Yahoo! lands FCUK as first Messenger advertiser

by Ben Carter Marketing 21-Jul-05, 07:00

LONDON - Yahoo! UK is to open up its Messenger service to advertisers and has signed up FCUK as its first client. The high-street fashion retailer will promote its spring and summer collections through the service.

The deal, which also marks the first time FCUK has advertised online, will see Yahoo! Messenger users able to customise the service's avatars (images used to represent a person while online) by dressing them in FCUK's latest fashion collections.

The avatars appear alongside the Yahoo! Messenger text box and can be shared and viewed during a conversation on Messenger. Clicking on them will enable users to access FCUK's website, where they can buy the clothes displayed.

Darren Cairns, head of marketing for Yahoo! Messenger, said the FCUK deal was the first phase of a widening of commercial opportunities around Messenger, which is used by 5.1m unique users in Europe.

'It is the ideal way to target the "i-generation" of 16- to 34-year-olds, and for innovative brands, the potential for it linked with the avatars is huge,' he said.

French Connection said the move online was being driven by the increase of female shoppers who are driving clothing sales on the internet, which does not appear to be cannibalising high street sales.

Trevor Beattie, who is behind the FCUK brand and co-founder of Beattie McGuinness Bungay, said: "We wanted to do something that conquered uncharted territory, to do something that no one had ever done before - it's time for fcuk to conquer cyberspace."

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