MEDIA: FOR THE RECORD

The Internet Advertising Group, the body comprising more than 30

online publishers which launched in the UK this autumn, has taken the

first steps towards establishing a set of voluntary guidelines for

Internet advertising. At a meeting last week, IAG members agreed a

series of standard banner ad sizes, as well as under-taking no longer to

use the discredited term ’hits’, for audience measurement. It has also

invited ad agencies into the IAG fold.

The Institute of Practitioners in Advertising has elected to include

Chris Ingram’s CIA Medianetwork, IDK Media and the Negotiation Centre as

members. The CIA Group will remain a member of the other trade body,

Amco, but will now work with other media agencies under the IPA

banner.

The European Magazine Publishers Federation has vowed to fight the

European Health Council’s decision last Thursday to ban tobacco

advertising. The Periodical Publishers Association chief executive, Ian

Locks, said: ’Sadly, this debate appears to have been extremely

emotional and sound arguments against banning advertising appear to have

been brushed aside.’

Dow Jones and the Associated Press have extended their partnership in

producing international financial news services by seven years. By

continuing the partnership, which is 30 years-old, the companies say

they will be able to enhance long-term product development, glo-bal

branding and closer sales integration.

IPC has increased the price of a number of magazines in its Weeklies

Group. Woman, Woman’s Own, Woman’s Realm, Woman’s Weekly, Chat, Now and

What’s on TV are affected. Alan Green, publishing services director at

IPC’s distributor, MarketForces, said: ’We believe that these price

increases will produce a welcome revenue boost for all sectors of the

trade.’

The Radio Advertising Bureau’s annual advertising conference will take

place on 3 March 1998. The comedian, Hugh Dennis, will be speaking about

how his perspective on advertising has changed, having once been a brand

manager at Unilever. Other speakers include John Bartle and Winston

Fletcher.

WV Publications and Exhibitions, the publisher of Baby Magazine, has

launched a new magazine, Pregnancy. The bi-annual magazine is aimed at

women who have discovered they are pregnant, with information on pain

relief, how to plan the birth, real birth stories and new products. The

perfect-bound, full-colour magazine has 132 pages.

Pritt Stick is to sponsor ITV’s irreverent children’s art show, Art

Attack. The deal will kick off on 17 December and will run for the rest

of the series, broadcast on Wednesday afternoons, until April. The

15-second opening and closing credits will feature an animated Pritt

Stick, Mr Pritt.

Grant Mizen, the broadcast manager at TMD Carat, has moved to MBS to

become the joint TV buying manager, working alongside Vicky Knapp. Mizen

will be working across the portfolio of TV accounts, including Norwich

Union and Michelin.

MTV has signed its first UK-exclusive sponsorship deal with Wella

Shockwaves, to begin on 1 January 1998. The pounds 500,000 deal,

negotiated by Drum PHD, will see Wella sponsoring MTV Hot, a daily show

looking at music, news and gossip, presented by up-and-coming comedy

talent.

Magazines are the ’most effective and efficient’ media for car

advertising, according to research from Reader’s Digest. The RoADMAP

survey, conducted by BMRB International among 2,100 drivers, found that

car ads in magazines were preferred to TV ads, and were more likely to

influence purchase decisions than ads in any other medium.

This article was first published on Campaign