The Times and The Sunday Times has launched The Times Enterprise Network, a new cross-platform network to advise, inspire and inform the established business leaders and aspiring entrepreneurs in its audience. According to the latest PAMCO figures, The Times and Sunday Times reaches just under a third (2.1 million) of all micro and small business decision makers in the UK. Ipsos MORI reports that the titles collectively reach 69% of all business decision makers in medium-sized businesses within the UK who are Global Business Influencers, which is more than any other newsbrand. To better support this audience, the titles are expanding their SME coverage by launching The Times Enterprise Network. It will showcase the best of the titles’ existing coverage in this space, including breaking SME news, columnist James Timpson and the weekly ‘How I Made It’ profile, alongside exclusive new insights from Britain’s leading entrepreneurs. Advice-led features such as ‘Inside track’ and ‘What I learned’ will sit alongside a new Business clinic, with experts sharing their knowledge for free. Times+ events will bring business leaders together to learn from each other and build new relationships. Subscribers will receive a newsletter, with exclusive content, links to the best articles of the last week and further sources of inspiration. During its launch week, Steve Hewitt, CEO of Gymshark, Nisha Katona, founder of Mowgli Street Food, and Eddie Hearn, chairman of Matchroom Sport will be among the star entrepreneurs contributing to the Network. BGF has signed up as the launch partner of The Times Enterprise Network, with Ford and Lloyds the first advertisers to sign up to the Network.
Zensar, a digital solutions and technology services company, has announced that it has been selected by Infinity Circle, a UK-based Fintech company in the wealth management space. Zensar will be the design and technology services partner with the scope of engagement spanning across branding, UX, CX design, core platform development, global launch, and on-going support services.
As part of its global expansion, Blis is building momentum with new reseller partnerships to bolster its presence across Asia and North America. This follows the company’s recent announcement of its expansion in MENA. Most notably, Blis has entered the Japanese market for the first time with Innovator Japan, a digital transformation specialist well versed in navigating the local landscape and launching market-leading overseas technology companies. Coupled with adding a Hong Kong franchise, covering both Hong Kong and Taiwan, Blis will be boosting its profile considerably across the region. In North America, Blis has signed a new Canadian franchise with a hugely renowned and reputable team of industry veterans. This will be led by Lee Smith and Rob Kuwahara, who have ambitious goals to take Blis to the next level in the Canadian market.
In-Play advertising platform Admix has announced a new partnership with digital ad verification specialists, Integral Ad Science. This integration with IAS makes Admix the only In-Play advertising company to offer ad inventory that is measured and verified by a trusted, independent partner. Now, the quality of Admix’ In-Play advertising is independently assessed and verified with the same rigor as wider digital inventory. This measurement is enabled by the powerful technology that IAS provides, helping to unlock significant potential across the In-Play category for the entire mobile advertising ecosystem, from brands to mobile game developers.
On-demand software talent and and Elastic Teams™ startup Distributed has secured £5m in a Series A funding round led by Guinness Asset Management. The company also drew further investment from its Seed investor, Fuel Ventures, and other high-profile industry leaders, Filippo Sarti and Andreas Mihalovits, bringing its total funding to date to over £9m. This funding will support Distributed’s continued rapid growth and enable the company to scale its operations and platform features to improve customer experience in the face of rapidly increasing demand for freelance workers.
GoDaddy Inc. has announced a plugin bundle expansion for its Managed WordPress Ecommerce customers, featuring free access to a library of over 75 premium WooCommerce extensions. The new extensions come from GoDaddy’s recent acquisition of SkyVerge, a leading WooCommerce product developer. New plugins include the ability to accept payments from multiple processors, improvements to product reviews, social login integrations, Google Analytics Pro and Memberships, new digital or printable gift card offerings, and more.
Data risk protection specialist CybelAngel has announced it is partnering with Exclusive Networks, the global “value creating” specialist distributor for cybersecurity, cloud solutions and Unified Communications, to build partnerships with a focused group of channel partners in the UK and Ireland. The deal enables Exclusive Networks to distribute CybelAngel’s Digital Risk Protection Platform, allowing enterprise customers to discover and protect previously invisible and exposed devices and data lurking outside of the firewall.
Broadcast data company, 7th Minute has been selected as an official partner by Publicis Media initiative NextTECHNow. The scheme, which matches the agency’s clients with start-ups whose innovative technology will boost their business, will see 7th Minute provide advertisers with data-driven insight that informs their media planning and decision-making. The move comes as 7th Minute launches its 7M Insights-as-a-Service platform. The cloud-based offering uses granular TV contextual data and in-depth analysis to determine the specific steps advertisers need to take to deliver on their business goals.
Activity enabled includes ‘moment marketing’, whereby advertisers undertake cost-effective, contextual advertising in real-time based on TV events that are relevant to their brand. 7M Insights also provides analysis of broadcast trends and competitors’ advertising activity, as well as measurement figures that show the effectiveness of broadcast media and which contextual moments generate commercial opportunities.
Onfido, the global identity verification and authentication company, has announced the results of a global study that found nearly one in five (17%) of consumers would rather watch paint dry than create a unique password for every service they use. Issued by Censuswide, the study polled more than 4,000 consumers in the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Germany on their password habits, attitudes and more. Despite widely recognized security risks, passwords remain the de facto standard for user access and authentication for online applications, with the average person having 100 passwords. Onfido’s survey results indicate many consumers find password creation cumbersome, and widespread poor password hygiene could put consumers and the brands they engage with at risk.
Global video ad management platform Peach has launched a new truly convergent video offering with linear TV and digital video distribution now available in one place. Offering an end-to-end, collaborative platform for sourcing and distributing content, Peach simplifies video ad distribution across digital channels. It allows assets to be tracked, quality assured and guarantees all ads arrive at their destinations in perfect condition. Designed for broadcasters, digital, social and TV, Peach makes it easy to work across the entire ecosystem from creative agencies, media agencies, production and advertisers to broadcasters and media owners.
