Marketing Week
29 June 2006

  • A-B wins latest round in battle of the Bud

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    Anheuser-Busch has won the latest round in its 80-year legal struggle with Czech brewers Budejovicky Budvar, to register the trademark Bud beer throughout Europe.

  • Agencies prefer fees to commission

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    Advertising agencies prefer to receive fees rather than commission for their services, according to the fourth Paying For Advertising report from ISBA and the Advertising Research Consortium. The uptake in fees has risen from 57% in 1997 to 85% this year.

  • Agencies seek recruits abroad

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    For anyone wanting a career in digital marketing, graduating this summer is just about the best thing they could do.

  • AOL starts round two of bidding for UK arm

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    The battle to buy AOL's UK business has entered a crucial phase, with less serious bidders ruled out and more in-depth talks under way between the internet company and remaining suitors.

  • ASA demands closure of One TV shopping channel

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    Calls from the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) to shut down shopping channel One TV have put the station's future in doubt.

  • Asda offers 'jinxed' World Cup contract to Portuguese star

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    Asda is to make a cheeky offer to Portuguese football star Luis Figo to become the face of its TV advertising campaigns, ahead of his team's World Cup quarter-final with England on Saturday.

  • Ask.com loses European marketing vice-president

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    Ask.com has lost top European marketer Rachel Johnson - the latest in a string of high-profile defections from the major search engines this month.

  • Audiences - not impacts - are the true measure of itv's value

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    I have this recurring dream about the television advertising world. It's standing on a chair with a noose around its neck, an orange in its mouth and sporting women's underwear. I wake as it steps off the chair.

  • Axe Allen - and cut off the road of return

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    The tricoteuses in the City have dropped their knitting, the tumbrel is readied and the guillotine blade sharpened at the prospect of Charles Allen being led to his place of execution. If ITV's next set of financial figures don't meet expectations, its chief executive (who thus far has experienced more lucky escapes than the Scarlet ...

  • BBC takes top spot as sport sites enjoy World Cup boost

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    Just as it does on television when a big event like the World Cup is being broadcast, the BBC currently dominates the online audience for sports. If anything, its position is even more secure on the Web - there's no place for rival broadcaster ITV among the top ten sports sites or search terms, despite the fact that it shares ...

  • BG loses head of Residential Energy arm

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    Mark Clare, managing director of British Gas' Residential Energy business, is to leave the company after 12 years. He is joining construction specialist Barratt Developments as group chief executive.

  • Bidders for the new Liverpool FM licence

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    Chrysalis Radio, UTV Radio, GMG and EMAP are among a number of bidders for the new Liverpool FM licence, which is due to be advertised on July 13.

  • Burberry campaign for autumn/winter collection

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    Burberry has started an ad campaign for its autumn/winter collection featuring Kate Moss, nine months after it considered dropping the model following allegations of drug-taking.

  • C4 Web TV a new test for media

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    Channel 4 this week launches an internet television service through its website - the latest stage in plans for a massive boost in revenues and profits from new media activities over the next few years.

  • Camelot links with Disney for Pirates game

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    National Lottery operator Camelot has partnered with Walt Disney for the first time, as part of the launch promotion for Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest.

  • Campaign of the month

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    By taking the Italian beer's reworking of Fellini's seminal film La Dolca Vita onto the internet, digital agency Mook has produced one of the best looking websites from a UK agency this year.

  • Can counselling help avoid the pain of repitching?

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    The withdrawal of incumbent Delaney Lund Knox Warren & Partners (DLKW) from Pearson's global creative review of its Financial Times account (MW last week) came as a surprise to many industry observers. The agency has held the business for 16 y

  • Can ITV stem the digital tide?

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    When ITV held a series of presentations for analysts and the media last week, an uncharacteristic display of contrition was as much on the menu as its bold vision of the future. The broadcaster was capitalising on what it sees to be a shift in sympathy regarding contracts rights renewal (CRR), the mechanism that prevents ...

  • Capvest talking to investment firms

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    Capvest, the private equity firm that owns seafood firm Young's Bluecrest, is understood to be talking to a number of investment firms about forming a consortium to acquire Unilever-owned frozen-food brand Birds Eye.

  • Carat warns of 'extreme' switch in ad spending from TV to digital

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    Core television advertisers such as motor, retail and finance brands are increasingly taking money from traditional media and ploughing it online, according to media agency Carat.

  • Centre of attraction

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    It is no exaggeration to describe London as a global business centre, and David Hornby should know, as he is commercial director of Visit London, the Government organisation with the task of promoting the capital to domestic and overseas visit

  • CheethamBell chief to start recruitment shop

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    CheethamBell JWT marketing director Kate Harris is leaving the agency to set up a recruitment consultancy called Harris. The former Nabs chief executive will concentrate on headhunting and recruiting board-level agency staff in the Manchester,

  • Choose your partners wisely

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    The attention paid to brand partnerships, which within the brand affinity world are defined as the mutually beneficial partnering of two brands with similar values, has arguably never being as intense as it is now.

  • Clubcard is no match for US retailers' offers

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    The article on Tesco's challenge to Wal-Mart in the US (MW, June 22) overlooked one of the key factors to Tesco's UK success with Clubcard: direct mail. The Clubcard has succeeded by offering customers targeted promotions in quarterly mailings, thus giving them a reason to return.

  • COI launches pitch to work on Design Council brief

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    The COI has started a below-the-line pitch for government body The Design Council. It is believed the brief is for a business-to-business push for the UK's strategic body for design.

  • Confused response to elephant.co.uk story

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    I was fascinated to read that elephant. co.uk's test of Affiliate Future's affiliate tracking system could, if successful, be rolled out to brands including Confused.com (MW June 15).

  • Craik Jones Watson Mitchell Voelkel to handle DM for Arcadia

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    Arcadia Group has assigned Craik Jones Watson Mitchell Voelkel to handle DM for the launch of its first branded credit card across brands including TopShop, TopMan, Burton, Wallis, Miss Selfridge and Dorothy Perkins. The review was overseen by the AAR.

  • Diet food sector needs to address health issue

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    Nestlé has become the latest multinational to take a bite out of the diet food market by acquiring US brand Jenny Craig for $600m (£324m). Meanwhile, WeightWatchers is preparing a marketing blitz after handing its £2m advertising account to Vallance Carruthers Coleman Priest ...

  • Domino's 'just-in-time' delivery for World Cup

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    On the day the World Cup was to kick off, Dan Clays, managing director of interactive agency Quantum Media, had an idea. Within a few minutes, his client Domino's was buying keywords on Google to ensure that anyone searching for the World Cup

  • Engagement is off in brand relationship

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    Alan Mitchell is right - "engagement" has no place in consumer marketing vocabulary (MW June 15). Consumers don't want to engage with brands, they want to enjoy them - along with many others in the course of each day.

  • Fans will drive World Cup online revenues

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    As nations square up in Germany to win the 2006 World Cup, so media owners are fighting for the marketing budgets that surround the tournament.

  • Fat-bottomed ideals of truth and beauty shame the admen

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    It must have been on one of those halcyon summer days - when the sun filters through a green, latticed canopy of fragrant beech, when the air is thick with doves, and when every bower is garlanded with fruit, and every flower infested with hum

  • Field & Trek appoints Pure360.com

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    Field & Trek, the outdoor clothing and equipment retailer, has appointed e-mail marketing company Pure360.

  • Fitted kitchen group MKD appoints senior marketer

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    MKD Holdings, the fitted kitchen specialist that has brands including Kitchens Direct and Moben Kitchens, has promoted Tim Moore to marketing director.

  • Fixed-term appointments

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    Some of London's top advertising agencies are shortly expected to appoint chief executives, while other marketing services companies are bedding new bosses into their jobs.

  • Flora 'blood vessel health' claim banned in ASA ruling

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    Unilever Bestfoods has been slammed by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) over a press ad which suggested that Flora pro.activ spread helped maintain blood vessel health. It will not be allowed to repeat the claim.

  • Google ditches free SMS service amid 'charges' row

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    Google has suspended one of its first mobile services in the UK, just two months after it launched, amid complaints about users being charged for what was meant to be a free service.

  • Government moots Tube ad ban for e-gambling firms

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    The Government is considering clamping down on online casinos' advertising on the London Underground in response to concerns about the increase in gambling addictions caused by the internet.

  • Ikea hires Agency.com

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    Ikea has hired Agency.

  • InterContinental Hotels links up with Aston Martin Racing

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    Luxury hotel brand InterContinental Hotels & Resorts has announced a $1.8m (£970,000) sponsorship deal with Aston Martin Racing, as the automotive brand returns to the international motorsport circuit.

  • ITV extends deal for exclusive UK TV rights to final stages of UEFA Cup

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    ITV has extended its deal for exclusive UK TV rights to the final stages of the UEFA Cup, in an agreement worth about &£25m. The three-year contract, which starts later this year, covers the quarter-finals and semi-finals as well as the final. ITV previously had a two-year deal covering just the final.

  • ITV1 to air UK's first 'live' ad

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    ITV1 will air the UK's first 'live' ad, for online dating agency Match.

  • J&J takeover threat to JWT Pfizer account

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    JWT's grip on Pfizer's multimillion pound over-the-counter healthcare account is in doubt following Johnson & Johnson's (J&J) acquisition of the company.

  • Karmarama loses creative business for Opodo

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    Karmarama has lost the £2m UK creative business for online travel company Opodo, which has appointed Paris agency Frederic Duverge to handle its pan-European account.

  • Kraft Foods appoints Irene Rosenfeld

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    Kraft Foods has appointed Irene Rosenfeld as chief executive to replace Roger Deromedi, who is leaving the company to pursue other interests. Rosenfeld was previously chairwoman and chief executive of PepsiCo-owned Frito-Lay.

  • Latest winner of IAB Creative Showcase

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    Mini's Have a Word campaign is the latest monthly winner of the IAB Creative Showcase, sponsored by MSN. The campaign, which has been developed by Glue London for the Mini Cooper S, uses e-mail and viral video footage and is aimed at male drivers. The first runner-up was Tribal DDB's David Beckham Academy Touran Challenge campaign for the Volkswagen Touran. The second runner-up was AKQA's Fanimal World Cup campaign for Peperami.

  • Leo Burnett scoops £4m Rice Krispies task without a pitch

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    Cereal giant Kellogg UK has moved the £4m advertising business for its Rice Krispies brand from JWT to Leo Burnett without a pitch. The company says the move is part of an effort to "re-ignite consumer interest in the cereal market".

  • Magazines give leads for catalogue sales

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    Your news item about the takeover of

  • Major Cadbury launch in disarray after Dairy Milk salmonella recall

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    Plans by Cadbury to launch a major new brand have been thrown into disarray this week after the recall of 1 million Dairy Milk bars over fears they have been contaminated with salmonella.

  • Mazda appoints marketing VP for European operation

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    Mazda Motor Europe has appointed Masahiro Moro as vice-president of marketing.

  • Media Steps put up for sale after rescue founders

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    Media Steps, the outdoor advertising firm, is trying to sell its operations after talks with potential rescuers collapsed this week.

  • Mediaedge:cia wins Nintendo business

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    Mediaedge:cia has won the £5m media planning and buying for Nintendo following a three-way pitch against BLM Media and incumbent Starcom.

  • Metro plans force VCCP to pull out of Guardian pitch

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    Vallance Carruthers Coleman Priest has pulled out of The Guardian's review because of what is believed to be an imminent launch from its client Metro that would conflict with future plans within The Guardian.

  • Mr Muscle faces challenge from 'gentler' Dr Beckman

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    ACDOCO, the household cleaning company, is gearing up for the multi-million pound launch of a new oven cleaner to take on SC Johnson's Mr Muscle.

  • Multibuys not advertising promote obesity

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    With regard to Iain Murray's rant against the proposal to limit advertising of junk food on television (MW, June 22) he has a point worth arguing when talking about commercial freedom, but ruins it by splitting hairs on how advertising works.

  • Music labels create radio inteference

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    Not a month goes by without traditional media groups unveiling plans to cope with consumers shifting their media consumption to digital. Each medium has to find its own way to overcome the challenges, but one that seems to be doing so successfully is among the oldest media of all: radio.

  • New campaign - Virgin Atlantic

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe/Y&R has created a campaign for Virgin Atlantic to promote the airline's Upper Class service to New York.

  • New online shopping portal promotes charity donations

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    An online shopping portal that aims to benefit charities by offering consumers the chance to donate cash when they make purchases is preparing for launch.

  • News Magazines to establish regional sales office in Manchester

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    News Magazines, News International's magazine publishing arm, is establishing a regional sales office in Manchester, with former Times Newspapers senior sales executive Nicola Morris as regional ad manager.

  • Ofgem urged to audit green energy

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    Energywatch is ramping up its efforts to lobby the Government and Ofgem to introduce an accreditation scheme for green energy tariffs.

  • Omnicom boss steps in to sort out stalemate over DDB London

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    Omnicom chief executive John Wren has stepped in to sort out problems that DDB London is experiencing in appointing a chief executive. Omnicom insiders say that Wren is trying to unblock the impasse that the London agency has met in trying to

  • Orange in Supper Club custom trial

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    purchases. It also links well with other fast-growing techniques for online advertising, like behavioural targeting and “day parting”.

  • Pfizer drops plans to locate European headquarters in Britain

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    Pfizer, the pharmaceutical group, dropped plans to locate its European headquarters in Britain due to "bureaucratic planning laws", according to a report commissioned by the Treasury.

  • Pink rethink

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    After four consecutive years of shedding profit and circulation, the Financial Times (FT) recently reported some heartening news. Last year, the specialist business title returned to the black with a profit of £2m. With the decline in circulat

  • Power gets the green light

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    With the Government preparing a marketing drive to persuade the public to use environmentally friendly modes of transport, and supermarket giants such as Tesco keen to highlight the ecological aspects of their operations, the green movement is

  • PPA, WHS slam lads mags 'top shelf' call

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    The Periodical Publishers Association and WH Smith have hit out against a new bill calling for retailers to put lads magazines like Maxim, FHM and Arena on the top shelf. The retailer says it should not censor people's magazine choices.

  • Pringle sponsors Gary Player pro/am golf tournament

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    Pringle of Scotland, the luxury fashion brand, has signed a six-figure deal to sponsor the UK leg of the Gary Player professional/amateur golf series.

  • Procter & Gamble drops Tim Henman

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    Procter & Gamble has dropped British tennis star Tim Henman from the TV campaign for its Ariel brand of washing powder.

  • Putting a sponsorship spin on tennis

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    The Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) head of marketing Sara Acworth's departure (MW last week) is the latest in a string of resignations and firings since chief executive Roger Draper took the reins earlier this year. Draper is tasked with turnin

  • Rocket wins planning and buying for ACP-Natmag

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    Rocket has won the £10m planning and buying for ACP-Natmag after a four-way pitch against MindShare, ZenithOptimedia and incumbent Initiative.

  • Rupert Hambro & Partners takes controlling share of Coull

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    Investment firm Rupert Hambro & Partners has taken a controlling share of online video technology company Coull, through an investment of $1.

  • Sainsbury's denies rumours

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    Sainsbury's has denied reports it is helping Jamie Oliver, the TV chef who stars in its ad campaigns, and the Department of Health to devise a national healthy eating drive to persuade families to spend more mealtimes together.

  • Shortlist for M&G Investments integrated account

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    Kitcatt Nohr Alexander Shaw and CCHM:Ping are understood to have been shortlisted for the M&G Investments integrated account. Partners Andrews Aldridge and Joshua G2 were also believed to have been pitching to work on the fund arm of the Prudential Group.

  • Silentnight to unveil new website

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    Silentnight, the UK's largest bed manufacturer, is unveiling a new website this week, designed by Leeds-based agency Clark McKay & Walpole North. The new site, silentnight.co.uk, is part of a wider marketing effort involving a multi-million pound television campaign.

  • Simple ideas pay at the point-of-purchase

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    Your vision of point-of-purchase advertising (MW June 8) rightly highlighted that this style of consumer marketing is growing against a backdrop of declining TV revenues.

  • Sporting Index appoints Nick Irens and Chris Akers

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    Sporting Index, the spread-betting group, has appointed Nick Irens as chairman and Chris Akers as non-executive director. The appointments come as the group prepares to expand overseas.

  • Steve Brown believed to have been made redundant

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    BSkyB sales controller Steve Brown is believed to have been made redundant following a shake-up at Sky Media.

  • Targeting the silver surfers' pot of gold

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    Almost half the UK's over-50s use the Web and spend £900m a year online. No wonder marketers are starting to take note of them, says Nathalie Kilby

  • Tennis star launches website

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    Andy Murray, Britain's number two ranked tennis player, has launched his first website to coincide with this year's Wimbledon tournament, designed by digital agency Airlock.

  • TfL slammed over congestion ads

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    Transport for London is wasting public money by continually publicising the planned extension of the congestion charge zone, according to a Tory transport spokeswoman.

  • The Button Group appoints Julian Baker

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    The Button Group, an experiential marketing agency, has appointed Julian Baker as group creative director. He was previously design director at Imagination, working with clients including Diageo, BAA, BA and Orange.

  • The mobile comes of age for marketers

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    December 12, 1996. An innocuous date for most, but a day that revolutionised online marketing when Macromedia released its Shockwave Flash software.

  • The proof is not just in the podcasting

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    More people are tuning in to radio via the Web, but the stations must find more creative ways to keep listeners and advertisers turned on. By Dominic Dudley

  • Thinkbox appoints David Brennan

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    Thinkbox, the TV marketing body, has appointed David Brennan as research and strategy dircector. He was previously head of group strategic insight at Associated News.

  • Top marketer in sideways move as BT rejigs team

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    BT is shifting group marketing and brand director Tim Evans to the role of chief customer officer, in a move insiders say will erode his "power base" at the telecoms giant.

  • TV scores with world cup viewers but its future is still up in the air

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    As World Cup audience figures pile up ever higher, television advertising revenue - particularly for ITV - plunges ever lower. With the England-Sweden match peaking at 21 million viewers - an 81% share of the commercial audience - ITV should h

  • Two fields with the same goals

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    The fiercest rivals will often unite against a common enemy, and while field marketing and experiential marketing agencies are extremely vocal when telling brands why they should be pouring money into their specific disciplines, they quickly c

  • Unilever pledges to improve diversity

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    Unilever has pledged to improve the diversity of its board of directors by adding more women and people from ethnic backgrounds. Chief executive Patrick Cescau says the board does not reflect the diversity of the Anglo-Dutch company's staff.

  • US rich media company to launch in UK

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    US online rich media specialist Klipmart is launching its services in the UK and plans to expand into the rest of Europe.

  • Vallance Carruthers Coleman Priest hires two creative teams

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    Vallance Carruthers Coleman Priest has hired two creative teams.

  • Visa plans to test contactless payment card

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    Visa is planning to test a contactless payment card on UK high streets next year as part of its strategy to encourage people to pay for purchases with plastic. The move follows rival MasterCard's trial of its PayPass system with Royal Bank of Scotland (MW 9 March).

  • Weetabix set for Organic relaunch

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    Weetabix is preparing to relaunch Weetabix Organic, as part of its campaign to encourage consumers to eat the cereal in different ways.

  • WHS tests in-store Post Office counter

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    WH Smith has signed a deal with the Post Office to allow counters to appear in the retailer's high-street stores.

  • Wing and a prayer - the BA/Cadbury crises

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    Two of the UK's best-known brands, Cadbury and British Airways, have come under the microscope in the same week, revealing two very different approaches to crisis management.

  • World Cup ad sales leave ITV frustrated over sport

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    ITV Sales managing director Gary Digby admits that the broadcaster does not know how to sell next year's Rugby World Cup to advertisers, following disappointing sales for the football World Cup.

  • WPP Group says worldwide reported revenues increased by up to 17%

    Thu, 29 Jun 2006

    WPP Group says worldwide reported revenues increased by up to 17% in the first five months of the year. However, the marketing services company adds: 'The UK...remains the slowest growing region, as it was in the first quarter.'

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