Marketing Week
3 August 2006

  • 118 118 Plots 'information portal' role

    Thu, 3 Aug 2006

    The new marketing director of The Number 118 118, Mark Evans, is planning to transform the brand into a "multi-channel information portal" in a bid to move beyond the directory enquiries market.

  • 141 Worldwide European boss leaves to set up new venture

    Thu, 3 Aug 2006

    Richard Church, the European chief of 141 Worldwide, is leaving the WPP-owned agency and is understood to be planning a new venture.

  • Am I bothered I got it wrong? Well, yes I am

    Thu, 3 Aug 2006

    My letter last week misattributed a quote to that Oscar Wilde of modern manners Vicky Pollard. As everyone knows, the owner of the "Am I bothered?" catchphrase is the brilliant Catherine Tate.

  • AOL to test-launch its online video service in US

    Thu, 3 Aug 2006

    AOL is to test-launch its online video service in the US.

  • Asda expands George Cosmetics range

    Thu, 3 Aug 2006

    Asda is expanding its George Cosmetics range to around 100 outlets.

  • Barb's quarter of a century of watching us watching tv

    Thu, 3 Aug 2006

    CNN may have persuaded business people, politicians, journalists and other hotel dwellers to turn to cable - and later satellite - TV. But it was MTV that opened the multi-channel highway for the next generation, the viewers of the future, cha

  • Battle of the broadbands

    Thu, 3 Aug 2006

    Charles Dunstone might be on his way to becoming a billionaire but the Carphone Warehouse founder and chief executive is not ready to slow down just yet. Carphone is in the vanguard of the current UK broadband revolution and Dunstone is in his

  • Beauty and the multiples beast

    Thu, 3 Aug 2006

    News that Boots and Sainsbury's have been in talks with the Government about housing GP surgeries and NHS clinics in their stores has caused something of a stir as detractors, including the British Medical Association, voiced concerns that we

  • Bendicks to launch first chocolate bar in £2m push

    Thu, 3 Aug 2006

    Luxury confectionery brand Bendicks is launching its first chocolate bar and will support the new product with a £2m advertising campaign.

  • BMW investing £100m in Cowley plant

    Thu, 3 Aug 2006

    BMW is investing £100m in its Cowley plant in Oxford to boost production of the Mini to 230,000 a year.

  • BSkyB targets rivals with broadband online gaming

    Thu, 3 Aug 2006

    BSkyB is gearing up to take on AOL and Yahoo! with the launch of an online gaming service through its new broadband offering. It will be launched later this year.

  • BT appoints Marc Watson

    Thu, 3 Aug 2006

    BT has appointed Marc Watson as commercial director for its next-generation TV service, BT Vision. He will report to BT Television Services chief executive Dan Marks.

  • BT slashes prices

    Thu, 3 Aug 2006

    BT has slashed its prices following regulator Ofcom's decision to free the company from regulation after 22 years of price caps. However, some charges will rise with BT reintroducing "per minute" pricing for daytime calls.

  • Butcher's Pet Care appoints WCFA to £2m ad account

    Thu, 3 Aug 2006

    Butcher's Pet Care has handed its £2m advertising business to integrated agency WFCA after a four-way pitch against undisclosed agencies. It is the brand's third review in two years.

  • Cadbury launches low-cal bars under Highlights brand

    Thu, 3 Aug 2006

    Cadbury is boosting its presence in the better-for-you confectionery market with the launch of a new range of low-sugar bars. The Cadbury Highlights range is due to be launched next month.

  • Carat can be found in the neutral zone

    Thu, 3 Aug 2006

    John Billett raises an interesting point about media neutrality (MW July 20). However, as the largest media agency that isn't part of a creative network, Carat actually has no vested interest in supporting the "old" model of advertising. Aegis' leadership within the new world of communications should not be forgotten either (in the UK alone this includes Carat's digital offering and the ownership of Diffiniti, De-construct and Glue London).

  • Choice FM tries new logo for 'urban feel'

    Thu, 3 Aug 2006

    Choice FM has revamped its logo and brand identity to give it a younger, fresher feel. It will be unveiled at the Notting Hill Carnival at the end of this month.

  • Coke moots Dasani brand revival for UK water launch

    Thu, 3 Aug 2006

    Coca-Cola is considering resurrecting Dasani as the brand name for a new bottled water, which is expected to hit the UK market in January.

  • Currys to sell domestic solar-power panels

    Thu, 3 Aug 2006

    Currys has become the first major UK retail chain to sell domestic solar-power panels. The company says the average three-bedroom household could expect to pay around &£9,000 to buy and install panels but energy bills should be reduced by 50%.

  • DDB London scoops £7m Budweiser Ireland account

    Thu, 3 Aug 2006

    Anheuser-Busch is understood to have appointed DDB London to its â¬10m (£6.8m) advertising account for Budweiser Ireland. It is not clear if the agency pitched for the business or if incumbent Irish International.BBDO was involved.

  • Diageo Global Duty Free appoints Ambition Communications

    Thu, 3 Aug 2006

    Diageo Global Duty Free has appointed Ambition Communications to implement promotional activity for its Smirnoff and Johnnie Walker brands.

  • Discovering that science can never provide all the answers

    Thu, 3 Aug 2006

    The trouble is, marketing is a lot more complicated than many people (especially consultants selling formulae for success hidden by "black box" methodologies) would admit.

  • 'Don't fall into Bulldog trap' analysts warn CW's Dunstone

    Thu, 3 Aug 2006

    Carphone Warehouse risks seriously damaging its brand if it doesn't cut waiting times for people signing up to its "free" broadband offer, according to two leading analysts.

  • DWP splits its benefit fraud business

    Thu, 3 Aug 2006

    The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has split its benefit fraud business between Cheetham Bell JWT and Vallance Carruthers Coleman Priest following a pitch overseen by COI Communications. Incumbent Leo Burnett has been dropped.

  • Early Learning Centre almost trebles profits

    Thu, 3 Aug 2006

    The Early Learning Centre, the educational toy chain, has almost trebled its profits. Annual pre-tax profits rose from &£3.5m to &£9.9m, while turnover increased to &£178m, up from &£174m. The 200-strong chain is part of Chelsea Stores Holdings.

  • EDF extends rugby sponsorship with new RFU and Premier deal

    Thu, 3 Aug 2006

    EDF Energy is boosting its commitment to UK sport with a three-year sponsorship deal with the Rugby Football Union (RFU) and club management body Premier Rugby.

  • EHS Brann and WWAV to share £30m Barclays direct business

    Thu, 3 Aug 2006

    Barclays has split its £30m direct marketing account between incumbent EHS Brann and WWAV Rapp Collins.

  • Ex-Ford executive to be chairman of Russian-owned vanmaker LDV

    Thu, 3 Aug 2006

    Former Ford of Europe president Martin Leach has joined troubled commercial vehicle company LDV as chairman, following its acquisition by Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska.

  • First Direct promotes Chris Pilling

    Thu, 3 Aug 2006

    First Direct, the HSBC-owned direct bank, has promoted Chris Pilling, the former Asda marketing director, to chief executive from chief operating officer following the departure of Richard Kimber to Australia. Pilling joined First Direct in May.

  • First Great Western picks former Nectar marketer for interim stint

    Thu, 3 Aug 2006

    Richard Campbell, former marketing director at loyalty scheme Nectar, has joined rail operator First Great Western as interim marketing director.

  • GCap boosts CRM strategy with key Xfm appointment

    Thu, 3 Aug 2006

    Xfm, the GCap Media-owned alternative music brand, has appointed Verity Crush to head its first customer relationship management (CRM) programme.

  • Geronimo beats three to win £6m Direct Line brief

    Thu, 3 Aug 2006

    Direct Line has handed its £6m direct marketing account to Geronimo following a review of the business.

  • Hasbro bolsters brand with new toy and 'Pony' revamp

    Thu, 3 Aug 2006

    Toy manufacturer Hasbro is planning a significant revamp of its iconic My Little Pony brand and launching a major new brand, TJ Bearytales.

  • History lessons from 25 years watching TV

    Thu, 3 Aug 2006

    History is not an especially popular subject in marketing circles. But the 25th birthdays of MTV and BARB - both fall this week, and are not unconnected - touch on the future, as well as the past.

  • Honda appoints Bernard Bradley

    Thu, 3 Aug 2006

    Honda has appointed BMW's general manager of sales Bernard Bradley as head of sales operations for its cars division. Bradley, who has also worked for Volkswagen, Volvo and Vauxhall, will report to general manager of cars Ewan Ramsay.

  • How Tony the Tiger got caught in the rumour mill

    Thu, 3 Aug 2006

    Playground gossip and university rumours have forced cereal giant Kellogg to issue a statement denying that the teenage star of its current UK Frosties campaign is dead. In the ad, the boy leaps from his bed singing a refrain which includes the words "They're gonna taste great/I can hear the sound of Frosties hitting my ...

  • Ile-de-France seeks UK media agency to promote region

    Thu, 3 Aug 2006

    The Ile-de-France Regional Tourism Committee is seeking a media buying and planning agency to handle its &£1m account.

  • Is BBH suffering from too much of a good thing?

    Thu, 3 Aug 2006

    Bartle Bogle Hegarty's announcement last week that it is resigning its European portion of the &£50m Sony Ericsson mobile phone account has focused attention on the rapid pace of change at an agency seeking to cope with the many new accounts it won last year.

  • Italian food firm hunts shop for UK brand task

    Thu, 3 Aug 2006

    Italian food manufacturer Pastificio Rana is seeking an advertising agency to boost its brand awareness in the UK with a multi-million pound campaign.

  • ITV appoints Clare Salmon

    Thu, 3 Aug 2006

    ITV has appointed marketing and commercial strategy director Clare Salmon to be its representative on TV marketing body Thinkbox's board. She replaces managing director of ITV sales Gary Digby.

  • ITV to lose extra £70m say analysts

    Thu, 3 Aug 2006

    ITV stands to lose a further £70m of advertising revenue from its flagship ITV1 channel this year, on top of the £140m already forecast, according to analysts.

  • Karmarama wins through-the-line account for The History Channel

    Thu, 3 Aug 2006

    Karmarama has won the through-the-line account for The History Channel following a three-way pitch. The agency, which beat Isobel and Kitcatt Nohr Alexander Shaw, will also handle advertising for The Biography and Crime and Investigation Network channels.

  • Leith London rebrands as Farm after merger

    Thu, 3 Aug 2006

    The Leith London name will be dropped in favour of Farm Communications following the merger of the two agencies. The change is expected to take place when the agencies move into the same building later this year.

  • Leo Burnett creates £10m advertising campaign for Scottish Widows

    Thu, 3 Aug 2006

    Leo Burnett has created a £10m advertising campaign for Scottish Widows to run from October.

  • M&C Saatchi develops TV ad for new Kingsmill brand

    Thu, 3 Aug 2006

    M&C Saatchi has developed a TV ad called "Flying Fish" for Kingsmill's new brand Head Start with Omega 3.

  • Marketing chief joins NI prior to freesheet launch

    Thu, 3 Aug 2006

    News International Free Newspapers (NIFN) has appointed Nicole Refson as its first marketing chief. She joins the publishing group from Harrods.

  • McDonald's 'inflatable' ad cleared after park tragedy

    Thu, 3 Aug 2006

    McDonald's says it is "monitoring and reviewing" concerns over its "bouncy castle" TV ad after the recent deaths of two women on an inflatable art installation at a park in County Durham.

  • Media Planning Group appoints Alfonso Rodes

    Thu, 3 Aug 2006

    Media Planning Group, the global Havas-owned media group, has appointed Alfonso Rodes as worldwide chief executive. He was previously chief corporate development officer of MPG and chief executive of MPG Spain. His brother, Fernando Rodes, was made chief executive of Havas in March.

  • MediaCom scoops unified Pru Group's £20m media

    Thu, 3 Aug 2006

    By Catherine Turner

  • More than just a number

    Thu, 3 Aug 2006

    The Number 118 118's decision to hand its marketing duties to innovation director Mark Evans (MW last week) demonstrates the company's determination to extend the brand beyond its market-leading position in the directory enquiries sector. "We

  • Mother creates £5m advertising push for Orange

    Thu, 3 Aug 2006

    Mother has created a £5m advertising push for Orange featuring 40 of the mobile operator's customers.

  • New campaign - International Red Cross

    Thu, 3 Aug 2006

    The International Committee of the Red Cross is rolling out a global advertising campaign focusing on the ill treatment of prisoners.

  • Ofcom proposes charging main terrestrial broadcasters millions of pounds

    Thu, 3 Aug 2006

    Ofcom has proposed charging the main terrestrial broadcasters millions of pounds in new fees from 2014 to encourage more efficient use of their spectrum.

  • Office of the Independent Adjudicator (CRR) appoints Richard Baker

    Thu, 3 Aug 2006

    The Office of the Independent Adjudicator (CRR), a branch of Ofcom, has appointed Richard Baker as deputy to adjudicator Robert Ditcham. Baker was previously head of TV trading at media agency Brand Connection.

  • Pantene to challenge giants in coloured haircare market

    Thu, 3 Aug 2006

    Procter and Gamble (P&G) is taking on rivals L'Oréal and Unilever with the launch of its Pantene Pro-V brand in the colour-specific haircare market. The new shampoo and conditioner range, Pantene Pro-V Colour Expression, launches this week.

  • Peroni Nastro Azzurro signs partnership deal with international Swan 45 Class yachting fleet

    Thu, 3 Aug 2006

    SABMiller-owned brand, Peroni Nastro Azzurro, has signed a £1m partnership deal with the international Swan 45 Class yachting fleet securing itself a place as the fleet's exclusive sponsor at this week's Skandia Cowes regatta.

  • Propaganda wins £2m Car People

    Thu, 3 Aug 2006

    Propaganda, the Leeds-based integrated agency, has won the £2m advertising account for new- and used-car supermarket The Car People.

  • Reading between the lines of ABC/NRS poll

    Thu, 3 Aug 2006

    Torin Douglas (MW July 27) reports criticism of the National Readership Survey (NRS), at least partly, based on the fact that when "readership goes down and circulation is going

  • Reebok signs Scarlett Johansson

    Thu, 3 Aug 2006

    Reebok has signed up actress Scarlett Johansson to front its ad campaigns in a multi-million pound deal. She will also design a retro range to be called Scarlett 'Hearts' Rbk.

  • Rivals attack British Gas Fix and Fall claims

    Thu, 3 Aug 2006

    British Gas' latest price-freeze product, Fix and Fall, has come under fire from rival energy company npower.

  • Searching for answers

    Thu, 3 Aug 2006

    Marketers spent £1.3bn on online advertising in the UK during 2005, and paid-for search accounted for 56.2% of that spend, for a total of £768.3m, according to the latest figures from the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PriceWaterhouseCo

  • Sky Bet marketing chief in sudden exit

    Thu, 3 Aug 2006

    Sky Bet marketing director Simon Miller is to leave the BSkyB-owned betting and gaming business after two years at the helm.

  • Tango'd by a lack of cash?

    Thu, 3 Aug 2006

    Tango, one of Britvic's best-known brands, is in trouble. Somerfield, the fifth-biggest supermarket in the UK, has revealed that its stores will no longer stock Tango products apart from Tango Clear, and will also delist Britvic's 7UP complete

  • The balls to be...not that different

    Thu, 3 Aug 2006

    Men are beginning to be something of a problem for marketers - on the one hand, they are being told that men have become 21st Century "metrosexuals" who are no longer afraid to let their feminine side hang out, while on the other, they are bei

  • The Carbon Trust moots kite mark to aid efficiency

    Thu, 3 Aug 2006

    The Carbon Trust is considering rolling out a "kite mark" of carbon efficiency that could be used by both companies and products. The mark would aim to give environmentally minded consumers confidence when using products and services.

  • The Force fizzles out at Hasbro

    Thu, 3 Aug 2006

    Hasbro, the global toy company, announced last week that poor sales of Star Wars products had held back revenues, largely due to the fact that the past 12 months was a "non-movie year". In the second quarter of 2006, the company shipped just $61.8m (&£33.4m) of Star Wars products, compared with $146.6m ($78.9) a year ...

  • Time waits for no torch bearer in Lord Coe's Olympic frenzy

    Thu, 3 Aug 2006

    It was the opinion of the late John Junor, beneath whose cold, watery eye pretension shrivelled and peeled aside, that Sebastian Coe was a "creepy sort of fellow". Creepiness, in fact, is a surprisingly rare quality in public life. John Birt h

  • Top ten broadband companies up spend

    Thu, 3 Aug 2006

    Thomson Intermedia says the top ten broadband companies bought £4.

  • Travis Perkins appoints Linda Doughty

    Thu, 3 Aug 2006

    Travis Perkins, the builders' merchants group, has appointed Linda Doughty as marketing director, overseeing all merchants brands. She was previously marketing director at Ultraframe, and worked at ICI for more than 20 years.

  • Wal-Mart pulls out of Germany

    Thu, 3 Aug 2006

    Wal-Mart, the US group that owns Asda, has pulled out of Germany, where it is selling 85 hypermarkets to local chain Metro. Wal-Mart recently withdrew from South Korea but is reportedly close to making its first acquisition in Australia.

  • Warner Bros plans fashion makeover for Tweety Pie

    Thu, 3 Aug 2006

    Warner Bros Consumer Products is relaunching Looney Tune's Tweety Pie with the aim of repositioning the character as a fashion icon.

  • We're just green with envy over Irish Farrell

    Thu, 3 Aug 2006

    Colin Farrell was born in Casteknock, Dublin, so what makes him a "British" actor? The fact that he is a successful Hollywood actor or the fact that he drink mojitos rather than stout?

  • Why search marketing is such a big deal

    Thu, 3 Aug 2006

    Engine Group, the umbrella group for agencies such as WCRS and digital shop Meme, has spread its wings further by buying a majority stake in search engine marketing firm Eyefall (MW last week).

  • Wickedweb appointed by Ryvita

    Thu, 3 Aug 2006

    Wickedweb has been appointed to create an international website for Ryvita.

Job of the Week

Latest Jobs

Top Jobs

social+media Facebook Twitter LinkedIn
knowledge+bank