|
Newsline Brief
- The plug has been pulled on Wowgo the website launched by Unilever for the hoards of teenage girls who are said to be online, ripe for marketing messages (see Feature: Teen Girls Targeted In Latest Web Ventures). Despite two years of research, Unilever’s site only lasted 5 months before a combination of technical problems restricting those trying to access the site, and an initial refusal to run banner ads, took it the way of Boo.com. The backers are said to be looking for a buyer for the site, but have not named the interested party they are said to be speaking to.
- Older sisters of Wowgo fans also find themselves with one less web destination soon, as fashion website Ready2shop.co.uk, founded by newspaper fashion gurus Trinny Woodhall and Susannah Constantine, goes “into hibernation”. Despite an extensive advertising campaign when the site launched last year, the launch of an accompanying book and the high media profile maintained by the founders, venture capitalists are thought to have lost their bottle and refused to provide further funding. The site offered free advice, but had no advertising or e-commerce aspect. It was hoping to raise revenue through selling personal preference information gathered from subscribers and from sponsorship.
Ironically, funding was also the problem at Thestreet.co.uk, a UK version of a successful US financial website. On Thursday last week staff were told that the parent company could no longer support the losses being made by the site, despite the fact that financial targets set for the site had been met.
- A reduction in the number of PlayStation 2 units being imported to the UK in time for its launch this month is likely to create an unfulfillable demand for the units in the Christmas run-up. The ensuing fights in high streets over limited stock will doubtless provide a nice little storm of publicity for Sony, and keen to cash in if this is the next must-have toy is Pole Star Publishing, which is to launch two monthly magazines about the console by Christmas. Station 2 will cover news and reviews, retail at £2.99 and launches on 23 November with an anticipated print run of 100,000. Station 2 Solutions will look at hidden features and cheats and will cost £3.99 when it launches on 21 December with a print run of 65,000.
The publisher of the official magazine for the console, as for the original PlayStation, will be Future Publishing, currently battling its own monsters on the stock market as its shares plummet following a profits warning last week. - The bid battle for Express Newspapers looks set to enter a new phase, as Richard Desmond’s Northern and Shell Group has emerged as a likely bidder. Northern and Shell publishes OK, the celebrity magazine which has been stealing a reach on showbiz stalwart Hello! in recent years, as well as soft porn titles including Forum and Asian Babes. Express owner UNM is currently said to be considering offers from the Hinduja Brothers, DMGT and the Hollinger Group. Meanwhile a consortium consisting of showbusiness PR veteran Matthew Freud, Lord Alli and TV presenter and entrepreneur Chris Evans is also thought to be in the making, and could join another potential bidder for the Daily Star, David Sullivan, owner of the Sunday Sport.Bids already in are rumoured to have topped £120m, while a non-refundable deposit of £60m has been demanded by the current owners in return for access to commercially sensitive information.