From 1 March 2011, there is an important change in the legal scope of the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) Code, which will be extended to include:
Advertisements and other marketing communications by or from companies, organisations or sole traders on their own websites, or in other non-paid-for space online under their control, that are directly connected with the supply or transfer of goods, services, opportunities and gifts, or which consist of direct solicitations of donations as part of their own fund-raising activities.”
As CAP point out, this doesn’t rule out promoting causes or ideas (which may be the case with campaign groups or social enterprises), although it does cover any material that in any way solicits donations. Nor does it mean that websites cannot contain material – such as editorial or public relations material – that is not marketing.
But the revised Code recognises that web pages, email campaigns or social media presences (your Facebook page or LinkedIn group are both “non-paid-for space online under your control”) don’t need to quote a price or include a ‘Buy Now’ button to fall within the extended remit, nor do they need to “seek overtly an immediate or short-term financial transaction or include or otherwise refer to a transactional facility”.
The ASA and CAP will be allowing a six month period of grace to raise awareness and educate business on the new requirements of the CAP Code, and that period of time could be wisely spent seeking their advice and that of your Internet services partners and providers.
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As announced by the Government in the Emergency Budget in June this year, the VAT rate increases from its current rate of 17.5% to 20% on 4th January 2011.
His talk delivered a core message for anyone with ambitions to their own business – be prepared, you’re in for the long haul – and the mixture of levity and seriousness with which the message was delivered was captured in the title: “Boy, they never told me it’d be this hard!” 
Northampton University has recently expanded its Portfolio Innovation Centre, based at the University’s Avenue Campus. Now trebled in size to a three-storey building, the centre offers working space and networking opportunities to some of the region’s most exciting creative, digital and design companies – a industry sector that over £600 million into the region’s economy ever year.
One aspect of business life that is often overlooked is Business Continuity and Resilience – the planning and operational procedures that will ensure that businesses are not unduly vulnerable to external threat from a wide range of factors that range from fire or flood to terrorist attack. Vulnerability affects not just the companies concerned, but has knock-on effects across the local business community where customers or suppliers are otherwise critically affected – a lesson that is important to Virtual Viewing’s MD, Stewart Bailey, who has recently been appointed to the Lead Team of Milton Keynes Business Resilience Forum (MKBRF). Piers Benn, Strategic Risk and Business Continuity Manager, Milton Keynes Council, welcomed the appointment, saying: “Stewart Bailey will bring valued insight and expertise to the Team”.
As a company that’s always been proud to play an active part in the community life of Milton Keynes – a city that has, in its turn, played a key role in our development – we have been sponsoring Marshall MK Lions, the city’s basketball league team, since 2003.
