Amazon has removed its free ‘super saver’ delivery service on some items worth less than £10.

The decision reverses Amazon’s 2009 pledge which allowed for purchases to be sent free of charge as long as customers were willing to wait up to five days for delivery following dispatch.

Though the changes will not apply to books, DVDs, music, video games and software products, analysts have claimed the decision could still be ‘damaging’.

Speaking to the BBC, Neil Saunders analyst for retail specialist Conlumino, said “there is likely to be resistance to this change” particularly from “infrequent shoppers who don’t mind waiting”.

Removing the free ‘super saver’ delivery option on items costing less than £10 is likely to impact on the vast number of goods Amazon offers out with its primary market of books and DVDs. In recent years, third-party vendors have sold goods on Amazon including health and beauty, clothing and gifts.

The decision to scrap ‘super saver’ for low cost items also allows Amazon to promote its one off charge delivery service Amazon Prime, which offers one-day delivery on an unlimited number of orders for £49 per year.

Amazon’s decision to introduce a price threshold for ‘super saver’ delivery follows news that the online retailer is one of many implementing the new ‘Follow My Parcel’ real-time delivery tracking service.

Government-backed service GrowthAccelerator (GA) has turned to 999 to reposition and rebrand its offering.

Grant Thornton, lead delivery partner for GA, appointed the agency in March 2013 following an initial pitch process. Briefed with creating a new message tone and distinctive visual approach for the brand, 999 was also tasked with entirely re-positioning the service to ensure its key benefits were communicated.

999 set out to challenge the expectations of government-backed business communications, and the look and tone of voice associated with them. The new identity and messaging hopes to reflect the service while at the same time being distinct within the marketplace.

“Whilst it remains a young brand in the market GrowthAccelerator has started to gain traction in the marketplace as a premium, aspirational service for high growth potential businesses in England. This has been cemented by the new messaging approach and visual identity developed by 999 and will form the foundation of our advertising and marketing communications over the next two years,” commented Karoline Rutrecht, marketing consultant at Grant Thornton.

The new identity will be officially unveiled this week as part of GA’s first annual report, which was also designed and produced by 999.

Managing director for 999 London, Aileen Geraghty, added: “We had to explore how we should communicate GA so that it became a tangible and compelling offer. The quality of the GA service is of the highest level and this just wasn’t coming through. Our repositioning aims to differentiate GA from the traditional, uninspiring model of business support that has gone before.

“Visually it’s a far more grown up and confident brand identity which now relates to the refreshed logo through a distinctive variety of visual brand assets which stem from the directional letterforms.”

The NUJ has branded Ofcom's decision to grant a reduction in required regional news services provided by ITV, STV, and UTV as a "major blow" for public broadcasting.

The new 10-year licence agreement means ITV is obliged to provide 20 minutes of regional coverage instead of the current 30. While ITV said it will continue to broadcast 30 minute bulletins, the NUJ said 10 minutes of these would now include non-local content.

"This would mean viewers in Yorkshire being shown daffodils from the West Country rather than a full 30 minutes of home-grown news," said NUJ national broadcasting organiser, Sue Harris.

Under the plans, lunchtime news bulletins will be cut from 6.5 minutes to three minutes and late evening broadcasts from 10 minutes to five minutes. Weekend news bulletins will also suffer with a cut from 10 to five minutes.

Harris continued: "The changes to ITV local news are a major blow to public broadcasting. This has happened because Ofcom's role as a light-touch regulator has allowed ITV to have its way every time.

"This erosion is taking place at the same time as a massive decline in local newspapers, with titles closing and some towns being left without a local paper, plus a similar decline of local news services in Independent Local Radio.

"The maintenance of PSB obligations on broadcasters is critical to ensure that the public are properly informed, so that they can have access to, and properly engage with local, as well as national, democracy. It is also vital that there is a plurality of services, so that different voices and opinions are able to be heard."

The changes were approved across most services but not for London and the north-west of England. UTV and STV will be required to maintain the current output, with the borders region being ordered to produce a further 90 minutes of regional programming for the Scottish side. Welsh services will be subject to the same reductions as English regions.

However, Ofcom granted ITV's application to increase the number of regions it will provide news to, almost doubling the current number of eight to 14.

The new licences will come into force in 2015.

David Cameron’s announcement yesterday that the UK government will force ISPs to adopt a “default-on” filtering system for pornography drew fierce criticism from ISPs and rights campaigners. However, an unlikely critic of Cameron’s plan is the country’s top child abuse investigator Jim Gamble, chief executive of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP), who said the blacklist currently used to filter the vast majority of UK internet connections had been a "fabulous success".

The question could be asked that if it is such a success, then why is the government seeking to regulate a program already working? In 2009, only small "boutique" ISPs had yet to adopt CEOP's filtering and the Home Office estimated roughly 95 per cent of internet users were covered under the child abuse filtering regime. David Cameron was actually echoing a speech made by Vince Cable after claims that Mark Bridger, who murdered April Jones had accessed child porn on his computer. Cable admitted it was "very, very difficult" to police the internet, but added: "Mark Bridger appears to be influenced by watching child pornography on the internet. Ultimately, this has got to come from the public; if they see any evidence of this happening, of getting it to the police immediately.”

Cable’s remarks, however, have been criticised by Daniel Foster of 34SP.com, a British-based ISP who stated, "David Cameron's clampdown on porn, borne out of the most painstaking investigation into paedophilia the UK has ever seen, coupled with the convictions of some of the most prolific sex offenders, is at best, more misguided regulation by those who don't understand it and at worst, a cynical ploy to appease a public who feel betrayed.”

"Forcing a search engine to block access is wholly ineffective, simply because the types of image targeted in this announcement are invariably shared over private networks and not found by a simple image search. Blocking current search terms will only lead to new ones being used - the offenders will offer a constantly moving target.”

E-Governance Professor at the University of Strathclyde Lilian Edwards added, “These places are sometimes known as darknets, eg P2P sites for swapping illegal material - or "hidden services", the phrase the IWF uses in its latest report to describe anonymised websites where new paedophiles material often makes its first appearance.”

Cameron insists that more needs to be done, even as ISPs voluntarily comply with most government recommendations -- like "splash pages" that warn users they are attempting to view illegal material. The prime minister will call on firms to go further, with splash screens warning of consequences "such as losing their job, their family, even access to their children" as a result of viewing the content.

But Foster stated "History shows us that they will be quicker at keeping this target moving than law enforcement will be at catching it. To say that pornography is 'corroding childhood' is extreme. Having criticised the previous government for operating a nanny state, this reeks of hypocrisy. The fact that there is plenty of widely-adopted filtering software readily available means that internet users are already acting autonomously in policing content in their own homes.”

Confused.com’s head of content and PR, Sharon Flaherty, has spoken out on the impact social PR is having on the relationship between businesses and consumers.

As a contributor to a new book on the subject, Social PR, Flaherty draws a direct correlation between the profitability of a business and its social media content marketing, writing: “Believe it or not, those people in the business that manage and produce your content, social media and PR activities are very powerful. They are the engine room of your business. In fact, how profitable your business is can be tied back to your activities in these areas.”

Explaining this rationale Flaherty extols the benefits of driving brand awareness and advocacy as well as the knock on advantages in SEO, all of which can drive traffic and customers to the business.
Flaherty observed: “If linkable content is strong enough, then all these journalists, bloggers and news organisations will start linking to your work and that’s what you want.” Explaining why Flaherty noted that: “The additional content adds value and interaction for the reader over and above the initial story," before going on to add: “The content gives a reason for websites to link to your website which in turn increases the chances of their readers following that link back to your website and engaging with the content (eg engaging with you). This creates a connection and takes the story from off someone else’s website and back onto yours, which is exactly what you want.”

What’s more Flaherty explains: “People searching for similar or related content, for example, ‘car names’ will be brought to your website, bringing you ‘accidental’ searchers and natural traffic to your brand.”

Cautioning against the simple accumulation of press clippings however Flaherty further contends that clear business goals are vital, concluding: “Who are your buyers or who do you want them to be? How can you influence them? Who are their influencers? Where can you find them? Are they more active on Twitter or Facebook? You need to know this because this is how you should shape your social, content and PR efforts. “

Yet again, royal baby mania grips the newspaper world, with the pictures of the baby prince, whose name has still not been announced, making the front cover of the majority of newspapers.

Making his first public appearance last night, the baby raised his fingers in what is being described as a ‘royal wave’ by most newspapers.

Communications giant TalkTalk has reported its ‘strongest ever’ month for TV sales this June after signing up 160,000 new subscribers to YouView in the second quarter.

The influx has taken its installed base up to 390,000 driven by family friendly fare such as Peppa Pig and Ben & Holly, named as the firms most watched on-demand shows, whilst Life of Pi, The Hobbit and Wreck-it Ralph were named as the highest grossing films.

Such content is a lucrative money spinner for the firm with 26 per cent of households stumping up extra for premium content and subscriptions to additional channels.

A chief driver of this custom is thought to be TalkTalk’s offer of one-month-at-a-time contracts that do not necessitate year round commitment.

Dido Harding, TalkTalk’s chief executive, said: “We’re fast becoming the natural home for families seeking great value mass-market entertainment and starting their pay TV journey. For our loyal customers it’s a great way to upgrade from their existing TV service. New customers are connecting to TalkTalk for the first time too with feedback showing very high levels of satisfaction with every aspect of the service, from sign-up to installation, content available and the functionality of YouView which allows them to catch-up, search and record.”

In order to help holidaymakers relax this summer digital newsstand lekiosk has launched a tablet case that looks like a glossy magazine when closed, following a survey revealing that tablets have become a holiday essential for half of the UK’s tablet-owning population.

According to the survey, a quarter of tablet-owners who chose not to take their device on holiday do so as they are too scared their devices will be stolen. Of those polled over a third (36 per cent) said they watched their valuables ‘constantly’ abroad, with one in three (29 per cent) hiding valuables under clothes or in shoes. Despite this fewer than one in 10 Brits said they had chosen to take out insurance.

“There aren’t as many iTravellers as there might be – because people are worried that their precious slates will be targeted by sea- and pool-side thieves. And even the Brits who do take their tablets on holiday with them are resorting to watching them like hawks - or taking a risk and hiding them under piles of clothing. That’s why we’ve developed these very special anti-theft devices that let Brits hide their tablets in plain sight - and experience the kind of true relaxation that everyone goes on holiday to find,” commented Nathaniel Philippe, lekiosk’s head of international business development.

Almost a third (29 per cent) of tablet-owning Brits revealed that they read more books when the travelled with their tablets, with 13 per cent saying that their tablet had allowed them to read more magazines.

One in 10 (15 per cent) of travellers who took their tablet or smartphone abroad said they had accessed work emails and completed work tasks, with one in three admitting to checking social media on holiday several times a day.

The UK’s free-to-air digital satellite television provider Freesat has announced a 21st consecutive quarter of growth, with 145,000 homes joining the service in the last year alone.

The subscription-free service’s growth is now likely to outpace paid-for rivals, Sky and Virgin Media. Owned by the BBC and ITV, Freesat is now in its sixth year, averaging around four million viewers each week from 1.8 million UK homes.

“Our continued strong results show thousands of people making the smart choice of Freesat as the alternative to expensive TV contracts. As take up across the UK has increased, so has our offer,” remarked Emma Scott, Freesat managing director.

Since its launch in May 2008 Freesat has sold 3.3 million set top boxes and TVs, with retail sales valued at over £1.2bn. Last month, a record number of Freesat viewers tuned in to watch Glastonbury coverage, with customers increasingly using Freesat products to enhance their TV and radio consumption.

Scott added: “We continue to add new channels and on demand services and invest in cutting edge technology. We will soon deliver more features to our next generation service, including the addition of Demand 5, a remote app for smart phones, and in the future, additional movie and music channels.”

Sainsbury’s has announced it is to enter the mobile phone network launching Mobile by Sainsbury’s, a new mobile network service from the supermarket chain.

The new service, set to rival Tesco Mobile, offers those who purchase Mobile by Sainsbury’s bundles double Nectar points on Sainsbury’s shopping and fuel.

Established in partnership with Vodafone, the network offers three Pay As You Go (PAYG) bundles starting at £10 up to £20. Network coverage is expected to reach over 99 per cent of the UK population.

Emma McLaughlin, Mobile by Sainsbury’s marketing director, commented: “The average UK family is feeling the pinch, and this is an easy way to make your pound stretch further.”

Customers looking for a simple price plan to use infrequently can take advantage of the basic price plan which offers double Nectar points on the value of top ups.

“We know that many customers find choosing a mobile phone network a bit stressful, so we’ve opted to not only keep our price plans as affordable as possible – we’ve also made it incredibly simple. With our pay as you go service, customers know exactly what they’re getting and how much they’re spending - which means no nasty surprises at the end of the month,” added Scott.

The service also offers a ‘Borrow a Pound’ option giving customers £1 worth of credit for emergencies when their balance has run out. When used a 10p fee will be deducted from the customers next top up.

SIM cards will now be available in stores, with more than 250 Sainsbury’s branches also stocking a range of handsets with dedicated in-store phone shops being trialled in six stores nationwide.

An interactive map charting the debt levels of 40,000 people across the UK has been published as a tool to assist those weighed down by debt to understand that they’re not alone.

Compiled by Payplan, the debt management firm, the map is fully searchable by postcode and incorporates over £3bn of liabilities across IVA’s, debt management plans and bankruptcy.

The average debt currently stands at £83,465 with the profile of those in debt also shifting dramatically over the past 12 months, moving from those on low incomes living in rented accommodation to include home owners and pensioners.

Jason Eaves, Payplan director, said: “We know that on average only one in six people with debt problems will seek help. Often these people feel isolated and alone and don’t know where to turn. What this map clearly shows is the scale of the problem throughout the UK and we want people to be aware that free debt help is available.”

Data was compiled from information provided in over 40,000 calls last year but does not give any individual personal details.

With the UK recently voted the world’s most developed online retail market, 8MS has unveiled a white paper looking at combining online and offline for retailers.

The report shows that in the lead up to the two week heat wave, predictions by the Met Office led to the sales of barbeques at Waitrose to increase by 118 per cent, and the sales of ice lollies at marks and Spencer to increase by 300 per cent.

For retailers, it could be tracked online what consumers were looking for, with searches for the word ‘Pimms’ growing exponentially according to Google Trends search data.

8MS suggest: “The best retailers are those that find a quick solution when stock becomes unavailable. High street retailers with an online presence have the edge here, because if a product is not available or out of stock online, consumers can often search nearby stores and find a solution to collect in store, often on the same day. John Lewis unveiled a new £40m web platform at the start of 2013, which it said is the foundation for future online growth and customer-focused multichannel retailing strategy.

“With an online presence, and the delivery problem solved by physical stores, on and offline players such as John Lewis should have a big advantage.

“When John Lewis opened a store in Chester in September 2011, not only did the store footfall increase, but online sales also increased by 30 per cent in the Chester area.”

However, it was found that certain sectors are more likely to lead to online traffic than others: 57 per cent of the UK buy CDs and DVDs online, while only 25 per cent purchase clothes or accessories online.

Smartphones also play a roll in driving footfall traffic from high street retailers, with consumers searching for local stores, opening times and contact phone numbers.

Shopper confidence is beginning to return with consumers starting to feel able to spend a little more freely than before, according to the latest update in the Shoppercentric 'Shopping in the Recession' report.

Launched in January 2009 at the start of the recession, the report aims to show how shopper attitudes are changing. At the start of 2013 shopper confidence was found to be low, but now the proportion claiming to be unaffected by the economic downturn is at its highest level.

Of those surveyed respondents claiming to be not impacted at all financially was up eight per cent from January to 18 per cent in July, Planners (shoppers who don’t need to make changes but do so in case of future problems) had declined from 14 per cent in January to six per cent in July, shoppers making minor changes, known as Soft Reactors, dropped from 47 per cent to 45 per cent and Strong Reactors, those making major changes, fell from 35 per cent in January to 31 per cent in July.

Despite the pressure easing off a little for shoppers, the findings reveal that they remain to be thoughtful and savvy in their approach to buying. 28 per cent of shoppers are still seeking out the best deals, up 14 per cent on January 2009, almost a quarter (23 per cent) are more aware of pricing an increase of 12 per cent. A third (33 per cent) of shoppers stayed away from expensive/up market shops altogether, up 12 per cent on 2009.

Over a quarter (28 per cent) work to make their purchases go further, a rise of 11 per cent on 2009 figures and 24 per cent of shoppers now plan a budget, compared with 14 per cent of shoppers six four years ago.

“Our research demonstrates that the shopping behaviours and money saving tactics learnt over the last few years are not going to be forgotten overnight, even if shoppers are showing signs of greater confidence,” said Danielle Pinnington, managing director at Shoppercentric.

Pinnington adds that it is “unlikely that free spending will quickly return to pre-credit crunch levels – if at all,” and that “Successful marketing strategies will focus on understanding what shoppers want and that means looking beyond pure price-point discounting. Retailers need to proactively sell - helping and inspiring shoppers to spend whilst providing good value.”

Rentokil Initial has selected Work Club to fulfil a global digital role for the brand following a competitive pitch.

Work Club has now been tasked with developing digital platforms, tools and services for implementation worldwide over the next two to three years.

“Digital will play an important role in our business growth over the next few years; we are looking forward to working closely with Work Club to help us achieve our ambitious plans,” said Doug West, group marketing and category director at Rentokil Initial.

The £1.7bn international services company’s digital assets include 130 websites worldwide, by country, language and brand; customer service extranets and social platforms such as deBugged - the pest control blog.

Work Club CEO, Martin Brooks, added: “This is an impressive and estimable world-class company. We are delighted to have been selected to help them achieve their vision.”

IgnitionOne has appointed Digilant Media’s Simon Haynes as UK managing director following its management-led buyout from parent company Dentsu.

Haynes was UK managing director of Digliant Media, formerly known as Adnetic, for almost two years.

Haynes said the management buyout from Dentsu, which is also the parent company of Aegis Media, was one of the “motivators” that led to him taking the role.

“This opens up a lot of opportunity. It initially makes the company more mobile in a cultural sense, which is critical when you are dealing with what is essentially a technology proposition.

“The evolution and power behind that technology needs to be mobile because if you are reactive in this industry then you are behind the curve. So it enables the company to be proactive and as a result more interesting,” he said.

Haynes also believes independence is “critical”, both for cultural reasons but also the “cold hard commercial reality” as well.

“Inevitably over the next two to three years there is likely to be consolidation, what with the state of the economy and the digital media market, but independent movers within that can execute opportunities faster and more efficiently,” he said.

Haynes added that there is a lot of misinformation in the RTB space, and the result is that there is a need for more clarity and education to help advertisers better understand its value.

He compared the RTB space to the mobile sector, which was hailed as the “next big thing” back in 2004, but didn’t truly start realising its potential until the last few years.

“It’s the same for RTB, it’s three to four years old and it’s only really been over the last year that is has become a universal concern and people have started to think about it as part of their planning cycle.

“The result is that the rhetoric has reduced it to three-letter acronyms that no one really understands. As a result of that it needs more clarity, as to why, outside the cost savings, are you going to put money down that path and what is the best way to execute it,” he said.

Previously Haynes wrote a column for The Drum stating that the online ad industry is suffering from a “severe case of hellenologophilia” or in other words – a compulsive love of technical terms.

Knightmare, the cult British TV show for kids, will launch a brand new episode on YouTube to celebrate YouTube Geek Week at the start of August.

Produced by the original creator, Tim Child, the new episode, set to be aired on Monday 5 August, will also feature the original Lord Fear and Dungeon Master Treguard and will be recorded in the original Knightmare Studio in Norwich.

Each day throughout the week, Kryten from Red Dwarf will give a rundown of the best YouTube Geek Week videos to watch and viewers can also find Top 10 ‘geeky YouTube’ playlists from UK faces like Rachel Riley, Jamie Oliver and Brian Blessed.

Danielle Tiedt, chief marketing officer at YouTube, said: “With more than half of our top 20 non-music channels dedicated to geek culture, YouTube has become a top destination for fans everywhere to create, share and watch geek content.

“We’re excited to shine a spotlight on this global community during Geek Week and debut all-new videos and series created by some of our most popular channel partners.”

The week aims to celebrate geekery in all its formats, from Brainiac Tuesday – not in a Superman sense - to Super Wednesday and Gaming Thursday.

Aptamil has engaged BETC London to produce the print campaign supporting the launch of Aptamil Pronutra+ range of baby Follow On milk in the UK.

The print campaign features three executions (Eye, Head and Thumb) each highlighting and explaining a separate key benefit of the blend. Extreme close-up photography, by Tom Flach, lends itself to the tag line ‘The closer we look, the more we discover’.

The Eye execution demonstrates the brand’s high levels of Omega 3 to help eyesight, Head focuses on the inclusion of iron, contributing to normal cognitive development, and Thumb promotes the Vitamin D content, vital for the growth and development of healthy bones.

The creative will feature as SPS in titles from this week, plus in a series of special formats.

Castello cheese is set to kick off its first partnership campaign with a Sunday Times Wine Club deal which will offer members a booklet from the brand on cheese and wine pairings with every wine delivery.

The speciality cheese brand, owned by Arla Foods, appointed Mediator to create the multiplatform campaign, which will see Castello also partner with book publisher Penguin and wine producer Rosemount.

Jo Coughlin, account director at Mediator, said: “Our calendar of promotional activity has built a multi-faceted partnership campaign for Castello, with presence across a wide range of consumer touchpoints which will ultimately deliver against the brand’s primary objective of driving purchase.”

The partnership with Penguin will include book stickers and end pages on titles promoted through a Facebook club and the brand will offer readers the chance to win a trip to Denmark. Activity with Rosemount will include sampling at a range of summer food events.

Carling has celebrated the announcement of the future King with an online video featuring Dylan, one half of the new Carling duo.

The video sees Dylan working as a painter and decorator preparing the nursery for the new arrival, when John – the other half of the duo - arrives to see the results of Dylan’s labour they’re not quite as expected resulting in the catchphrase – ‘It’s good…but it’s not quite Carling’.

The online video follows the first to ads in the campaign and is the first to comment on breaking news, and it won’t be the last according to brand director Jeremy Gibson.

Gibson explained: “Carling has a reputation for making adverts that provide an amusing take on current events. It’s a tradition that we’re keen to continue, so watch this space in the coming months.

“As the big day approached people have spoken of little else, so we thought it would be great to celebrate the birth with a bit of classic tongue-in-cheek Carling humour and congratulate the royal couple on their new arrival.”

Monday 22 July saw 94 million visits made to news and media websites, following the news that Kate had gone into labour, with the baby boy born later that evening – up 29 million from the daily UK average.

The research from Experian found that visits to the news and media category were up by 22 per cent on Monday compared to the previous Monday, with tabloids received twice as much traffic as broadsheet websites.

James Murray, digital insight manager for Experian Marketing Services, commented: “Tabloid news sites usually outperform the broadsheets in terms of total visits and this proved to be the case yesterday. However, broadsheets punched above their weight on Monday in terms of visit growth which means that their readers were proportionally more interested in the Royal Baby than those of the Red Tops.”

The BBC News, Daily Mail and Sky News were the three recipients of traffic, while The Guardian did best out of all the broadsheets, probably due to its ‘republican’ button that made all royal baby news disappear.

Sky News saw a 93 per cent increase to its site on Monday 22 than it did last Monday, 15 July.