Irish commercial and public service media organisation RTÉ has joined forces with London-based media sales house Axiom in a joint partnership which aims to develop media agency and advertiser relationships across the UK.

The deal will allow for additional dedicated resources to communicate the media opportunities offered by RTÉ, Axiom will approach RTÉ’s existing and potential clients on a bespoke level in order to add value across the RTÉ group.

“We’re delighted to work with Axiom Media to deliver on our commercial strategy, optimise our unrivalled reach and develop innovative quality solutions for both existing and new customers of RTÉ TV. The depth of knowledge of the Axiom team will be key to driving the success of this partnership,” said Geraldine O’Leary, commercial director RTÉ TV, of the deal.

Axiom Media CEO Jeremy Lawrence added: “Axiom will offer RTÉ a joint stakeholder commercial strategy to reflect customer needs through an integrated and transparent approach.”

Axiom now looks after 10 client partners - STV (Digital), UTV (Digital), RT Broadcast, RT.com (Global - website & live streaming), Vision 247 (Global live streaming - multiple clients), hello magazine.com, Hello TV Group (UK & Europe linear broadcast & digital), Lime Pictures (Product Placement, Brand Activation and commercial consultancy - TOWIE, Hollyoaks & Geordie Shore), Talent Channels (Digital across UK & EMEA), and RTE.

Torque, an end-to-end international logistics service provider, has appointed Brand8 PR to handle its reputation amongst existing and potential clients, employees and suppliers.

Torque PR, whose clients include Sweaty Betty, Pringle of Scotland and TM Lewin, appointed Brand8 following a three-way pitch. The PR firm will also provide support for corporate social responsibility initiatives that Torque undertakes within the local communities in which it operates.

Commenting on the appointment, Torque brand manager Louise Blamires said: “Brand8 PR showed a clear understanding of our business at the pitch and identified a number of opportunities for us across traditional, digital and social media platforms.”

Brand8 PR managing director Rob Smith added: “Torque is a very successful business and one that is directly challenging the larger players in the logistics sector. The company does not want to be the biggest, but it would like to be the best, and sets itself apart by being able to integrate business-savvy strategic thinking with cost savings, excellent service and bespoke logistics technology.

“We have taken these points of difference and made them fundamental aspects of Torque’s public relations strategy and are actively creating opportunities around them. The company has ambitious growth plans and we are looking forward to helping Torque achieve its public relations and business objectives.”

The FBrape campaign, which launched a week ago demanding ‘swift, comprehensive and effective action addressing the representation of rape and domestic violence on Facebook’ has now received over 50,000 Twitter mentions.

Laura Bates, founder of Everyday Sexism, one of the organisations involved in the campaign, told The Drum: "We're absolutely thrilled at the enormous success of the campaign and delighted that over 100 women's and human rights organisations from around the world have added their support to our open letter.

“This just goes to show the sheer strength of public feeling about this issue - it matters deeply to both men and women and it's time for Facebook and its advertisers to sit up and start listening to them."

The campaign has contacted brands whose ads are appearing next to groups, pages or images that condone or encourage domestic abuse and rape, and urges them to stop advertising on Facebook.

So far, over a dozen brands, including Nissan UK and Nationwide, have suspended advertising.

@jovanderbank Hi Jo - FB ads are targeted at the user - not the page viewed. We have though spoke to FB who are reviewing pages. ^DP

— NissanUK (@NissanUK) May 22, 2013

@yrotitna Our ads target a user’s profile based on location, not pages. We’ll suspend our ads. Sorry for any upset this has caused. ^PB

— Nationwide UK (@AskNationwide) May 26, 2013

Dove has faced flak for its original response but has now said it is working ‘aggressively’ with Facebook.

@sullencrescent We're aggressively working with Facebook to resolve this issue.

— Dove (@Dove) May 24, 2013

The company said in a statement: “Dove takes this issue very seriously and does not condone any activity that intentionally insults any audience. We are working with Facebook to prevent our ads from appearing on these pages. As Facebook advertising targets people, not pages, we cannot select which pages our adverts appear on.

"Ads are served to people based on their interests. In the future, we will be refining our targeting to reduce the chance of any ads appearing on similar pages. We heard your concern and are committed to creating a world where beauty is a source of confidence, not anxiety. We assure you that we will continue to carefully review and revisit our advertising and marketing decisions.”

In response to the campaign, Facebook told The Drum at launch that none of the pages mentioned in the open letter were still available.

Fresh Pak Chilled Foods has unveiled The Hungry Wolf its first branded product with name, branding and packaging created by Coley Porter Bell.

The Hungry Wolf deli fillers hope to open up a new segment in the £126m deli filler market using language and cues of gourmet street and festival food.

Positioned as ‘gourmet street tucker you can enjoy at home’, The Hungry Wolf name has been developed to create associations with appetite and satisfaction. Coley Porter Bell has developed a visual language for the brand based on imagery of street food with each variant assigned its own colour code to aid navigation.

The pack background blackboard texture, chalk lettering and vintage style-icons aim to provide potential buyers with traditional quality cues. As the product is new to the market Coley Porter Bell has included instructions for use and a reminder that the product is best served hot as part of the pack design.

“It was an exciting challenge to develop the first brand for a highly successful unbranded provider while opening up a new segment in their market. This meant the branding and packaging had to work much harder than usual,” said Stephen Bell, executive creative director of Coley Porter Bell.

Dannii Minogue has this week launched Insta-Model – a competition to turn fans in to models in an instant – to promote the latest series of Britain & Ireland’s Next Top Model on Sky Living.

Created by Jam, the campaign will see Minogue and fellow BINTM judge Elle Macpherson setting a photo challenge each week for fans of the show.

The first challenge, #Pout, will run this week and be judged by Minogue; which next week’s challenge #Fierce will be judged by Macpherson; followed by #Selfie, which will be set and judged by Sky Living.

This is the first Instagram competition Sky have launched bringing BINTM to life on social, and will see the three finalists will go head to head, with the public voting via Twitter.

Kirsty Waldron-Pearson, head of digital and social media at Sky, said: “This is a breakthrough campaign for Sky - we're so excited that we can put Britain and Ireland’s Next Top Model fans directly into the spirit of the programme with Instagram and Twitter.”

The competition winner will feature in the closing credits of the first episode in the new BINTM series on 13 June and will be rewarded with a VIP trip to London.

ComScore and the UK Online Measurement company (UKOM) are to release their first set of tablet audience data five months ahead of schedule.

The companies will release the first wave of industry-approved UK data this August – five months before the original release date – to meet the “pressing commercial need” to quantify the increasing audience shift from desktop to mobile devices, which now account for almost a third of all web traffic, according to ComScore and UKOM.

Beta data from ComScore’s Device Essentials has shown eight per cent of all web traffic came from tablets in February, with mobile devices in total accounting for almost a third of all web traffic.

From August advertisers and publishers can access data including unique visitors, page views and dwell time for tablets and mobile devices, along with other metrics including demographic profiling.

There are also plans to incorporate tablet app usage to track offline behaviours on mobile devices, but this will follow the initial wave of August data in which tablet and mobile devices will be combined.

ComScore is calling for publishers to be more active in the tagging of their mobile apps so that it has the necessary information to develop robust data for apps.

UKOM’s general manager James Smythe said no one can afford to be passive when it comes to online measurement. “The ability to measure accurately in digital these days depends on publishers tagging their content. While there are thousands tagging their websites, relatively few are tagging their apps. There won’t be any visibility on apps if publishers don’t do more tagging.

“Once a critical number of people are tagging the data can then be robust enough to create a model. Their participation in measurement must be much more active– the days of fully passive involvement in measurement are just not possible anymore in digital,” he said.

The move makes ComScore’s Multiplatform Media Metrix product (MMX) the first UK online audience measurement system to integrate tablet user figures.

Publishers and agencies have welcomed the move. Time Gentry, revenue director at Guardian News & Media, said the decision to accelerate the release data for tablet measurement will provide the transparency advertisers need in what is “undoubtedly” a strong growth area for the publisher.

“The data will complement our cross-platform Audiences Not Platform strategy, enabling our agencies and advertisers to plan campaigns across our entire progressive audience: in print, online, mobile and tablet.”

MediaCom’s mobile and digital manager George Dixon said: “With this first release of data it is important that we remember the rate of change we saw for mobile, this number will quickly grow. We should already be planning how we engage with this audience creatively and strategically to deliver the most relevant campaigns to this audience.”

An average of 8.1 per cent of page views come from tablets in the UK, with 23.4 per cent coming from mobile in general, according to beta data from ComScore's Device Essentials. Newspapers are seeing a higher proportion of page views on tablets than smartphone devices, while collectively they account for over a quarter of their traffic, according to the beta data.

Newspapers see higher tablet usage, with 13.6 per cent of page views coming via tablets, rising to 18.2 per cent for the sites in the Home Lifestyles category in February. Property, entertainment and health categories were the next highest, with around 15 per cent of page views coming from tablets in February.

Meanwhile sport sites saw higher usage on smartphones than tablets accounting for 9.7 per cent and 26.3 per cent pf traffic respectively.

The Tablet Census Only data, due to be released in August, tracks tablet browsing and app usage of tagged sites. However, it differs from its desktop PC browsing reported in its Multiplatform Media Metris (MMX) which combines census data collected via tags with panel measurements.

The Census Only methodology does not have a UK specific panel of tablet users, but instead draws from ComScore’s experience from its US iPad panel.

The coverage of the brutal murder of Drummer Lee Rigby in Woolwich opened fresh debate on the responsibility of the British media to strike a balance between editorial responsibility and the duty to inform the public.

Reactions from some quarters were of shock and horror at the images and headlines chosen by the nation's main titles and concerns of insensitivity towards the murdered soldier's grieving family, with the Press Complaints Commission (PCC) receiving more than 80 complaints about the Guardian's front page.

Professor Roy Greenslade, the Guardian's media commentator, led the defence of the editorial decisions of the British papers in his Guardian Media blog on the grounds that it conveyed more effectively the horror of the incident and the images - thanks to social media - were already well established in the public domain.

Were the British papers correct to go with these front pages?

Shoe company Clarks has appointed Maxymiser to support its online testing campaign, as it looks to online sales for future growth.

Clarks felt that they wanted to take some of the more basic onsite testing into their own hands, having used Maxymiser’s fully managed optimisation service since 2010.

Mark Carlock, web analytics manager at Clarks, said: “After running with Maxymiser’s managed service for some time now we have become familiar with the testing process. As our approach to optimisation and testing has matured, we felt that we had gained enough in house knowledge to execute some of the more simple tests ourselves, freeing up Maxymiser’s time to concentrate on the more mission critical testing.

“By using Maxymiser’s VCB solution we can refine the list so we are testing the parts of the site that we know we will see a clear difference from doing so, while the knowledgeable team at Maxymiser can focus on the overall customer experience.”

ISBA director of media and advertising Bob Wootton has claimed “new media is effectively biting the hand that feeds it” by failing to act over online adverts appearing on inappropriate social media pages.

Wootton’s comments come after The Drum revealed the FBrape campaign which demands ‘swift, comprehensive and effective action addressing the representation of rape and domestic violence on Facebook’ has received over 50,000 Twitter mentions and over a dozen brands, including Nissan UK and Nationwide, have pulled their advertising after ads appeared next to groups, pages or images that condone or encourage domestic abuse and rape.

“Advertisers are rightly concerned with their ads appearing on websites that are bad taste at best and highly offensive, or illegal, at worst; why should they spend years and millions of pounds establishing their reputation only to have that investment damaged, possibly irrevocably, by something they have virtually no control over?

“The excuse from the likes of the new media giants that ‘we are just a pipe’, is, frankly, wearing thin. They need to honour the trust imbued in them by their clients – the companies that fund them – otherwise they might well see more advertisers taking their cash elsewhere,” remarked Wootton.

As online adverts are ‘programmatically’ placed based on a wide array of information from the users’ computer the ISBA has called for the technology that is used to target consumers employed to prevent online ads from appearing on offensive sites.

Wootton adds: “Well-targeted ads use anonymised data so that, for example, those of us who own pets will never have to be served a dog or cat-food ad, and so on. Why can’t similarly sophisticated technology be employed to the benefit of the advertiser too? A sincere attempt to answer this question might well stem the flow of advertisers which are leaving social networking sites for less riskier, display advertising alternatives.”

Swedish cider brand Kopparberg, has today unveiled a cryptic nationwide social media competition, asking fans to tell them why they want something to ‘happen’ – with the most intriguing response selected as the winner.

Using the hashtag ‘#happenings’ the competition invites people to tweet @KopparbergUK and tell the brand ‘why I want something to happen here’, with the first round to take place in London until 4 June, followed by Manchester and Glasgow over the space of six weeks.

Head of marketing at Kopparberg, Rob Calder, said: “This summer will see a dramatic shift in our PR activity and #happenings is a signal of things to come, as our social channels become more integrated with our PR activity.

“We’re keeping schtum about what the winner gets, but it will be something to remember.

“We want our fans to have fun with this. Whether it is just a tweet, a picture or video, we want to see people doing something different as they will definitely win something different.”

The campaign looks to promote the Elderflower & Lime 4.0 per cent and Cloudberry 4.0 per cent flavours of Kopparberg.

Huggies Pull-Ups manufacturer Kimberly-Clark has revealed a new TV advertisement to coincide with the launch of its latest campaign encouraging parents to use Pull-Ups to potty train their kids.

The 30” creative will be live for six weeks and shows children graduating to become ‘big kids’ after completing their potty training journey.

The advertisement aims to highlight the functional benefits of the brand as well as its wetness indicator which can help young children understand the difference between wet and dry.

Of the advertisement, Huggies UK brand manager Sarah Gamble, commented: “The theme of the advert is about educating parents and helping them understand that Huggies Pull-Ups are not the same as nappy pants on the market.

"The graduation theme clearly demonstrates how choosing Pull-Ups can help children graduate to big kid underwear and move confidently through the potty training process.”

The TV activity will be supported by an integrated campaign including print, digital and PR media following substantial investment from Kimberly-Clark for 2013.

Hacktivist group Anonymous UK has announced that it will stand up to the English Defence League (EDL), after protests against mosques following the murder of Lee Rigby.

As part of ‘Operation EDL’, the group has said that it will soon release the phone-numbers of EDL members, and has suggested this could be available from 9pm, tweeting ‘We are trying to get as many as possible’.

The group said of EDL: “You have capitalized on the misfortunes of our peoples, taking advantage of moments of fear, of terror, and of reconciliation, to spread hatred and animosity towards your fellow man.
“You have angered us considerably, and summoned our wrath irrevocably.”

So far, EDL has not responded on Twitter to any comments made by Anonymous.
The Twitter account set up for the operation has just over 200 followers so far.

And so.... #OpEDL begins.

— #OpEDL (@Operation_EDL) May 28, 2013

The full statement made by Anonymous said:

Good morning members, and leaders of the English Defense League.

We are Anonymous UK. We have been patiently observing your organisation, as you have inflated, indoctrinating our young with your criminal mindset.

You have capitalized on the misfortunes of our peoples, taking advantage of moments of fear, of terror, and of reconciliation, to spread hatred and animosity towards your fellow man.
Your constant belligerence, like a pack of raving ignoramuses, furthering only bigotry and segregation.

You have angered us considerably, and summoned our wrath irrevocably.

Last week, an innocent Drummer, Lee Rigby, lost his life at the hands of two vile and demented human beings in the most horrific, and heinous manner ever witnessed on the streets of Britain.
This villainous public display has thrown the United Kingdom into mourning; every community, and every congregation, extending their deepest condolences.

You however, have used this as another excuse to further spread your campaign of hate, bigotry, and misinformation. Under the guise of national pride you have instigated crimes against the innocent and incited the subjugation of Muslims. We will not allow your injustices, your lies, and your stupidity, to further radicalize our youth into fearing and despising their fellow man.

Our people are desperate for hope, in a hopeless society where our own government neglects us, where society has fails us, it is only natural to seek a relatable change maker. This sort of desperation, this quest for feeling of worth, is what you have taken advantage of.

In this operation, we will begin the systematic and comprehensive dissemination of your cult. We will further expose your falsities and your attempts to censor, to your members, to the British public, and to the world as a whole. You will fall, we can say this with complete confidence. We are everywhere, you cannot hide, you cannot win We are the voices of all and the voice of one. It will not happen over night, but we WILL be victorious.

We are Anonymous.
We are Legion.
We do not forgive.
We do not forget.
Expect us.

#OpEDL
@Operation_EDL

The Gate has announced that Serena Fylan has left Mob Films to rejoin the company as it looks to develop its integrated production offering.

Fylan has joined as a senior producer and has already worked with Home agency to produce Jet 2’s summer campaign, which airs early June, and is currently working on an international pitch involving cinema and interactive social video.

Steve Byrne, managing director, commented: "We're obviously delighted to welcome back Serena to The Gate. There's no doubt that in recent years she has become one of the most highly regarded Commercial Producers working in the regions.

“She was tempted back by the prospect of not only working with our expanded director roster, but also helping us shape the rapid growth we're driving in social video and content strategy. We're hugely optimistic about industry recovery this next 12 months and Serena's arrival is a reflection of our ambition.”

adidas has joined forces with United State of Fans\TBWA, Hill + Knowlton Strategies, We Are Social, FITCH and Tribal DDB Amsterdam to pull together a campaign spanning advertising, comms, PR, social, digital, retail and experiential in order to launch its new silo of football boots Nitrocharge.

Joining the Predator, f50 and adiPure ranges currently on the market, Nitrocharge has been designed for a specific type of player – ‘The Engine’. The player who is always on, running, tackling and passing with relentless energy and no fear, the type of player who reflects the technology incorporated into the new boot which aims to increase and retain as much energy as possible.

Both the idea and the player type were used as the inspiration for the campaign with the lead comms agency United State of Fans\TBWA working on the creation of the campaign. Part of the campaign was shot in Barcelona with a selection of key faces wearing the new boot, the 60” TV creative which debut this weekend during the UEFA Champions League Final will now air worldwide during key matches over the coming weeks.

Brand ambassadors and ‘Engine’ players Javi Martinez (FC Bayern Munich) and Sven Bender (Borussia Dortmund) wore the boots on-pitch during Saturday’s Champions League Final with global players including Daniele De Rossi (A.S. Roma), Dani Alves (Barcelona) and Ezequiel Lavezzi (Paris Saint Germain) also set to wear the boots.

To support the campaign sports statisticians Opta conducted research into what exactly ‘The Engine’ player is through the development of an algorithm. Hill + Knowlton Strategies, adidas’ global football PR agency, then worked on developing the idea of ‘The Engine’. We Are Social has also been engaged to lead the conversation on social media, driving interest in #TheEngine. adidas’ lead social agency for global football has also been tasked with creating ‘Power Pitch’, an event that will bring to life the energy technology in the boot and test groups of players, recruited through smaller local events, who will aim to prove themselves as the ultimate ‘Engine’.

Tribal DDB Amsterdam was briefed to create the online platform where fans can engage with the brand through a digital experience that includes a mobile navigated game, product experience and online hub for social media and PR content created through the campaign, entitled ‘the Engine room’. Retail design agency FITCH will bring the Nitrocharge campaign to life at POS with 2D graphic and 3D experiential design.

Over 700 Manchester City supporters clubbed together via social media to pay for a £7,000 advert in an Italian newspaper to thank the club’s former manager Roberto Mancini.

The ad came in response to a similar advert in the Manchester Evening News, which Mancini paid for out of his own pocket, to thank the club’s fans for their support during his three years with the club.

The fans’ tribute, which ran in today’s edition of Gazzetta, read: “Per sempre uno di noi'” translated as “Always one of us”

A line underneath read in English: “Once a blue, always a blue.”

BT Sport has unleashed its advertising campaign showcasing its content offering with a cast of sporting talent…and BT Sport presenter Jake Humphrey.

Sparing no expense BT Sport has called upon the likes of Manchester United striker Robin Van Persie, British tennis player Heather Watson, Tottenham and Wales’ Gareth Bale, England goalkeeper Joe Hart and England Rugby’s Owen Farrell, Joe Launchbury and Manu Tuilagi and others, to take the viewer on a journey of spectacular set pieces. Whether or not Arsenal captain Thomas Vermaelen and England and Liverpool’s Daniel Sturridge will actually be powering the station on giant hamster wheels remains to be seen.

Project: BT Sport
Client name & job title: David James, Marketing Director
Creative Agency: AMV BBDO
Copywriter: Toby Allen
Art Director: Jim Hilson
Agency Planner: Steve Hopkins
Agency Account Man: Mark Graeme
TV Producer: Lucie Georgeson
Media Agency: Maxus Global
Media Planner: Estee Tang
Production Company: Stink
Director: Martin Krejci
Photographer: David Clerihew
Production Co. Producer: Josh Barwick
Post-production Company: The Mill
Audio Post-production: The Factory
Digital Design Company: Red Bee
Exposure (TV, Youtube etc): TV, VOD, YouTube

Today's jobs round-up brings roles for commercial producers, PR account managers, designers and 3D experts.

The Mob Film Company is looking for a TV commercial producer for a role in its Manchester team. The company is seeking an individual with a proven track record of handling extensive pre-production through to delivery for a wide variety of clients and advertising agencies. Skills in budgeting, negotiating, account handling and pitching are required. The closing date for applications is 20 June.

A consumer PR account manager position is available with de Winter Marketing in Chester. Responsibilities will include managing a portfolio of regional and national clients and applicants should have previous consumer client experiences alongside a grip on issues management, new business and staff development. Candidates will ideally have extensive agency experience.

A designer is required at Pocapoc Creative based in Glasgow's Skypark to join an expanding team. Candidates should have at least three years' experience and be highly skilled in Adobe Suite. Demonstrable work on a broad range of products is also requires, including print, environments and digital, alongside excellent client facing skills with the ability to lead in selected presentations and pitches. Applications should be submitted by 3 June.

Weber Shandwick is seeking two account managers; one for PR and one for public affairs. Based in east-central Scotland, applicants for the PR role should have prior experience of media relations along with digital PR/social media skills. Candidates for the account manager position should bring plenty of experience and knowledge to the role. The closing date for applications is 3 June.

Blue Skies Marketing Recruitment is looking for a head of 3D for an integrated/experiential agency in the Midlands. Offering a salary of £40,000-£50,000, candidates should have Vectorworks and Cinema 4D experience; be educated to degree level in architecture, retail or exhibition design; and have demonstrable experience creating groundbreaking visuals for events, exhibitions or shows. The closing date for applications is 20 June.

To view the latest jobs in advertising, design, digital media and marketing, visit The Drum's job section

Thomas Cook is set to launch a new year-round, brand-building TV advertising campaign from 1 June, starring James Nesbitt.

The commercials will star film and TV actor James Nesbitt as the father of a family of four.

The ads were created in collaboration with Havas Worldwide, with media buying handled by Carat.

Mike Hoban, sales, marketing and e-ccommerce director at Thomas Cook UK & Ireland, said: “The new TV ads are set to bring a new, light-hearted look and feel to the brand and show how our experience and expertise means that we can ensure our customers enjoy the perfect holiday.

“A holiday should be a fun experience from the moment our customers pick up a brochure, visit us online or give us a call – and the humorous nature of the new ads reflect that sense of fun and excitement.”

The aim of the campaign is to increase customer awareness and engagement levels with the Thomas Cook brand and its holiday offering.

As well as TV, the campaign will include E-CRM, direct marketing and online elements.

Former commercial manager director of Trinity Mirror Regionals Sara Wilde McKeown has been named as the new MD of Liverpool PR and marketing firm Paver Smith with “substantial shareholding” in the business.

Founder Dougal Paver is believed to remain as a major shareholder with non-executive chairman, David Heal, and current managing partner, Jon Brown, both increasing their shareholdings. Rachel Smith, who heads up Consultation Works, the agency’s consultation unit, will also remain as a shareholder. Former agency director and shareholder Martyn Best has left the agency to concentrate on his digital document handling service for the legal sector – Document Direct.

“Sara is one of the most talented and best regarded figures in the UK media industry. Her strategic vision, energy and focus on delivery are second to none so we are delighted to have secured her commitment,” commented Brown on the appointment.

Wilde McKeown left Trinity Mirror in November, as well as holding the role of commercial director of Trinity Mirror Regionals she also spent time as MD of the publishers digital and events businesses across the North West and North Wales. She also holds a number of non-executive roles in the North West.

Of her new role, Wilde McKeown said: “The agency’s owners have a shared vision about what they want to achieve and it quickly became clear that their ambitions chimed with my own aspirations. Our focus is to continue to deliver the very best in integrated communications to our clients in the North West and to continue to recruit and retain the brightest and best people.”

She added that Paver Smith saw “significant opportunities for sustained and rapid growth in the medium term and believe we can double revenues and profit over the next two years” and that Heal would be assisting the agency with London business growth plans.

Speaking of the growth plans, Wilde McKeown said: “Paver Smith is already the predominant agency in the Liverpool city region with significant and extremely valued client representation in Manchester and the wider region. We fully intend to cement that position whilst driving growth in London by investing in new people and in business development activity. It won’t happen overnight but we believe we can achieve rapid progress over the next 18 months.”

Microsoft has lodged a formal notice with the regulatory body tasked with overseeing all domain names, requesting that ownership of ‘XboxOne.com,’ ‘XboxOne.net’ and the @XboxOne Twitter account, be handed over to them in the wake of the official launch of the Xbox One.

Currently listed by the National Arbitration Forum as ‘pending’ the case is the latest high-profile case of cybersquatting to hit the headlines, a practice whereby people snap up domains which could become valuable in the hope that the firms associated with them will cough up to obtain them.

A notification of the complaint will have been sent to the current owner, UK resident Krasimir Hristov Ivanov, giving him 20 days in which to respond.

If an amicable agreement cannot be reached then the case is likely to go to an arbitrator to help both sides thrash out a deal, although Microsoft may decide to sue the domain’s US owner under anti-cybersquatting legislation instead.

The latter may prove tricky however as the domain wasn’t registered till the end of 2011, well before the Xbox One trademark was lodged on 21 May, 2013.

Twitter names on the other hand are allocated on a ‘first come, first served’ basis and (so long as they don’t mislead followers by using a trademark) are permissible under the micro blogs rules.