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The Sun newspaper reports that the police in Mexico City are investigating internet adverts posted by hitmen offering their services for as little as £3,000.
One post on the website, which hosts free ads for people selling home appliances and renting flats, advertises the services of an “ex-military hitman” who describes himself as “professional and discreet”.
The man promises a “job guaranteed in 10 days or less” and adds: “I have worked in Spain, only serious offers, $6,000. (£3,000)”
Another of the ads, titled “Hitman - Killer for Hire,” reads: “Problems with a certain person? Want it taken care of? Write me. I am 100 percent professional and don’t charge in advance.”
A police spokesman said authorities were taking the ads seriously, at a time when Mexican drug cartels and organised crime gangs are going ever more public with their tit-for-tat murders and leaving bodies and severed heads in streets.
As yet MessageSpace has no plans to move into this interesting market. As yet.
Source Hitwise, May 2008, UK Blog Market Share Across the Atlantic old media is having to deal with imploding advertising revenue and decreased mind share. After the New York Times and Washington Post the most powerful media force in politics according to academic studies is the Drudge Report.
New media operations in the U.S. like Gawker, HuffPo and Federated Media are earning tens of millions for bloggers and new media publishers, hitherto in Europe it is seems to be a few months behind, but that is now changing. If new media enterprises are to flourish, economic viability is important because as producing original content for new media becomes more profitable, it will become better.
We’re in the process of migrating our content from our old site, so the plumbing might not work very well. Please bear with us in the meantime.
We’ve (finally!) just completed the move from our old groovy Clerkenwell bunker to our new bigger offices in Holborn, about five hundred metres over to the other side of the Farringdon Road. More space and more light, yet still near enough to the Crown Tavern for a Friday afternoon board meeting mind you.
The MessageSpace success story continues unabated and we’re now looking to make another appointment to take our business to new heights.
Please don’t apply for this role unless you have political or public affairs experience.
The Account Executive will focus on Business Development and Sales, respectively. It’s a player/manager role, so the candidate must have a great track record in delivering and managing relationships. You will be working in a digital advertising environment. Specific experience is not necessary but a deep understanding of the political world is a must.
Responsibilities include prospecting, pitching, negotiating and closing contracts with public affairs, charity and commercial operators, as well as evangelising and closing sales deals with agencies and direct clients. Ideal candidates must be extremely proactive, entrepreneurial and work effectively within a small team environment.
- Responsibilities: Overall responsibility for identifying, closing and implementing partner relationships with ad agencies, public affairs advertisers, campaigners, charities and public sector operators.
- Prospect partner relationships with outbound efforts.
- Involve other executives to support business development efforts as necessary.
Qualifications:
- Ability to negotiate and close contracts with partners.
- A set of contacts of relevant decision-makers.
- Fantastic presentation skills and self-confidence.
- Ability to identify partnering opportunities and push through to completion.
- Good analytical skills, ROI driven.
Position based in central London.
Package commensurate with experience and will/may include stock options.
About MessageSpace
MessageSpace is the UK political world’s leading online advertising specialist, having served more than 50 million advertisements since launching in July last year and currently serving more than 8 million ads monthly. MessageSpace allows advertisers to reach their audience on the web and political online publishers to increase revenue from their sites. MessageSpace offers both advertisers and publishers the ability to target and segment advertising to their audience.
Sample MessageSpace customers include the Liberal Democratic Party, the Conservative Party, the National Union of Teachers, the Federation of Small Business, the Economist, the Spectator, Amicus, Friends of the Earth, the Co-operative Bank, Citigate plc, Norwich Union and the Hansard Society.
Traditionally party conference fringe events involve leaflets, print adverts in the handbook and a lot of worry.
We have an easier way. Advertise where the activist audience is - online reading political blogs. It makes better sense to advertise your event before as well as during the conference.
Activists devour political blogs and will notice your advertising well in advance of the event date. The can click on your banner advert to find out more information, and to make sure they don’t forget, we set up and send them an SMS text message reminder. That way during the conference we will send them a text message reminding them about your event details. On the morning, the day before, 15 minutes before it starts - whenever you want.
We will also provide you with that captured mobile number and email for your own future marketing purposes. All our banner advertisers will automatically be added to our scrolling “What’s On” guides on Britain’s leading political websites, which will remind blog readers about upcoming fringe events during the party conference season.
Online advertising on political blogs is cost effective, starting at £20 per thousand adverts delivered. We can target Labour, Conservative or Liberal Democratic activists via our network of politically affiliated sites.
It will not only be effective, it will be impressive - it will show an understanding of cutting edge political and social networking technology.
Call us on 020 7107 2280, today or click here to leave your contact details.
The UK’s Liberal Democrat Party launched another web-based campaign this week, aimed squarely at the Government’s National Health System. MessageSpace had previously helped the LibDems introduce and extend their Freedom of Information campaign to the blogosphere.
The campaign calls for an end to savage NHS cuts, for the Government to stop wasting billions of pounds of health spending and for local people to have more say over local health services. The campaign is being advertised and promoted heavily on the internet in the UK, a testament to the growing reach and influence wielded by new-media/blog sites.
The campaign will run on NHSBlogDoc, Guido Fawkes’s Diary, Wat Tyler’s Burning our Money blog, and PoliticalBetting.com
The UK’s Liberal Democrats have begun a web-based campaign against a recent proposal within parliament that would exempt MPs and Peers from the provisions of the 2000 Freedom of Information Act. The campaign is one of the first non-partisan campaigns to be advertised and promoted heavily on the internet in the UK, a testament to the growing reach and influence wielded by new-media/blog sites.
Mark Pack, the LibDems web-campaign coordinator, argues that “The real effect of the Bill would be to (a) prevent the disclosure of detailed information about MPs’ expenses claims and Parliament’s spending and (b) allow MPs to lobby public authorities in secret, in the knowledge that what they write could not be disclosed under the Act.”
He added, “one of the attractions of Messagespace… is the good onscreen location of the ads.”
The campaign will run on NHSBlogDoc, Guido Fawkes’s Diary, Wat Tyler’s Burning our Money blog, and PoliticalBetting.com
Norwich Union’s comms strategy required engaging with Government as a key stakeholder in two separate and distinct areas:
- corporate responsibility, and
- directing regulation and legislation affecting the insurance and finance industry
The firm’s work and multi-stakeholder partnerships in helping the community, sponsoring worthwhile causes and acting as the industry leader was given a boost by targeting ads to opinion makers and influencers within the Whitehall ecosystem.
Throughout the first week in May, MessageSpace was able to raise awareness of Norwich Union’s sponsorship of UK Athletics by leveraging our politically influential and engaged audience of MPs and policy makers across Westminster and Whitehall and driving traffic toward the Community Sports Fund microsite. The initiative aims to get the public involved in UK athletics at its grassroots level, giving 200 sporting initiatives around the country the opportunity to win valuable funding. The ad campaign was seen to have strengthened the broader message, utilising the latest in web innovations to communicate the benefits of the initiative to the influentials on a local level.
Norwich Union has been the number one sponsor of UK Athletics since 1999 with a significant amount of money invested in developing the sport at grassroots level. This support is making it easier for every child in the UK to have the opportunity to have access to athletics by 2012, and provide extensive support to teachers to deliver the sport in schools. By 2012 it is anticipated that over 10 million children will have been actively engaged in Norwich Union-funded athletics schemes.
As the team behind UK Athletics, Norwich Union’s support at every level will add value to the existing World Class Pathway investment in elite athletes, provide more opportunities to help identify future champions, and also help prepare children for life challenges through increased sporting participation.
This is a month-long video advertising campaign running up until the premiere for Taking Liberties, a new British made low budget film.
Irreverent but revelatory, outrageous but true, the film combines real stories of liberty loss with never-seen-before footage, cheeky stunts and comment from leading politicians, celebrities, human rights organisations, academics and lawyers. These include Mark Thomas, Boris Johnson, Henry Porter, Ken Clarke, Tony Benn, Clare Short, Michael Mansfield, Clive Stafford Smith and Philippe Sands.
With a soundtrack which includes Oasis, Radiohead, Stranglers and Franz Ferdinand; Taking Liberties is the most explosive and controversial film to hit screens this summer. They wanted to generate word of mouth coverage and political blogs reach a key “buzz generating” demographic.