BBC takes a shine to Sun ‘celebrity’

One of the principal attractions of cross-media ownership is cross-media promotion. The entire history of BSkyB in this country has been a history of non-stop praise of the channel by News International newspapers.

In turn, BSkyB has leaned heavily on Sun reporters and columnists for its nascent TV stars and has done much to promote the NI stable in one way or another.

For BSkyB and NI, this all makes plenty of sense, but one might ask why the BBC feels it ought to get involved.

For those of you who never watch the BBC’s National Lottery programme a celebrity is invited to start the machine that selects the numbers. On Saturday December 28 the so-called celebrity was Lennie Lottery, The Sun’s National Lottery correspondent who, inexplicably, was allowed to remind 15 million BBC viewers to get their Sun Lottery syndicate cards every week.

If Virginia Bottomley can call for an investigation into the prominent use of the Daily Mirror as a prop in Only Fools and Horses, perhaps there is a case for investigating

The Sun’s own walking product placement.

Recommended

Telewest awards GGT 15m brief

Marketing Week

Telewest, the UK cable operator, has appointed GGT and its below-the-line arm, GGT Direct, to handle a 15m national brand-building campaign pushing its telephone services. GGT won the account after competing head on with the Lowe Group, which last year set up its own below-the-line division, Lowe Direct, using senior staff poached from GGT. Two […]

Swallow Hotels wins top ad prize

Marketing Week

Swallow Hotels has been awarded best advertising campaign by the Hotel Marketing Association for its 60-second TV campaign through Da Costa & Company, which positioned it as a “non-stuffy” alternative to corporate hotels. The third annual Hotel Marketing Awards for excellence in hotel marketing, which covers the areas of advertising, promotional material, business travel marketing, […]

EXHIBIT SOME DECORUM

Marketing Week

Professionally designed exhibition stands put companies in a no-lose situation. Not only do well-presented stalls maximise an exhibitor’s impact, but less competent rivals help to pay for them by financing the event. Simon Rines considers some