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Research : Middle-age consumers less likely to have tech-free mealtimes at home than the young - Nielsen

Report into how we live, eat, play, work and save for our futures also questions other myths around polarisation of the young and the old

Fewer than half (43%) of Europeans say their household mealtimes are technology-free, but it’s middle-age diners who are most likely to involve some form of tech - such as TVs or smartphones – when they sit down to eat. 

That’s according to Nielsen’s Global Generational Lifestyles report which surveyed 30,000 online respondents in 60 countries to better understand how consumer behaviour differs across life stage.

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“VCCP bolsters media proposition with acquisition of adconnection creating a £50m billing agency”

VCCP Media: Mead (l) becomes the chairman of the expanded group, while Becker is the CEO

VCCP, the full service communications agency, has today acquired the independent media agency, adconnection.  The business will be fully merged with VCCP’s existing media operation, VCCP Media, creating a combined media capability with billings in excess of £50m. 

The staff base will be around 70 and clients will include ASOS, Bonhams, Maplin, Jessops, Relish Broadband, Sofa.com, Vue Cinemas and MTV.

Catherine Becker, current CEO of adconnection becomes CEO of VCCP Media and Nick Baum, MD. Paul Mead will be the Chairman.

The deal signifies the intent of VCCP to lead the emerging trend of connected, full service agencies in the post-digital age, bringing market leading creative, media and data offerings together under one roof. Founded in 2002, VCCP is currently ranked amoungst the top 6 agencies in the UK, with 750 staff spanning across 5 offices, and billings in excess of £220m.

“We have grown a very successful media business organically at VCCP but this deal will give us real scale and the ability to offer clients genuine full service communications under one roof” commented, Adrian Coleman, Founding Partner and Group CEO of VCCP 

Catherine Becker, CEO of adconnection said:  “Our two businesses have very complementary skillsets and a fabulous client base. We share core values around performance and innovation so I am incredibly excited about the potential to deliver outstanding results for our clients”

The acquisition comes just 4 weeks after VCCP’s parent company Chime Communications plc was acquired and taken private by the US based, Providence Equity Partners.

Amazon’s adorable miniature horse; Guardian to stem ad blocking; The end of the lads’ mag era in the UK, Groupon in retreat

Creativity: Amazon Prime Comes to the Rescue of Adorable Miniature Horse

Amazon Prime’s recent ads U.K. ads have been really heartwarming — featuring a dog with a broken leg, or a shy little boy at nursery school — both who find solutions to their woes via the e-commerce service. In the latest ad, the online retailer cranks up the cuteness an extra notch.

This time, the creature that needs help is a comically adorable miniature horse, whose riding-boot clad female owner (somewhat naively, we think) lets him loose in a field filled with snooty-looking glossy black thoroughbreds. They’re icy to him, shunning him and fleeing as he makes an eager approach for friendship. However, our heroine soon takes pity on him and (as in the previous ads) finds a solution to his woes using Amazon Prime’s next day shipping service. It’ll make you giggle — and probably say “Awww” too.

Digiday: The Guardian thinks customized ads can stem ad blocking

As ad blocking in the U.K. continues to gain traction, The Guardian is eyeing how to create more customized ad experiences that are good enough to combat it.

The details are still being hammered out, but the aim is to provide an alternative to the approaches taken so far by various publishers, which give people two options: pay up or put up with the ads in their current form. The Guardian is trying a third way that “puts the user in control,” according to the publisher’s global revenue director Tim Gentry.

The Guardian: FHM and Zoo closures mark end of lads’ mag era

FHM and Zoo are to close by the end of the year, marking the end of the lads’ mag era that dominated UK magazine publishing in the late 90s and early 2000s.

Publisher Bauer Media described the closures, which are still subject to a consultation on the future of 20 jobs across the two titles, as a suspension, but the plan is to close both the print and digital versions of the magazines by 2016.

The closures reflect an overall decline in magazine sales, which has seen many titles close and others, such as Time Inc UK’s NME, dropping their cover price and distributing free copies, as readers have moved online.

TechCrunch: Groupon Exits Sweden, Denmark, Norway And Finland In Ongoing Global Retreat   

Yet more news of closures at Groupon, the daily deals and local commerce platform. TechCrunch has learned and confirmed that the company has ceased operations immediately in four more countries, all in Europe, where its business has been in decline: Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland.

The news comes amid a difficult period at Groupon, which has laid off 1,100 employees, exited several other markets, missed on earnings and changed CEOs — all in the last couple of months.

Great evening at the launch of @babyville meeting lots of brilliant mum & baby brands

Celebrating the birth of Babyville

For more information visit www.babyville.co.uk or email Nikkifox@babyville.co.uk.

Babyville, the baby and parenting consumer division of Clareville Communications has celebrated its official ‘birth’ after a two year gestation period.

The ‘birth’ was marked by a launch party for clients, suppliers and press and featured exclusive, new research on the consumer habits of pregnant parents from one of the leading parenting organisations Bounty, giving guests valuable insight into when buying decisions are made.  The research is particularly useful for brands to help plan their 2016 marketing activity.

The brain child of John Starr and Nikki Fox, babyville offers a specialised, integrated creative approach to PR and marketing for all its clients, with outstanding results.  

Nikki Fox, Director of babyville (pictured) said ‘we are so excited to officially launch babyville as a parenting specialist agency, as all proud parents know it is a long road fraught with tantrums, tears and teething but it is all worth it when you see the end result.  We pride ourselves in our creative, nurturing and tenacious approach to all our clients that delivers the best possible results.’

 For more information visit www.babyville.co.uk or email Nikkifox@babyville.co.uk.

Clareville Communications, the Award Winning London B2B and consumer agency with over 25 years of PR under its belt, has used its experience in the baby industry, to launch the specialist agency Babyville. 

Having worked with corporations such as the NCT, Bounty and the Royal College of Midwives on brands such as BabyBjörn, My 1st Years, Diono, Natal Hypnotherapy, Tomy and Splash About and many more, some for over 10 years; Clareville were perfectly placed to collaborate their specialties into a specific department where their years of experience in the Mother & Baby media sector could be used across a broader range of products and services aimed at parents.