New Dyno site designed by Steak is live

March 23rd, 2010 by Jocelyn Bull | Tags: , ,
Posted in News, Press releases | 1 Comment »

Dyno, the UK’s premier emergency building repair service, has launched its completely redesigned website built by full-service digital agency Steak, who were awarded the project following a competitive pitch.

Dyno’s current online presence, http://www.dyno.com/, has been in place since 2004 and is a core sales channel for the company, which encompasses the three franchised businesses, Dyno-Rod Plumbing & Drains, Dyno-Locks & Alarms and Dyno Glazing. To ensure the site’s continued success the Dyno team wanted an agency partner to overhaul the site, with the core objectives to deliver higher volumes of visitors, enquiries, and ultimately, bookings, and to reflect and support the Dyno brand and business aspirations.

Steak’s site puts Dyno’s customers and their needs at the heart of the website experience, and makes use of the latest web technologies including a bespoke content management system and helpful mobile applications, to simplify the user experience and provide greater interactivity. Fully redesigned, the new site links to the company’s call centres through an integrated telephone tracking system and incorporates geo location facilities so users are shown localised information on landing pages.

Jeremy Walt, Dyno’s Online Marketing Manager, said ‘Steak’s ability to clearly see the challenges and opportunities for Dyno and propose sound, workable solutions that place us at the leading edge of our sector was what most impressed us. We are confident that the new site will help customers access the information and help they need via an intuitive and enjoyable web experience.’

Derek Nicholson, Steak’s Client Service Director, added ‘Steak’s team is experienced in developing websites and digital strategy that deliver an online response for our clients, improving conversion and sales. We have placed the Dyno customer firmly at the heart of our thinking and are excited about building a site that meets their needs whilst continuing the online success of the Dyno business.’

 

ASBOF levy extending to Paid Search in May

March 11th, 2010 by Duncan Parry | Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Blog | 1 Comment »

The ASBOF levy, charged as part of the self-regualtion of the UK advertising industry, is being extended to paid search advertising in May. We welcome this at Steak as further recognition of the importance of search and digital overall in the wider marketing mix.

This is part of wider changes to the code of self regulation for the advertising industry (called the “CAP Code”), which is administered by the ASA (Advertising Standards Authority). The CAP Code will be extended to website content and mobile advertising in September, 2010.

To fund this, a levy will be collected against paid search spend from 1st May 2010 at 0.1%. The levy will be collected by agencies. In addition, Google has agreed to contribute seed capital to this fund for the first two years in recognition of the volume of direct spend handled by the search engine; they had previously refused to collect the levy via their systems. The ISBA, representing advertisers, wrote to advertisers in January 2010 informing them of the change.

This follows a 18 months consultation between industry organisations including the IAB (representing the digital industry), the IPA (representing agencies) and ISBA (respecting advertisers). The extension of the CAP Code was agreed upon as part of the industry’s continuing efforts to ensure self regulation is successful, up-to-date and to avoid any future government legislation. Steak is a member of both the IPA and IAB and sits on their search councils, and has played a part in this consultation.

Please note that FSA regulation is unaffected by the extension of the CAP Code.

Background reading and announcements:

CAP Code and The ASA
IAB
ISBA

ASBOF
The IPA

If you are a Steak client and have any questions, please contact your Account Director.

Now you can ask Bing for directions

March 11th, 2010 by Alastair Boyle | Tags: ,
Posted in Blog | 1 Comment »

We’ve been very impressed by Bing’s response to our previous post.

Within a couple of hours, we’d received a personal response from Bing thanking us for our feedback and acknowledging that ‘the result returned could definitely be improved and we have flagged this with our London Search Technology Center and they are on it’.

Two days later, the TV ad launched in the UK and as referenced by Michael Gillet in his blog, Bing’s results for searches for directions have improved dramatically.

A great example of a large company actively monitoring customer feedback, understanding the need for change and making it happen quickly. Keep it up Bing!

Don’t ask Bing for directions…

March 8th, 2010 by Alastair Boyle | Tags: ,
Posted in Blog | 2 Comments »

According to several articles posted today, Bing’s TV campaign in the UK will feature ‘a woman seeking directions to Euston station.’

http://www.nma.co.uk/news/microsoft-to-run-first-tv-ad-campaign-for-bing/3010829.article

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/mar/08/microsoft-bing-tv-ads-google

Unfortunately, the top result on Bing for ‘directions to Euston Station’ currently provides directions to St. Pancras Station, followed by hotel sites. In fact, there are no ‘directions to Euston Station’ anywhere on the front page.

Bing search result

Oh dear. We’d advise Bing to attend Steak’s presentation on integrating search with other marketing channels at the IAB on Wednesday 17th March.