An overzealous clean-up drive at Twitter has snared an unfortunate casualty after the account of retired South African archbishop Desmond Tutu was unceremoniously binned during a spam clear out.

The international figure had only been a member of the micro blogging site for a matter of hours, using the @TutuLegacy handle to promote his Legacy Foundation.

Sadly that work was soon silenced when moderators temporarily pulled the plug on the account by accident, believing it to be spam.

Having been abruptly censored Tutu complained: “Twitter has not explained how following 30 people could be construed as 'aggressive following' or whether the number of people who followed @TutuLegacy in a short space of time was to blame."

But, in one of his first tweets since resuming online duties, Tutu said: "Twitter says it's 'sorry for the inconvenience' over our suspension. We got caught up in a spam cleanup. Glad it wasn't something we said."

Ask.fm’s owners has offered to hand over information about some of the abusive trolls involved in Hannah Smith's death, following a number of advertisers withdrawing their spend.

The site’s owners, brothers Mark and Ilja Terebin, released an open letter as a result of the growing unrest at the behaviour of its users.

“Although it is possible to post anonymously to the site, we would like to reassure parents that in almost all cases it is possible for Ask.fm to identify users – through IP technology, everything on the internet is traceable – and in extreme circumstances such as those we’ve experienced this week we work through existing legal frameworks to ensure this information is accessible to the appropriate legal authorities,” they stated.

The tribute Facebook website for Smith has also been removed having been targeted by abusive messages, after a link was posted on the website 4 Chan that outlined a plot to target the grieving family and friends of the teenager.

The statement continued to claim that the ‘vast majority’ of the site’s users were “very happy teenagers, who use Ask.fm to converse with their peers around the world about the things that interest them.”

It added: “Bullying is an age-old problem that we in no way condone – and while its evolution online is disturbing, it certainly is not unique to our site.
“We will continue to work with the appropriate organisations to safeguard against bullying on Ask.fm – and we would welcome the opportunity to align with the rest of industry and society in fighting it on a higher level.

“We are proud of the phenomenal popularity of the social network we have created and strive every day to make it better and safer.”

Yesterday, Hannah’s father called for the owners of the site to be charged with the manslaughter of his daughter.

Advertisers such as Save the Children, Specsavers, Laura Ashley and Vodafone have so far moved to remove their advertising through the website.

Tony Neate, CEO of getsafeonline.org, told The Drum: “The internet is an extension of our social lives, and unfortunately bullying takes place online as well as in the physical world. In fact, people can be far bolder when sat behind the safety of their screen and say things they wouldn’t dream of saying in real life – especially when they are able to post anonymously.

“Previously, when school broke up for the summer young people could get away from bullies, but with the internet there is often no escape for victims. It is therefore an important issue to address," he added.

Neate added that his organisation asked people to learn the differences between the different social networks and to decide carefully which ones they wish to use.

“We would recommend only joining a social network which has strong security settings to protect your information, and which gives the user the ability to connect only with people they know and trust in real life. Of course this does not eradicate bullying but it doesn’t leave us quite so open to threatening or harmful messages from people we don’t even know.

“If you do find yourself to be a victim of bullying online, from someone you do or don’t know, it’s important to follow the same rules as if it was happening at school or in the workplace and tell someone what is happening. This could be a friend, family member, an organisation like Beatbullying, or even the Police if it is an issue of real concern," he concluded.

Should this subject affect yourself or any other young person you know, then ChildLine can be contacted on 0800 1111.

Fresh statistics published by the Office for National Statistics, which reveal the true impact of the internet on our lives – has sparked blackout fears from analysts who fret that our infrastructure simply cannot cope with demand.

The survey found that 36m UK adults (73 per cent of the population) now log on to the web each and every day, an increase of 20m since 2006 although 4m households (17 per cent) still have no access at all. Furthermore 72 per cent of adults went on to purchase goods or services online, a huge jump from the mere 58 per cent who did so in 2008

This growth prompted Simon Pamplin, director Systems Engineering, WEST EMEA at Brocade to comment: “This upward trend in internet adoption needs to spark further discussion around how traffic can smoothly run across the internet uninterrupted. It is the frequency of use and addition of multiple devices connecting to the internet that will drive up the frequency of internet outages.

“We live in an ‘always on’ world and soon everything will be connected. Your house, your car, your fridge - the list of connected devices is endless. This is putting more and more pressure on the underlying infrastructure that supports the ISPs who provide internet access. It is the fact that this infrastructure was designed in a world when the mobile phone was the size of a suitcase, which is causing problems.”

Venturing his own solution to this pronlem Pamplin added: “It is the ever increasing combination of devices, people, councils, hospitals and businesses that are all connecting to the internet and exchanging information, which is creating an unimaginable complexity for 20-year-old technology. The signalling on the internet was designed like the M1, where traffic runs north to south and accidents cause mass delays as traffic is halted and rerouted. A new approach where all roads are intertwined and the traffic interchange resembles that of a "Spaghetti Junction", will help ISPs side step traffic collisions. This more intelligent way of automatically routing traffic around any point of failure is the only way to avoid an escalation in internet outages.”

VisitBritain is to tender for the overhaul of its online presence, with a contract valued at up to £1 million.

The tourism organisation has advertised through OJEU for ‘the most economic tender’ as it seeks to award a contract to build its digital ecosystem over the next two or three years.

The existing Business to Consumer (B2C) and Business to Business (B2B) sites will be rebuilt over the coming years, with social media integration and content delivery expected to be at the heart of the new sites.

The new sites will be API driven and developed under the Government Digital Service, with use of responsive and open source solutions, anticipating three screens or more.

A single platform solution is the preferred option, the tender states, to share both the content management system and the customer database.

The value of the contract is between £800,000 and £1m, with a deadline of 9 September set for applications for the three-year-contract.

Between five and 12 agencies are expected to be invited to pitch.

Digital ad sales house Ad2One has become the first company to receive independent verification for its brand safety policies, as part of a new joint initiative between the IPA and ISBA.

The initiative is the first of its kind to emerge from the two industry bodies since the disbandment of the cross-industry initiative called the Digital Trading Standards Group (DTSG) earlier this year.

The DTSG, formed by the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB), along with the IPA and ISBA, was established to address issues of ad misplacement and protect brands from potential reputational damage should they be inadvertently subject to such activity.

The DTSG was created in the wake of the closure of Internet Advertising Sales House (IASH) in 2011.

However, it is understood that disagreements between the three parties regarding certain elements of the group’s policies led to it stalling.

Now the IPA and ISBA have formed a new Brand Safety initiative, aimed at tackling the same issues and protecting advertisers from the ramifications of being associated with inappropriate content. Suppliers and all those involved in the digital ad ecosystem will have their ad misplacement minimisation policies independently verified by auditor ABC.

IPA head of digital Nigel Gwilliam said Ad2One has demonstrated good leadership in being first to have its policies verified as part of the new initiative.

“Online media suppliers have to fight against online ad misplacement in order to present themselves as a credible media solution for reputable advertisers and I hope Ad2One’s commitment to this initiative will act to encourage other suppliers to step up to the plate,” he said.

Grant Allaway, group managing director at Ad2One, said its commitment and involvement in the initiative is “incredibly important.”

He added: “We are passionate about digital advertising, and committed to ensuring the safety of the brands we represent – both the publishers and advertisers. This initiative is a tangible, workable and constructive response to the issue of brands’ advertising appearing in trusted environments.”

The news follows calls from ISBA for stronger reassurances to protect advertisers from online ad misplacement after brands including The Sun, Save The Children, and Specsavers all pulled their ads from social media site ask.fm following a suicide.

Meanwhile commercial director of Irish broadcaster RTÉ Conor Mullen echoed similar grievances, telling The Drum there is urgent need for tighter controls around ad misplacement in the programmatic trading space.

The judging panel for this year’s Social Buzz Awards, in association with iomart Group and sponsored by Meltwater, has been finalised with The Telegraph’s social media and engagement editor Kate Day, Nokia’s social media experience manager Ricc Webb and Jerry Daykin, EU social media marketing manager at Mondelez International joining the 16 strong jury.

The Awards, which aim to recognise and reward effective social media campaigns and strategies being produced by brands and agencies across the UK, will be judged this year by representatives from a mixture of brands and agencies.

The full jury will include AKQA’s social practice lead Ron Peterson, Jeremy Waite, head of social strategy for Adobe EMEA, Jamie Riddell, director of social at Jaywing and creator of BirdSong, Alex Packham, social media manager for NOW TV, Nick Jones, vice-president, corporate communications – digital for Visa Europe, Karen Fewell, director of social media, digital marketing at Blonde, James Whatley, head of social media at Ogilvy Soho Square, Joseph Liu, senior brand manager at Häagen-Dazs global communications and strategy Paul Armstrong, owner of Digital Orange Consulting.

Newly announced judges are Tiffany St James, social media strategist and speaker at Stimulation, James Nester, creative director at We Are Social, Jerry Daykin, EU social media marketing manager at Mondelez International, Kate Day, social media and engagement editor at The Telegraph, Jemima Garthwaite, social media lead at POKE London, David Parkinson, general manager of social media & digital engagement for Nissan EMEA and India, and Ricc Webb, social media experience manager at Nokia.

More information on the awards can be found at the Social Buzz Awards website, with deadline for entries set for 16 August.

A team of detectives from the Metropolitan Police have been assigned to investigate BBC management over claims that excess payments to departing bosses amounted to fraud, at the request of an MP.

The team will sift through information relating to pay-offs amounting to £60m awarded to senior managers between April 2005 and the end of March this year.

Concern has been building that the sums involved exceeded contractual obligations, particularly in the case of 150 top executives who quit in the three years to December. They were awarded £25m between them but a quarter received more than they were entitled to, leaving a discrepancy of £1m.

Amongst the executives to be embroiled in the scandal are former director general George Entwistle who was given £25k more than he was legally entitled to in his £450k pay-off.

In a letter to Rob Wilson MP, seen by the Telegraph, Mark Rowley, assistant commissioner, specialist crime and operations wrote: “We are currently gathering information to assist with our assessment and a decision will be made as to whether we progress to a full investigation in due course."

Speaking to the paper Wilson said: “The BBC should never have got itself into a position where the fraud squad is looking at an investigation. However, something is not right about these huge pay-offs and potential wrongdoing needs to be ruled out. The police are the only organisation in a position to do that.”

Spar has announced that it is set to launch a £5m national multi-media campaign in October with The Leith Agency and MediaCom Leeds.

This will be the first TV ad for the convenience store brand in four years, and will include TV and digital advertising, a customer magazine and in-store communication; as well as sponsorship of ‘Lorraine’ on ITV, which is set to run until the end of the year.

Philippe Rondepierre, Spar UK head of marketing, said: “The campaign is a significant milestone for our business and we are delighted to be working in partnership with two leading agencies to help us create a powerful and effective campaign.

“There is an enormous amount of warmth towards the brand, which we would like to communicate. Spar is customer driven; we understand and listen to our customers’ needs, and are continuously striving to give them what they want and to deliver the very best service. This campaign will bring our There for You strapline to the fore.”

The campaign will begin in October with the 40 second advert.

Ed Brooke, head of The Leith Agency, said: “It’s an exciting time to be working with the Spar brand as we help realise its ambition and win over new audiences. This brief has given us the chance to celebrate the heart of Spar – a national company with stores run and owned by local entrepreneurial people with real commitment to their customers and communities.”

Chris Broadbent, managing director at MediaCom in Leeds, added: “MediaCom are proud to have won this business, with an innovative, high impact approach that will see the Spar brand return to UK TV screens and deliver a step change for the symbol group, at a time when there is a real opportunity to grow the business.”

The campaign will look to champion the brand’s value, product ranges and fresh produce.

Bookmaker Coral is preparing to launch ‘Football Jackpot’, a pool bet giving customers the chance to become an instant millionaire for a £1 stake, this Saturday (10 August) supported by a seven-figure advertising campaign.

Football Jackpot will run every weekend throughout the 2013/14 football season and DLKW Lowe has been appointed to produce the advertising inventory which will debut just before 8pm on Sky Sports 1 on Saturday, the first ITV ad will appear during the Community Shield highlights the following day.

Coral has also partnered with The Sun to launch the initiative with Terry Venebles providing punditry expertise for the first seven weeks of the draw. The Football Jackpot coupon will also be inserted in The Sun, The Daily Star, The Express, The Mirror and The Daily Record as well as additional activity within a selection of these titles.

Olly Raeburn, marketing director for Coral, commented: “We believe Football Jackpot can become a huge success and are investing a seven figure sum to launch and promote this exciting new bet on TV and in print advertising over the coming weeks and months.

“The beauty of the Football Jackpot is that we will always know going into the last game every Monday or Sunday whether we have a customer in with a chance of becoming a millionaire and what results they need, enabling us to promote the thrill and excitement of the bet through social media and CoralTV in Coral betting shops.”

The first match on the coupon will be at 3pm on Saturday 17 August, the final game will be the Monday night Premier League fixture on 19 August between Manchester City and Newcastle United. The pool will rollover if there is no winner, with Coral predicting occasions during the season where players could win over £1m.

The date at which Lord Justice Leveson will appear before an MP select committee to answer questions about phone hacking and press regulation has been set for 10 October.

Leveson led the £5.6m inquiry into press ethics but has remained out of the limelight since delivering his findings and is being hauled back to give evidence over the current stalemate.

During his appearance the Commons culture, media and sport select committee will quiz the judge on the deal to establish an independent regulator by royal charter which has been agreed by all three main political parties, as well as the reform pressure group Hacked Off.

This plan has been stalled by a rival bid drawn up by the newspaper industry which is currently being assessed by the Privy Council

Nut brand Big D has unveiled a new immersive campaign with Liverpool-based design agency Sphere Design using augmented reality platform Blippar.

The promotional campaign aims to allow pub goers to interact with their branded beer map as once blipped it will jump to life and let the user take photos with Big D Girl, Rosie Jones, which can then be shared via social media.

The interactive content also includes a pub games feature filled with tricks and tips to try out using Big D nuts.

“Blippar and Sphere have created a fantastic social media tool for Big D; you can download the Blippar app and have your photo taken with Rosie Jones, the Big D babe! It’s perfect implementation of the technology and loads of fun for people to get interacting with the Big D brand,” remarked Kate Rathbone, Big D marketing manager.

Big D has also worked with Sphere Design on packaging and web design to create the BTL campaign. In addition the interactive activity Sphere has also created the pack designs for Big D’s Crunchy Coated Peanuts.

The Sun has unveiled a new print and outdoor campaign, created by Grey London, to promote its £500,000 Dream Team fantasy football league.

The campaign for the league, which will see the winning team receive £125,000, spans paper, press and digital and revolves around the line ‘If you can't play, manage’.

Grey’s campaign is set to run through August with tactical work spanning the entire season.

Tesco chief executive Philip Clarke has officially unveiled one of the biggest supermarkets in the UK, a revamped Tesco Extra in Watford that forms part of a £1bn refurbishment drive.

The first of a new breed of hypermarkets to incorporate the retailers recently acquired Giraffe restaurant chain the premises also now incorporates a Harris + Hoole coffee shop, a Euphorium bakery and a self-enclosed F&F clothing section.

It also incorporates a community room for yoga and music lessons as well as a greater focus on meat and fresh fruit and veg which now forms the centrepiece of the new layout.

This is a conscious effort to reposition the brand as a retail and leisure destination rather than just a supermarket chain.

Commenting on the new design Clarke said: “This is a very logical conclusion to the work we’ve been doing over the past 18 months. We’ve been listening to customers and they tell us they want a real experience. They want space to browse, places to eat, great food. And they want big stores to be more welcoming, less sterile, less harsh.

“We’ve broken the mould here and tried to set a new vision, which is more attractive and more compelling. All around the world, hypermarkets are facing a challenge. The hypermarket has to adapt to compete.”

BSkyB is considering the launch of a channel geared exclusively toward men, placing it in direct competition with rivals such as Dave and ITV4.

The sport and entertainment offering is currently being considered by executives who are believed to have identified Sky Bravo as a possible moniker for the channel.

A potential launch date of 26 July next year has already been identified for the station but difficulties in obtaining a distribution deal for Virgin Media’s 4m customers are believed to have put this in doubt.

It comes just two months after BSkyB shut down Bravo owing to concern that shows such as Spartacus and Dog the Bounty Hunter were targeting a similar demographic to Sky1.

Now however executives are considering a volte face amidst concern that there is a gap in the male market.

The Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) had today announced that it will investigate the Home Office ‘Go Home’ ad campaign, after complaints that it is 'racist' and 'offensive'.

The campaign, which launched last month, tells illegal immigrants to ‘go home or face arrest’. Advertising vans as part of the campaign also inform the public of how many illegal migrants have been arrested in the area.

The ASA has told The Drum that 60 complaints have been made about the ad, with complainants suggesting the campaign is offensive and irresponsible because it is reminiscent of slogans used by racist groups to attack immigrants in the past and could incite or exacerbate racial hatred and tensions in multicultural communities.

Debbie Simmons, chairman at brand activation agency Incahoots, has suggested that despite the fact that the advertising vans have led to complaints, the campaign did what it was supposed to do: raise a huge amount of media attention.

Complainants have also suggested that claims such as “106 arrests last week in your area” is misleading; because it implies arrest is the automatic consequence of remaining in the UK without permission.

This comes the same week as over 300 complaints have been made about the latest Marmite ad.

The ASA will publish its findings in due course.

Pernod Ricard’s Absolut has unveiled a new look for its flavoured vodka range, rolling out across the UK this month (August 2013) with Absolut Pears and Absolut Raspberri the first to market, other flavours will follow throughout 2013 and 2014.

The aim of the redesign was to “give our customers distinct designs that are unlike anything one has ever seen,” according to Absolut global design director, Anna Kamjou.

Kamjou added: “The standard thinking says a fruit-flavoured vodka requires fruit imagery. We wanted to break that convention. We asked our design team to reach into the symbolism and myths tied to the ingredients to find each flavour’s core essence - and then amplify that essence through art…. Absolut has long challenged conventions through creativity. This across-the-board redesign is another example of the brand’s originality and boldness.”

For the new look designers interpreted each flavour’s essence and then worked to elevate these impressions artistically into something premium, contemporary and progressive.

Adam Boita, marketing controller for Pernod Ricard, commented: “This is an exciting time for Absolut. While most flavoured vodkas look more or less the same, we are bringing a full range of innovative designs to market. Artistic, modern and unlike anything else around, we believe they will reinforce our position as creative leader and have unique stand out on shelf or on back bar displays.”

BetVictor has launched a new series of adverts to coincide with the start of the new football season.

As well as the campaign, BetVictor has struck a partnership with BT Sport which will deliver live odds to audiences watching Premier League matches on the new broadcast service.

The latest series of ads, created by VCCP, carry on the Maurice and Victor theme, this time with excitable punter Maurice skydiving onto the top of Victor’s train to get the latest football odds. BetVictor has partly attributed a 70 per cent increase in turnover this year to the success of the ads.

Karl Riley, marketing director at BetVictor, said: “We have the opportunity to promote live odds for the first time with this new round of TV ads and so the aim was to produce something funny and memorable that will get across the main message of best prices and value to our target audience.

“There was a lot of laughing on the film set and we hope this humour cuts through when the adverts are launched to the mainstream audience.”

BetVictor teamed up with Russell Bates, director of Zoolander, to produce the ads.

McDonald’s has launched its latest instalment to the “That’s what makes McDonald’s” campaign.

The new ad from the brand aims to “reassure parents” about the quality of McDonald’s food by highlighting that it sources ingredients from British and Irish farms.

The ‘Little Farmers’ ad was created by Leo Burnett and will be accompanied by a series of full page ads in women’s weekly magazines.

MoneySuperMarket is set to launch its new ad campaign, created by Mother, this weekend, featuring a man so triumphant with getting a good deal that he could run with the wolves, but settles for running with cats.

The ‘Running with cats’ ad will launch on Sunday 11 August, and looks to bring the ‘You’re So MoneySuperMarket’ concept from dramatic scenarios to more familiar everyday British scenes.

Kenny Jacobs, marketing director at MoneySuperMarket, said: “It’s a great time to evolve the campaign and have a different conversation with British families. Even though we’re starting to see small signs of growth in the UK, times are still tough for many households with inflation rising, the cost of energy on the up and commuting becoming ever more costly. As the company that helps every household in the UK make the most of their money, it was important that we start to celebrate everyday moments where saving money makes families feel great – taking a less dramatic approach, with a more British look and feel to the campaign, but still maintaining humour to entertain our audience.”

Both 40 and 20 second executions of the TV campaign will run, before the launch on a new advert in September.

Larry Seftel, creative director at Mother said: “The ad captures that epic, elated feeling of MoneySuperMarket savings and follows on from previous adventure based spots with a more down to earth approach. It’s a humorous play on that great feeling of being 'so MoneySuperMarket'."

As well as TV, the campaign will include radio, press and outdoor promotion.

Marks and Spencer is kicking off its Back to School season with social media campaign #TellingTales, launching Monday 12 August.

From Monday M&S is asking parents to share the most creative stories their kids have used to explain a messy school uniform on Twitter using the hashtag #TellingTales. Six leading children’s illustrators including Sue Hendra and Ben Hawkes will then turn the best tweets into bespoke illustrations, with the winning entries receiving a personalised framed piece of artwork featuring their child’s story.

The Illustrations will also be published throughout the week on Twitter and on M&S.com.

The campaign aims to showcase the innovations M&S has made to make its schoolwear long lasting, easy to care for and ready to endure the adventures of the playground and beyond.