Sponsorship consultant and former Duckworth Finn Grubb Waters ad man Drew Nicholson narrowly missed an unsavoury experience as a star witness this month in one of the biggest food poisoning cases of recent years. Nicholson was a guest at a summer wedding in Kent two years ago where the caterer served warm seafood mayonnaise, which […]
Anti-tobacco lobbyist ASH has accused three major tobacco manufacturers of breaking sports sponsorship rules by using “delib-erately provocative” branding on racing cars at the British Grand Prix. ASH has complained to the Committee for Monitoring Agree-ments on Tobacco Advertising & Sponsorship (Comatas) about the branding used by Marlboro, Roth-mans and Gallaher. The committee is responsible […]
Ruth Blakemore has quit CWC only weeks before its 45m launch, after what many view as a battle for the public face of the company.
Sony Computer Entertainment is looking for its first direct marketing agency to handle its CD-based games console PlayStation. The games hardware company already has a database of 200,000 names collected from warranty agreements, but wants to use the data more actively. It has recently collected additional data from a mailing sent to existing PlayStation owners. […]
In your news story on The Portman Group’s tough, new code of practice “New code to crack down on alco-pops” (MW July 17), you state that alcopops will have to be pre-vetted before they go on sale. While we strongly urge producers to seek pre-launch advice from us if they are in any doubt as […]
The Thai economy may be experiencing problems but every cloud has a silver lining. Western companies are restructuring to take advantage of business opportunities. By David Kilburn.
John Shannon’s article “Can digital lure top advertisers?” (MW July 10) made some interesting points. Certainly digital TV could be good news for viewers – anyone who has been subjected to the irritating interruptions on American TV programmes will appreciate the British approach of viewer-conscious programming, But digital could also prove to be good news […]
BT is searching for a sales and marketing director after moving Mike Wagner to run its newly created consumer mobility division. The development is seen by some sources as a “sideways move” for Wagner who has held the top marketing job at BT’s personal communications division for 14 months, after replacing Michael Biden (MW April […]
Branding consultancy Wolff Olins made light work of creating a sexy new identity for mobile phone operator Orange, but now faces an unarguably tough task – reinventing the city of Hull. Neighbouring northern city York is a beautiful reminder of our nation’s Viking past, fun-loving Leeds is known as the “all-night city”, cosmopolitan Bradford has […]
Economic constraints force Zambia to enlist aid from Unicef and corporate sponsors in its fight against fatal diseases, such as polio. But there is a fine balance between genuine aid and corporate promotional exploitation. Natalie Cheary repor
Motive has scooped the estimated 10m pan-European media buying account for TDK, the Japanese audio and video tape maker, in a joint pitch with creative agency Doner Cardwell Hawkins. The win has resulted in the agencies forging a new partnership, with more joint pitches being planned. The Motive International division, which already handles Levi-Strauss, Dunhill […]
BMA expresses concern over pharmaceutical giant’s plans to push its brands direct to patients
Maher Bird Associates has picked up the 3m account for the East Midlands Electricity company. The brief is to push the energy company to business communities across the country, running up to the deregulation of electricity provision next year (see story below). Maher Bird pitched against three other agencies. The account will include a full […]
Continental agencies are increasingly concerned that their lack of success at Cannes has more to do with Anglo-centric jury bias than their creative shortcomings. John Shannon is president of Grey International
The recent bloodletting at C4 is an indication that the TV station is feeling threatened, particularly by BBC2. Sean Brierley investigates possible solutions