by advertisers, slightly more than the 3.8% share that went to radio.

"Online ad revenue has grown more than fourfold since 2000, said the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB)."