To celebrate its fifth anniversary of expanding its business to include flowers, Moonpig has today launched its first flower TV campaign.

The TV ad, created by Wordley Production Partners, will showcase the company’s floral bouquets as a gift idea for all occasions, but especially birthdays, anniversaries and thank yous.

The adverts feature a number of characters receiving Moonpig flowers and cards, including a mum, gran, girlfriend and boyfriend.

Set to air nationally both on terrestrial and digital channels, the new TV ads will launch with a free card offer on all flowers and plants during August, with a range of 30 and 10 second variations.

MNC handled the media planning for the campaign.

Channel 4 has been the recipient of criticism from the Advertising Standards Authority after it aired adverts for alcohol during an episode of The Big bang Theory screened on E4.

Strict rules govern the screening of alcohol advertisements in or around programming which is targeted at or likely to appeal to those aged 18 or under with Ofcom banning such ads outright in programmes which attract an audience 10 to 15 year olds that is 20 per cent above the norm.

A total of 15 episodes of the hit show were judged to have fallen foul of these rules.

The show was just one of several incidents to come to the attention of the watchdog; including 78 episodes of How I Met Your Mother and the Film4 movie Aquamarine, prompting the station to tighten its internal restrictions on such content.

Other broadcasters to be reprimanded by the ASA include Discovery which ran alcohol commercials during 62 episodes of Mythbusters; Paramount whose Comedy Central channel inadvertently aired a drinks ad during Stuart Little 3 and Men & Movies +1 owner Entertainment Networks which aired alcohol ads during five shows including 3 Ninjas Knucle Up.

Twitter has vowed to strengthen its self-policing efforts following a number of recent online abuse cases by making it easier for its users to report such instances.

This follows the high profile cases of feminist campaigner Caroline Criado-Perez and Labour MP Stella Creasy who received abusive messages via the micro blogging service.

Speaking to BBC Newsnight, Del Harvey, head of trust and safety for Twitter, said “I think there is a misperception about how we’ve responded. When we were made aware of the issue over the weekend we reached out privately to both parties and law enforcement and we’ve continued that dialogue.

“These sorts of threats are against the rules, we suspend accounts when they’re reported to us and we’re working to make it easier to report those accounts.

“Part of the problem is that we have a really wide variety of use cases on Twitter, from someone following someone to see tweets to trying to raise awareness of human rights issues. Whilst we want to make it easier for people to report abuse we also want to make it easier to build in protections to prevent people being silenced.

“It’s worth remembering that Twitter is a case where the company got superceded by the brand and the use of it. The way it took off like a rocket ship we’re still trying to make sure that we’ve got everything right that we need to to make people feel safe on that rocket ship.

“We launched a few weeks ago the ability to report a tweet directly from the tweet itself on iOS and mobile and this has underscored to us the need to get that out to all platforms.”

The Sun declared Lord Justice Leveson’s report into press ethics “discredited” in its landmark editorial on Wednesday and hit out at the vested interests of those such as the “Hacked Off brigade” in relation to press freedoms.

The editorial was part of an edition featuring a striking front-page wrap ahead of the introduction of The Sun’s paywall on Thursday, declaring “This is our Britain” on top of an illustration of the country’s best-known landmarks and icons.

“Those who blindly back them have no experience of life without press freedoms, nor any understanding of how damaging their loss would be,” the title added on the regulation issue.

The editorial goes on to accuse the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and Labour of behaving “spinelessly” following the Leveson report, which it claims is “discredited”.

The Sun is one of a number of titles attempting to push through a press alternative to the government’s Royal Charter on regulation. The delays have caused a row between politicians and the media, with John Prescott recently resigning from the Privy Council in protest.

The edition comes just over a month after The Sun’s new editor, David Dinsmore, took over the reins at the paper and the edition’s editorial – ‘And this is where The Sun stands’ – lays out the paper’s stance on a range of the country’s pressing issues.

From Mr Bean and John Terry to the white cliffs of Dover, Blackpool Tower and even Harry’s Potter’s mythical school Hogwarts, The Sun’s unmissable front and back page wrap is designed to stimulate the nation’s patriotism.

On technology, The Sun says: “People talk doom and gloom about technology destroying newspapers. Not us. We are excited about the future because of the technology.

“It allows us to publish The Sun on many different platforms, to reach new audiences, to enhance and update constantly.”

The editorial laid out a brief stance on a range of the country’s most talked about issues and on welfare declared Britain’s “culture of entitlement” was “bleeding Britain dry” and must end, insisting the present government’s benefits cap is still too generous.

Accusations that the title was anti-immigration were branded “rubbish” and The Sun claimed to equally detest both the English Defence League and “Islamic fascists who want to destroy our freedoms”.

As The Sun gears up to switch on the paywall, here’s how Twitter responded to the big wrap.

Incredible. John Terry has photobombed the sun front page http://t.co/fNRGCXdn4B

— Duncan Hooper (@DuncanHooperMSN) July 31, 2013

I hope every other paper also does its own 'vision of Britain' illustrated front page, like The Sun's.

— Tom Davies (@tomdaviesE17) July 31, 2013

It's like Photoshop had a mental breakdown RT @suttonnick: Wednesday's Sun front page wrap - "This is our Britain" pic.twitter.com/xCEO4R8Uf2

— Charlie Ashford (@cfashford) July 31, 2013

Extraordinary Sun front page today. File Easyjet's prominence under 'Advertorial'? pic.twitter.com/9x1sHKcdhN

— Tim Crow (@synergytim) July 31, 2013

Today's front page of The Sun - "This Is Our Britain". Incl the flag of Northern Ireland - which isnt part of Britain pic.twitter.com/AvMPIwAi60

— Darren Dalby (@DarrenDalby) July 31, 2013

There’s a Dalek in the middle of The Sun’s ‘THIS IS OUR BRITAIN’ front page, almost definitely representing the rise of fascism in the UK.

— Tampertronics (@Tmprz) July 30, 2013

Feeling inspired, we stayed up really late last night and put together the cover for Sunday's paper… pic.twitter.com/5EmqLenjBC

— The Sunday People (@thesundaypeople) July 31, 2013

LOVE the Sun's optimistic front page today - gearing up for the paywall. pic.twitter.com/a2XzhMC9lE

— Mark A J Riley (@smiler29) July 31, 2013

BlowUP Media has announced the promotion of Katrin Robertson from managing director for UK to CEO.

She replaces Heinz Leuters, founder and now minority shareholder of blowUP media. This promotion follows a planned restructure by owners, Ströer Media AG, at blowUP media’s German head office.

She said: “As far as our UK clients are concerned, it will be business as usual – with the added benefit that our team will be able to offer them excellent market insight from a wider range of territories.”

Christian Schmalzl, executive board member at Ströer Media AG, added: “Katrin’s role had always encompassed an element of international work as she oversaw R&D, Marketing and European Sales for the Group as well as overseeing the UK office. This promotion gives her the chance to replicate her London success across all our international platforms.”

In her new role, Robertson will also receive additional support from Nils Nerkamp who becomes CFO and Ernst Vos who will be taking over as CCO of the blowUP media Group.

Mastercard has entered into battle with digital wallet rivals Paypal and Visa’s V.me with the launch of its Masterpass service in the UK.

Like its rivals the service allows customers to link Mastercard and other credit and debit details to an account so that simple one touch payments can be activated at online retailers, or via a smartphone or tablet device at High Street outlets.

Marion King, president of Mastercard UK and Ireland, said: "For retailers, Masterpass provides a faster, easier way to check out their customers, and increase sales without significantly changing the way they currently process payments.

“Masterpass can help retailers reduce checkout abandonment rates, which affected 37 per cent of all online transactions in the first quarter of 2013, equating to more than £6 billion in much needed revenue per year according to IMRG and Capgemini. UK consumers spend more than £62 billion a year online.”

The service is already available in the US, Australia and Canada.

Former R/GA creative director Sanam Petri has joined Wieden+Kennedy London in the same role.

Petri joins W+K London after seven years at R/GA London working on campaigns for the likes of Nike and Beats by Dr Dre. Petri spent five years at R/GA New York before spending a further two at R/GA London.

She joins W+K London with a brief to build upon the agency’s interactive capabilities.

Of the appointment, Petri commented: “I've had an incredible experience working with the talented team at R/GA; very few opportunities could've induced me to leave. But I couldn't pass up the chance to work with the team at W+K London.

“I've been inspired by their creative output for years, and admire their uniquely open and collaborative culture. Their history, integrity, and commitment to excellence are unrivalled in our industry. I look forward to becoming part of this phenomenal team.”

Graeme Douglas, head of interactive and innovation at W+K London, added: “We're delighted that Sanam is joining us. With a unique background spanning storytelling and technology, she shares our vision that great, business-transforming creativity shouldn't be limited by channel or platform.”

Nigella Lawson and Charles Saatchi have today been granted a decree nisi at the High Court in London.

Saatchi filed for the divorce earlier this month, following pictures of him with his hands around the throat of wife Lawson being made public.

The pictures were taken in a London restaurant.

Saatchi was acting as his own divorce lawyer in the process.

Sports retailer Sports Direct has moved its performance marketing account from Rakuten Linkshare to global performance network Affiliate Window.

The partnership with Affiliate Window will see key brands from the Sports Direct portfolio launch individual performance marketing campaigns on the network.

Sports Direct business development manager, Steve Thomas, commented: “We will work closely with the Affiliate Window team to recruit quality publishers that will assist in attracting new customers locally as well as expanding our business internationally.”

Anthony Clements, Affiliate Window client services director, added: “We’re thrilled to announce the partnership with The Sports Direct Retail Group and we look forward to growing their online presence through the performance channel.

“The move from the incumbent network is a testament to the strength of Affiliate Window's technology, partner reach and most importantly our account management. We look forward to working closely with the Sports Direct teams to explore new opportunities and develop their digital strategy across all the programmes.”

Market Fresh has engaged the creative team at Rubber Cheese to deliver new multigrain snack product – Hoots.

Made from wheat rather than potatoes, Hoots are available in stores now in a variety of flavours. After deciding on a name for the brand Rubber Cheese designed a punchy, versatile and simple logo for the snack brand as well as a complimentary logo for its umbrella brand, ‘The Wise Owl Snack Company’.

Of the design process, Rubber Cheese managing director, Kelly Molson, said: “To ensure that we had the initial style right for the packaging, we collated a few mood boards as part of our design process, to help identify style preferences. We also reviewed the main competitors to ensure we created something individual.

“We fulfilled the brief by producing a selection of vibrant artwork which clearly shows the product through the use of enhanced photography, simple illustration and bold typography.”

James Minnette, commercial director of The Wise Owl Snack Company, commented: “We were delighted with the final result and have received excellent feedback from both customers and consumers.”

The single Scottish Police force, Police Scotland, is currently investigating an abusive Tweet sent to columnist and author Toby Young, live during his appearance on Newsnight.
The Force Twitter feed described Young as a “making a right tit of it” on air.

Toby Young was appearing on Newsnight alongside Stella Creasy MP, debating the torrent of abuse she had received on Twitter, including rape threats.

During the programme, @Police Scotland Tweeted: “A revelation for #newsnight (UK) viewing tonight seeing @toadmeister make a right tit of it with @stellacreasy”

Just had to block @policescotland, the official police Scotland twitter feed, for abusing me on twitter. This is getting weird

— Toby Young (@toadmeister) July 30, 2013

This morning, Police Scotland apologised for the act, and announced that it was undertaking an investigation.

“We apologise for the tweet sent to @toadmeister & for any upset caused. The matter is being investigated & we're reviewing Twitter access,” it said. The offending tweet has been deleted.

We apologise for the tweet sent to @toadmeister & for any upset caused. The matter is being investigated & we're reviewing Twitter access.

— Police Scotland (@policescotland) July 31, 2013

Immediately after the broadcast, Young blocked the police twitter account, and told his 37,000 followers: “Just had to block @policescotland, the official police Scotland twitter feed, for abusing me on twitter. This is getting weird,” he said. He later adopted a conciliatory tone.

“If you're asked at work about that inappropriate tweet tomorrow, you can tell them I wasn't offended and won't complain,” he said in a Tweet to @policescotland immediately after the broadcast.

Rihanna has successfully sued Topshop parent company Arcadia over the sale of t-shirts featuring her image.

Lawyers working for the singer told the High Court in London that the high street store had duped fans by selling t-shirts featuring pictures that were “very similar” to those used on CD sleeves for one of her albums, and may have, in turn, damaged her reputation.

Judge, Mr Justice Birss, ruled that a “substantial number” of buyers were likely to have been deceived into buying the item, believing it had been endorsed by Rihanna herself. Adding it was damaging to her “goodwill” and represented a loss of control over her reputation within the “fashion sphere”.

Topshop lawyers in the $5m case argued that Rihanna was making an unjustifiable bid to establish a “free standing image right” over the use of her image in the UK.

Mr Justice Birss’ ruling agreed that there was “no such thing as a general right by a famous person to control the reproduction of their image” and that “the taking of the photograph is not suggested to have breached Rihanna's privacy”.

He added: “The mere sale by a trader of a t-shirt bearing an image of a famous person is not an act of passing off. However, I find that Topshop's sale of this T-shirt was an act of passing off.”

No assessments of any liable damages were made in the ruling.

Expedia and Cravendale have come together to launch #MilkMiles holiday campaign on Expedia.

The summer campaign is giving away flights on Twitter every week for three weeks and aims to raise awareness amongst travellers that Cravendale milk can remain fresh for up to 21 days if left unopened.

“We’re delighted to be partnering with Expedia on the #MilkMiles Twitter campaign. At Cravendale we are always looking for new ways to surprise and delight our customers and #MilkMiles is an innovative and engaging way to reward our loyal fans on social media as well as attract some new ones,” explained Cravendale assistant brand manager, Helen Coatsworth.

“The more re-tweets the hashtag receives, the further away the flight destination will be, so with such a high number of re-tweets in the first week, we’re expecting to giveaway flights to some exotic locations indeed.”

The partnership, which runs until Mid-August, was planned and activated with Carat UK and Outside Line and marks growth for the travel company’s advertising arm, Expedia Media Solutions.

Possible destinations available as part of the campaign include Rome, Sydney and Hawaii.

Every fortnight The Drum, in association with Synergist, publishes a selection of new creative work.

Now you can vote for the work you like best with the winners to feature in the next issue of The Drum (2 August). Submit your vote before Wednesday 7 August to guarantee your favourite makes it into the printed magazine.

To submit work for future publication contact gillian.west@thedrum.com.

Labrokes has launched a new TV spot introducing “The Oddsfather” in a nod to the classic film.

Italian football pundit Tiziano Crudeli plays the don, complete with a Ladbrokes pinky ring and a pet hedgehog. Football Chris Kamara also stars as one of his henchmen.

The campaign was created by SapientNitro and is set to run over the next 12 months on ITV, Channel 4 and Sky. Other ads in the campaign will focus on online and mobile offers.

Adam Collett, marketing communications director at Ladbrokes, said: “Our advertising over the last two years has helped drive strong improvements in our awareness and brand consideration, we are looking to build on this strong heritage to showcase the exciting range of bets and offers that Ladbrokes has to offer our customers for the new football season and beyond.”

The campaign will air during key sporting events including the Goodwood Racing Festival and the remaining Ashes Test cricket matches, and build up ahead of the coming football season.

Pizza Hut has united its data sets to provide a more personalised online content experience for customers with the launch of a responsive website to coincide with its 40th anniversary.

The restaurant chain has been working with marketing and technology agency Amaze to overhaul the brand’s website to focus on a more personalised customer experience that can adapt to any mobile device.

Its new strategy focuses on plugging-in multiple data sets including customer relationship management (CRM) and sales statistics, to provide a more personally relevant online experience for customers on whatever device they are using.

The site has been designed to tailor individual visitors’ experience based and deliver relevant content based on what device they are on, their location and previous browsing and shopping behaviour on the site. It plugs in to Pizza Hut’s CRM system to hone the relevancy of the communications.

It can detect a customer’s location to identify the closest restaurants to them, with the view to serving menus and daily offers via their mobile device.

Meanwhile the site plugs into other data systems including its sales statistics to show information such as what the ‘top five pizza choices’ are in each restaurant , city and region.

Pizza Hut Restaurants marketing director Kathryn Austin said: “The new website acts as our digital flagship restaurant, with a unique personalised feel for our users, which supports our business needs. The team at Amaze has captured the very essence of our approach to casual dining and translated the importance of locality into a clever and very personal user journey.”

Sandra McDowell, director of Amaze Communications, commented: “In developing a website that will help drive traffic, the team has created an extremely unique personalised experience, one that not only reflects the brand values of Pizza Hut Restaurants, but is an excellent example of designing and implementing a fully responsive solution that reflects user behaviours.”

The brand is working with Amaze to extend its digital strategy to incorporate social and search activity which ties in with the dynamic website to further hone marketing communications. It will reveal the next part of the road map later this year.

Ownfone has introduced a new handset exclusively for children and designed to prevent sexting, cyber bullying and inappropriate online messages.

The launch of ImageFone, which online allows calls to pre-assigned contacts, follows statistics revealing more than 2.8 million children now carry a smartphone and nearly half (40 per cent) of young people today have experienced sexting with girls as young as 11 sending and receiving explicit content.

The credit card-sized handset does not have a traditional mobile screen preventing it from receiving text messages and going online. The phone’s limited functionality only allows pre-assigned contacts to connect and the design used images instead of names as identifiers to make it suitable for children as young as four.

Ownfone, founder and inventor, Tom Sunderland, commented: “We launched ImageFone as a solution for parents – the handset is designed to allow them to keep in constant contact with their children whilst giving complete peace of mind. The ImageFone has our most basic functionality yet, providing a handset that is perfect for children as young as four as well as those with disabilities.”

It’s been a week of ups and downs on social media, with less than a month to go until entries close for the Social Buzz Awards in association with iomart. The Drum catches up with Joseph Liu, senior brand manager for Häagen-Dazs global communications and strategy; one of the judges for the awards to discuss social engagement and what he is looking for in entries.

The awards, in conjunction with iomart Group, celebrate effectiveness in social media management., with 2012 winners including Paddy Power, Samsung and ASOS.

How can brands build loyalty via social communities?

Social communities are filled with people thirsty for more. More information, more inspiration, more connection. Brands have an opportunity to deepen their engagement among these communities by providing relevant content not typically available in other traditional media. This content can be more functional to include brand history, product detail, or even product development stories. However, the real power lies in relevant content that extends beyond product-based stories to inspire a certain lifestyle amongst people who consume a brand, to enables discussions, exchange, and idea amplification amongst like-minded individuals eager to share their passions.

How can brands use social engagement to create the same level of impact or brand awareness as traditional advertising?

Social engagement extends the life of a campaign far beyond paid media, which allows brands to access the “long-tail” of impact. Rather than simply generating reach across a few select mainstream media, social engagement has the potential to extend and deliver a greater collective impact and be ubiquitous across many disparate media including lesser known blogs, social networks, photo/video sharing sites, smaller online media channels, key influencers, and offline conversations.

What will you be looking for during Social Buzz judging?

I will be looking for an idea that seamlessly links a brand’s unique proposition with a campaignable social behaviour, one that’s a natural extension of the principles a brand already stands for. An inspirational idea that shifts behaviour in a way that can be easily amplified, but at the same time, an idea that’s not easily transferable to other brands, because by definition, truly ownable ideas shouldn’t be.

What has been the biggest change in social media so far this year?

I’ve been intrigued by the emergence of the short video format via Instagram and Vine. I think it could represent an interest shift in mobile media. Whilst text and static images are quite streamlined for consumer consumption, especially in a mobile environment, I do wonder if short video will become a more common format. At the very least, I think it represents an opportunity to inspire a whole new wave of creativity that requires capturing a viewer’s imagination within a few short seconds.

The Social Buzz Awards, which are sponsored by the iomart Group and Meltwater, are open for entries until 16 August. More details and entry information can be found on the Social Buzz website.

Until now, the BT Sport advertising campaign had proven quite effective…until now.

Production is spot on as ever, but my oh my, David James and Michael Owen - neither was made to recite lines like ‘The master versus the apprentice’. And what is the deal with both chaps’ haircuts?

James has always had silly barnets, but Owen looks like he glued his on that morning.

And where exactly is Jake Humphreys walking and talking to?

The point being made is quite important - BT has first dibs on the best match a lot of the time, but an advert cannot be considered a success when you are forced to contemplate the haircuts of those involved.

British GQ has faced a torrent of abuse from One Direction fans over its September issue which features five covers, each with a different member of the band on the front.

The provocative straplines used to accompany the images of Harry, Louis, Naill, Liam and Zayn left some One Direction fans less than impressed, with a barrage of hateful social media messages aimed at the magazine, including death threats, appearing online.

Responding to the tweets GQ wrote on its website “we weren’t quite prepared for how many tweets we would receive in such a short space of time…While most were positive, some less so, a few frankly has us fearing for our lives.

“Although the issue doesn’t even go on sale until Thursday, a lot of the band’s fan base took issue with certain cover lines, in particular one on Harry Styles’ cover, “He’s Up All Night To Get Lucky.” It just goes to show: hell hath no fury like a Directioner scorned.”

GQ’s US publication also got pulled into the madness with GQ US’s social media editor Nate Erickson explaining to Mashable that the US magazine’s senior editors had also been dealing with an onslaught of threatening tweets, voicemails and emails.

With the fans messages to the magazine rely heavily on caps lock and swearing to get their distaste for GQ’s covers across, Erickson said “It's the death threats with proper spelling and grammar that worry us.”

As well as posting a selection of the ‘most terrifying responses to our One Direction covers’ the GQ post signs off, “We’re still debating how to respond. To the rest of you, consider your feedback noted.”