Month: February 1995

The Red Bull Company has shortlisted five agencies to handle the ú5m launch of its high-energy soft drink next month.

Soap-to-food giant Unilever revealed that the Power manganese “accelerator” crisis of the past year will cost the company ú57m worldwide to write off the original Power formulation and stocks of its ingredient. Unilever had spent ú200m developing the Power range. Unilever chairman Sir Michael Perry says: “The lessons of the Power fiasco have been learned […]

Following the opening of the Dr Martens department store in London’s Covent Garden last November, the footwear brand has been extended, with the launch of an album of `indie’ music entitled Unlaced. The album features 20 tracks by major British and US artist including Suede, New Order, Pulp, Blur, Radiohead, James and The Levellers, and […]

Procter & Gamble is understood to be among the firms vying for the German haircare company Schwarzkopf. P&G, along with Henkel and Japanese cosmetics firm Shiseido, is said to be in discussions with German chemical group Hoechst, owner of Schw

If you dress up in an inflatable rubber suit and engage in a pub fight, you may cause yourself harm. But, according to the increasingly sympathetic law, it is not your fault.

The Royal Mail has put its ú11m account up for review – for the first time in eight years. The account is held by Bates Dorland and D’Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles, with the bulk of the spend going through the press, though the Royal Mail also u

Nestl is to phase out the position of marketing director for its food division in a slimmer structure which will devolve power to three general managers. The company is restructuring its food business, abandoning canning and dropping many of its brands from the Crosse & Blackwell range, including tomato ketchup, salad cream, baked beans, pastas […]

The Audit Bureau of Circulations wants all magazine and news-paper audits to be conducted by its staff from June 1996 to create a level playing field for all publishers and allow the quicker release of ABC data. At the moment private auditors conduct audits of newspaper and magazine sales figures, which are then released to […]

The anti-smoking lobby, Action on Smoking & Health (ASH) has vowed to continue its battle against the tobacco industry, despite the latest setback in its campaign to win greater health warnings on cigarette packets.

Boots is following in the footsteps of the likes of Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Barclaycard with the launch of another customer title into the market. By Virginia Matthews

Procter & Gamble has confirmed that it plans to axe TV celebrity Danny Baker from its Daz commercials in May and replace him with another household name.

Benetton’s attention-grabbing style has taught us all a fundamental lesson – advertising must have high impact, without alienating the target market.

As takeovers sweep the UK, brand portfolios are being reshuffled as never before. To succeed in today’s corporate jungle, brand management has to be more than asset manipulation – it has to be an activity that involves the entire firm.

France Telecom is talking to agencies about its Bi-Bop mobile phone account. The company recently appointed Publicis Etoiles to handle its Call Home advertising aimed at visitors to France. Publicis pitched against MGTB Tennessee, BDDP and TBWA. Italian TV advertisers have agreed new ad controls with Publitalia, the sales house of Silvio Berlusconi’s Fininvest corporation, […]

Kingfisher executive Nick Kirkbride has joined the Virgin Cola Company as its new managing director. The Virgin Cola Company is a joint venture between Virgin and the European subsidiary of the Cott Corporation. It oversees Virgin’s soft drinks business, including its own-brand cola and forthcoming energy drink, understood to be called Pure Virgin Energy. Kirkbride […]