Hasta La Creative!

LONDON – Ipsos has revealed net first-half profits growth of 12.1% to €21.7m and has acquired Alfacom, a specialist automotive market research agency in Brazil.

LONDON – Nationwide Building Society has appointed marketing agency Karmarama to handle the creative account for its partnership with LV=, the Liverpool Victoria friendly society. Karmarama will take control of response advertising across car, travel and small business insurance.

LONDON – Cocktail Marketing has recruited a number of brands including Dominos Pizza and EA Sports as this year’s partners for the V Card, the student loyalty scheme run by bar chain Varsity.

LONDON – Fabergé, famous for its jewel-encrusted eggs, is returning to its roots as a luxury jewellery brand after giving miner Gemfields Resources an exclusive 15-year licence to use the name on coloured gemstones, excluding diamonds.

LONDON – Sports broadcaster Setanta has signed a deal with IPTV service provider Inuk to broadcast its service to students at more than 40 universities in the UK.

LONDON – PruHealth, Prudential’s medical insurance scheme, has extended its incentive programme to provide leisure activity offers.

LONDON – German publishing group Burda has paid around £2m for a minority stake in mydeco.com, the interior decoration website launched by Lastminute.com co-founder Brent Hoberman, according to reports.

LONDON – The Blue Cross has launched a social networking site for pet lovers, called All About Pets, which aims to challenge generic sites like MySpace when it officially launches today.

LONDON – Social networking website Bebo has appointed Google’s head of industry marketing Nicole Vanderbilt to the new role of head of international expansion.

LONDON – Broadcaster Five has set up a new mobile service for viewers, to enable them to text feedback and enter competitions, through a deal with Mobile Interactive Group.