Troubled cruise company Cunard is ditching famous cruise line brand names, such as QE II, Royal Viking and Crown, and rebranding its eight ships with the Cunard name. The company, which is still recovering from the bad publicity it received over the QE II refit at the end of last year, is in the first […]
Mastercard’s attempts to secure top-up financing from UK banks for a 4m to 5m pre-Christmas advertising push are understood to have collapsed. The new campaign through Publicis is believed to have been approved and scripts agreed for a new ad burst in the autumn. Mastercard’s first round of generic ads – worth 3.5m – began […]
Ogilvy & Mather is looking externally for a global media director and a European media chief executive to run its rejigged media operations.
The sale of the Thomson Corporation’s Scottish newspapers is expected to be finalised within the next two weeks. At the same time, Trinity International has decided to close Thomson Media Sales. Dundee-based publisher DC Thomson is the front-runner to buy the Aberdeen Press & Journal, while the owners of The European, the secretive Barclay brothers, […]
Today (Wednesday) is important not only in the Ecumenical calendar, but is also a key date that all involved in advertising should note carefully. For today is St Luke’s day. The Patron Saint of the finer things in life – iconography and artisans – is also the saint who saved Chiat/Day by selflessly lending his […]
Last month, I wrote that the jury was out on Pearson, the media conglomerate that owns the Financial Times, among much else. City apprehension was largely attached to what life for Pearson was likely to deliver in the wake of the sale of its stake in BSkyB – and the shares hung loose as we […]
With a unique heritage and vast consumer base, India offers enormous potential. But in their rush to the Far East, many marketers have overlooked the country.
Interview with Birds Eye Wall’s marketing director Michael Hebel
The Sunday Telegraph’s new review section has proved that a newspaper’s editorial innovation and advertising support are not as effective circulation builders as price cutting. The newspaper’s September circulation was 672,172, a fall of 1.7 per cent on August, traditionally the weakest month for sales. The title was also down 1.2 per cent on September […]
Following our revelation last week that Leo Burnett staff had spied a green Rolls-Royce regularly parked outside a bordello opposite the agency building, the Diary has received an important missive. Young & Rubicam corporate affairs director Bernard Barnett has admitted to driving a green Rolls-Royce. This is not a crime in itself. But Barnett wishes […]
The rewards are great for inventive companies that are willing to integrate their marketing functions. Sophie McKenzie looks at Trebor, which has invested in adventure-linked campaigns for its confectionery brands
When are you going to put a stop to your letters page being usurped by salesmen masquerading as marketing directors, claiming to have been misrepresented, simply so they can get a 19p plug for their company, product or service? As a marketing consultant in brand development (I’m in the London phone book), this sort of […]
After 470 days of legal drama, the OJ trial has ended, but what about the board game and the OJ industry?
The concept of giving free gifts as an incentive for buying perfume was first introduced over 40 years ago, although it was not until the Eighties that it was widely adopted by the fragrance houses. But, as Imogen Matthews reports, both consum
One of the requests advertisers and agencies made of comercial radio last week at the Radio Advertising Bureau conference was for more post-campaign reporting of the medium. The Association of Independent Radio Companies assured delegates that a Industry Accountability Group was being set up. However the need for accountability in radio takes two forms. As […]