Safe sex awareness group Lust 4 Life is launching an advertising campaign targeting men who use prostitutes. The anti-HIV organisation is placing hundreds of cards in London phone boxes advertising fictional female and male prostitutes. The campaign will begin on World Aids Day, December 1. When the phone number is dialled, the men think that […]
The threat of delisting forced Spillers to relaunch its Felix catfood brand. Agency BMP DDB created the black and white cat Felix, using fine targeting techniques to recover market share. Paul Cousins of Jacob’s reviews the relaunch strategy
Shell is reviewing its entire above-the-line advertising business across Europe, including the UK, and has shortlisted three agencies for the $90m (57m) account. The three agencies are J Walter Thompson, Ogilvy & Mather and Publicis, which all work on Shell business in various parts of the world. Shell spends 7m (Register-MEAL) in the UK through […]
The Independent and Independent on Sunday are likely to rack up annual losses of up to 16m by the year-end because of falling sales and ad revenue, despite the group’s continuing cost-cutting drive. The financial projections, based on recently filed Newspaper Publishing accounts for last year, form part of an internal management document from a […]
Consort Hotels, the UK’s largest hotel consortium, is seeking an agency to rebrand its individual hotels under the Consort name in a campaign worth up to 2m. The operation has 180 properties, ranging from country houses to historic inns and city centre hotels. The York-based group prides itself on its individuality, and claims to offer […]
CDP has secured its hold on the Scottish Courage roster by retaining the 4m McEwan’s Lager account after pitching against Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe and Young & Rubicam. In the long-running review, which was first announced in August (MW August 16), Scottish Courage put all the work submitted by the agencies into research. A Scottish […]
Phil Georgiadis is talking out of his bottom with his article challenging the media effectiveness of Mercury’s “Oliver & Claire” campaign, particularly when he writes “instinct should be replaced by analysis”. If he knew anything about me he would realise it’s not in my nature to share the blame for things that go wrong. But […]
Shell’s planned internal communications drive is part of a growing trend among large companies, with the likes of BA, Sainsbury’s and Asda all jumping on the bandwagon to improve their reputations.
Despite recent defections from the CD-Rom magazine market, the number of titles is still increasing rapidly. Attention to detail, setting the right price, and using the Net to its own advantage are the key problems currently facing the industr
Are the recent crackdowns on violence in the media a response to the public’s concerns or a threat to free speech in this country? Nick Higham is the BBC’s media correspondent
The UK’s poverty gap has now hit Third World proportions, driving a wedge between rich and poor. This inequality is neutering mass markets and limiting consumer growth. The challenge for marketers is to bring the poor back into the mainstream.
The Labour Party is to draw up new policy guidelines on brand lookalikes, following persistent lobbying by brand manufacturers. Nigel Griffiths, Labour’s spokesman on advertising and consumer affairs, says he will be canvassing opinions on lookalikes from all sections of the trade, including retailers. This follows complaints from British manufacturers that they are losing out […]
Toy maker Hasbro has appointed Caroline Whitfield as its new European business head, with responsibility for marketing some of the biggest toy brands in the world. The Hasbro portfolio includes Sindy, My Little Pony and Action Man, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. Whitfield joins from Bird’s Eye, where she is international brands […]
Derwent Valley Foods, maker of Phileas Fogg snacks, is to lose managing director Paul Revell, who leaves next week following differences of opinion with the management of his parent company United Biscuits. Revell’s replacement will be Neil Mernock, marketing controller nuts at KP. Revell will work for a limited period on special projects with Ian […]
Interfocus has beaten Sopexa, Publicis and Tequila to the Loire Valley wine account, worth up to 1m. The win follows a series of moves connected to the account resulting from Lowe Howard-Spink’s purchase of through-the-line agency Interfocus and its subsequent merger with the Brompton Agency. Sopexa is a marketing consultancy for the French food and […]