Somerfield is using up over a quarter of the proceeds from its charity scratchcards in administration costs – more than five times the level taken by Camelot for its National Lottery Instants. The supermarket chain launched the scratchcards in 450 stores last week, and claims it makes no profit from them. For each 1 scratchcard […]
While applauding Bernie Holloway of Esso’s promotion to marketing director, I wonder if he had been inadvertently inhaling too much petrol when he spoke to you (MW March 28). In the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary and the defection of ex-Tiger token customers to his rivals, he buries his head in the sand […]
The outdoor industry is attempting to woo spirits advertisers away from pre-Christmas TV ad blitzes by offering lower rates and incentives. The move follows last week’s revelations that sales of Teacher’s Scotch Whisky fell by over a quarter in the second half of last year (see story above). Brown spirits in particular shifted spend from […]
Sales of home computers have slowed dramatically, according to data group GfK Marketing Services. In the year to January 1996, sales of home computers bought in high street outlets such as Dixons and Comet grew by 110 per cent over the previous year. In the year to January 1997, sales were only 20 per cent […]
Intel is unable to keep up with the demand for its latest processor, the heavily advertised MMX chip. The shortfall in supplies is depressing sales of many higher specification machines while at the same time creating deep discounts on sales of lower range machines. Larry Smith, UK manager of the IBM consumer division, says: “There […]
Abbott Mead Vickers.BBDO has won the English Heritage account following a three-way pitch against McCann-Erickson and Banks Hoggins O’Shea. AMV.BBDO is the first agency to be appointed by English Heritage since the conservation agency split with Harari Page last year (MW September 27 1996). English Heritage appointed Harari Page as an interim agency after ending […]
Littlewoods Lotteries has called a review of its 4m scratchcard account held by DMB&B. The company says the move is part of a wider business review aimed at integrating the Lukcy brand, which it bought from UK Charity Lotteries at the end of last year. Littlewoods is running the Lukcy brand alongside its own Scratchies. […]
Duracell has created a supreme marketing role for Europe, centralising all its marketing for the region at the company’s European head office in Crawley. Daniel Janssens, formerly based in Germany as Duracell’s regional director for Central Europe, will become vice-president customer marketing for Europe. He will lead a marketing department divided into four sections. Consumer […]
CIA Medianetwork has won the 15m Revlon Consumer Products account across Europe. In the UK the account is worth 7.5m and has been handled by Media Business Group since 1994, when the company dropped Young & Rubicam. The win ends four weeks of losses at CIA Medianetwork. The company lost 3m Clerical Medical account to […]
On the surface, Cellnet’s 57m deal to buy into Dixons chain The Link looks beneficial to both. But with no extra branding or exclusivity, will the deal be enough to solve mobile phone operators problems?
US outdoor-wear giant Eddie Bauer is looking for an ad agency to spearhead its UK launch later this year. It is understood that two agencies will pitch for the business next month. Three flagship stores are scheduled to open and the company plans to expand to about 50, to take on the likes of the […]
There was some unintended irony in Graham Hinton’s inaugural speech as president of the IPA last week. While he dwelt at length (and rightly so) on the need for advertising agencies to ‘get back up the value chain’, his own, Bates, was slithering further down it. This was not the fault of Hinton, who is […]
The exodus from the Mirror Group gathered pace after sales manager for the group Andy Whelan quit to join United Newspapers. Whelan joins the Star as advertising manager, reporting to group advertising director Andy Jonesco and his deputy Julie France. This completes a trio of appointments of advertising managers at United Newspapers. Last month, Virgin […]
Durables The past two years have been extraordinary ones for Audi in the UK, with record-breaking levels of sales, market share and profit.
Advertisers are trying to use direct response television to combine the generation of an immediate response with the soft-sell building of a brand. David Reed reports on how well they are succeeding.