Marketing Week
22 October 1998

20 axed in major Saatchi reshuffle

Thu, 22 Oct 1998

Saatchi & Saatchi has shuffled staff and cut jobs from its London office after undergoing a turbulent year.

Agencies vie for Furniture Village 6m

Thu, 22 Oct 1998

Retailer Furniture Village has begun a search for an advertising agency to handle its 6m account.

Amazon launches UK incarnation

Thu, 22 Oct 1998

Bookpages, the British online bookseller acquired by Seattle-based market leader Amazon.com in April, has relaunched under the Amazon.co.uk brand, promising UK book buyers it will match the price discounting of its American parent.

Banks can no longer count on consumer inertia for survival

Thu, 22 Oct 1998

I have a theory that the British retail banks - including the former mutuals - will be marginalised so much over the next couple of years that, by what many pedants call the "real" millennium in 2001, they will no longer account for the majority of what used to be referred to as cheque-book business. Although I'm not taking any bets on such a claim, I believe that this scenario should happen.

Brief

Thu, 22 Oct 1998

The benefits of reading to babies is the subject of a new campaign through Bartle Bogle Hegarty for BBC Education. Each of the three promotional films opens on a parent sharing a book with a baby in a different situation - in a cot; in a baby bouncer; and on a sofa. When the baby is left on its own, it transforms into Adrian Edmondson who talks excitedly about what he has learned. The films, which end with the line: 'Books build brighter babies', will run for three weeks from Saturday ...

Brief

Thu, 22 Oct 1998

The benefits of reading to babies is the subject of a new campaign through Bartle Bogle Hegarty for BBC Education. Each of the three promotional films opens on a parent sharing a book with a baby in a different situation - in a cot; in a baby bouncer; and on a sofa. When the baby is left on its own, it transforms into Adrian Edmondson who talks excitedly about what he has learned. The films, which end with the line: 'Books build brighter babies', will run for three weeks from Saturday ...

Briefs

Thu, 22 Oct 1998

The Financial Times has appointed David Walsh, deputy director of advertising at The Times and The Sunday Times, as advertisement director.

C&W breakaway hunts agency for 5m brief

Thu, 22 Oct 1998

International telecoms company Interoute is to hire an advertising agency for the first time. The move follows Tom Frankfort's appointment as marketing director.

Cadbury resurrects Caramel bunny to launch hazelnut brand extension

Thu, 22 Oct 1998

One of the most memorable advertising characters of the Eighties, the Cadbury Caramel bunny, is returning to TV in a digitally remastered ad for the launch of a new chocolate bar.

Campbell's to open US soup bars in the UK

Thu, 22 Oct 1998

Campbell's, the US soup company, is considering opening soup kiosks throughout the UK and Europe as part of its "away from home" initiative, which is already being rolled out across the US.

CHBi Razorfish buys out London shop Sunbather

Thu, 22 Oct 1998

CHBi Razorfish, the London-based agency acquired by US agency Razorfish earlier this year, has bought out new media creative shop Sunbather for an undisclosed sum.

Clark & Taylor clinches Ideal Home account

Thu, 22 Oct 1998

Clark & Taylor has won the 2m advertising account for the Ideal Home Exhibition, which is to relaunch next year with new branding.

Clarkson's gear, Falmer's downfall

Thu, 22 Oct 1998

The Diary concedes that sexy models are a better advertisement for denim than some frizzy-haired Top Gear presenter who favours a pair of tight jeans coupled with scuffed cowboy boots. But fancy Falmer's administrators citing the "Jeremy Clarkson effect" as a reason for the jeans maker's downfall.

Digests

Thu, 22 Oct 1998

Digests

Thu, 22 Oct 1998

Digital One aims to break radio silence

Thu, 22 Oct 1998

The first waves of the digital revolution hit the UK this month. On October 1 Sky Digital launched with a bash for 4,000 people at Battersea Power Station. And last week the Radio Authority, which governs commercial radio, approved the Digital One consortium's application to run the national commercial multiplex of ten stations.

Dome scoop proves false promise

Thu, 22 Oct 1998

The media's obsessive interest in new sponsors of the Millennium Dome has tailed off now, but not so very long ago, things were different...

Falmer's miseries add to jeans blues

Thu, 22 Oct 1998

Just as Falmer Jeans began to register improved margins and market share following efforts by chief executive Chris Howell to turn around the flagging brand, time ran out and the company went into administration (MW October 15).

Footballers' union seeks sponsor deals

Thu, 22 Oct 1998

The Professional Footballers Association (PFA) is launching a sponsorship scheme for the first time in the union's 90-year history.

Greenpeace and Iceland take lead in eco-friendly fridges

Thu, 22 Oct 1998

Greenpeace is putting its logo on a new range of fridges and freezers to be sold at Iceland Frozen Foods outlets - the first time the environmental group has been involved in product endorsement.

How C4 used its marketing nous to bowl out BBC's test coverage

Thu, 22 Oct 1998

It was a game of two halves for the BBC, played over two days. On Wednesday, culture secretary Chris Smith announced a five-year extension of the licence fee, backing it with a ringing endorsement of the Corporation's current strategy. Sir John Birt could hardly restrain his delight: "We wouldn't change a word," he said.

Innovation aids fight for survival

Thu, 22 Oct 1998

The new dynamics of the European and global market are forcing leading advertisers to put innovation and change management at a premium. And that means communications agencies should take careful note.

Keep the jargon out of finance

Thu, 22 Oct 1998

The assessment of direct financial services marketing, "Jargon Busters" (MW October 15) has sometimes been described as "confusion marketing".

Lloyds threat to free online banking

Thu, 22 Oct 1998

Lloyds Bank is playing down suggestions that it may be introducing a premium charge for its Internet banking service, when it rolls out the scheme in earnest next month.

Marketers are still deaf to the power of music

Thu, 22 Oct 1998

I work with probably the most powerful and emotive communications device - music. Everyone loves it, everyone buys it. It reflects our lifestyles, evokes memories and triggers emotions. It has an immediacy and power that words and images cannot compete with.

Nationwide chiefs face shake-up

Thu, 22 Oct 1998

Nationwide Building Society has announced a major job swap between four of the company's directors.

Nokia pushes merchandise in UK store

Thu, 22 Oct 1998

Mobile phone manufacturer Nokia is extending its brand with a range of merchandise to be sold through its new London flagship store.

Not exactly a noble calling......

Thu, 22 Oct 1998

Your survey on brand valuations (Cover Story, October 1) made interesting reading, as it substantiated the view that marketing is nothing more than smoke and mirrors.

RFU exit scuttles Channel 5 show

Thu, 22 Oct 1998

The Rugby Football Union (RFU) has pulled its backing from the Channel 5 rugby magazine show Rugby Express, which has left the sport without a magazine programme on ter- restrial TV this season.

Sky's no limit for high-flyers

Thu, 22 Oct 1998

The next time you use the term high-flying about an advertising executive you should do so advisedly.

Talk Radio's posters to be vetted after 'naked' ad causes offence

Thu, 22 Oct 1998

Talk Radio will be forced to have its posters pre-vetted by the Advertising Standards Authority after it ran an ad featuring a woman's naked backside which attracted 78 complaints.

Tango plots orange Xmas in Regent St

Thu, 22 Oct 1998

Tango will turn London's Regent Street orange this Christmas with a sponsored display of festive lights to be switched on by chart-topping girl band All Saints.

Upwardly mobile market

Thu, 22 Oct 1998

The introduction of pre-paid mobile phone packages has had an enormous impact on the market. Over the past year, 2.5 million new subscribers have been added, taking the total number of subscribers to 10.5 million - one in four of the UK population. And of that 2.5 million extra mobile phone users, nearly 1.5 million signed up to pre-paid packages.

Virgin has the e-technology

Thu, 22 Oct 1998

Further to the article "Virgin misses chance to clothe online users" (MW October 8), I would like to make clear Virgin Clothing's position on Net sales - or e-commerce as it is often called.

Walker scoops 4m First Choice

Thu, 22 Oct 1998

Tour operator First Choice has appointed Walker Media to handle its 4m media business after a four-way pitch between incumbent Media Insight, BMP Optimum and New PHD.

Why the digital revolution can beat the slump

Thu, 22 Oct 1998

We in the West may kid ourselves that we're nowhere near recession in its official sense, but it's impossible to completely ignore the siren calls of those who argue that we are standing on the brink of economic meltdown.