Sainsbury’s has joined the growing list of retailers and pub chains to steer away from controversial alcopops by deciding to axe its own-label version. But it will continue to sell branded alcopops. Sainsbury’s originally launched its own-label product under the name Piranha, but changed this to Sainsbury’s Alcoholic Lemon Drink after concerns that the name […]
Vauxhall Motors is dropping TV celebrity Ruby Wax from its 11.3m Corsa advertising. The move is part of a decision to reposition the Corsa and follows the introduction of a European brand management structure at General Motors earlier this year which created a dedicated Corsa team. The Canadian comic has featured in six separate Corsa […]
Mike Jarvis, new business director of computer company Gateway 2000, has resigned from the company to start up his own media buying consultancy. Jarvis launches the new consultancy at the end of August and will be based in the offices of media agency Fairbrother White, who he will be working for on an ad hoc […]
The workings of BT are certainly bizarre. Its confusing customer initiative – PremierLine – has even flummoxed the telecommunications monolith itself. The Diary received a bulky mailing pack from BT outlining the benefits of the PremierLine service, which cuts the costs of all calls. The service would cost about 24 to join, the mailing revealed. […]
Wunderman Cato Johnson has won the 12m relationship marketing account for gas supply company Calortex. The agency, the direct marketing arm of Young & Rubicam, pitched for the business against IMP, which was Calortex’s agency of record. IMP produced a branding and sales campaign in the South-west of England and Kent and Sussex, two areas […]
Scotland’s top football clubs are by-passing football authorities in an attempt to double their income from sponsors Bell’s whisky and BSkyB. Top teams like Rangers, Celtic and Aberdeen have commissioned management consultant Deloitte Touche to produce evidence that Scottish football has been undersold. The clubs’ move is independent of the Scottish Football League (SFL) and […]
Lloyds TSB is hotly tipped to be the first sponsor of British rugby’s most prestigious competition, the Five Nations Rugby Championships. The sponsorship is understood to be worth 6m per year. The deal gives the bank title sponsorship of the competition which takes place between England, France, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. A number of companies […]
Wolff Olins creative director Doug Hamilton thought he was about to be arrested by the fashion police when a man started questioning him about his jacket on a recent flight back from New York. The man demanded to know how he had acquired his new Nike jacket. It transpired the man was head of PR […]
Neil Simpson has been a lifelong fan of Adidas, but as its new global advertising director, can he help the company regain its number one position in the 8.6bn trainers market?
Dixons Stores Group is understood to have ended its month-long boycott of News International newspapers. The two companies are believed to have signed a new contract last week. The dispute is estimated to have cost NI 2m in lost revenue. Buoyant retail sales across Dixons’ retail chains are believed to have tempted the company to […]
Sony Home Entertainment computer games subsidiary Psygnosis is hunting for an advertising agency for its 10m pan-European account. It is the first time the Liverpool-based software house, which is owned by Sony Home Entertainment, has sought an agency. Previously, TBWA Simons Palmer has handled joint Psygnosis/PlayStation TV advertising, while the company has handled press and […]
Etam, the women’s clothing retailer, has signed actress and model Patsy Kensit as the face for its latest advertising and PR campaign. The campaign developed by Steven Sharp Plc is part of an attempt to reposition the brand as more upmarket.
Media-only giants are at their most vulnerable in a landscape of big-volume operations. But it is smaller clients who will lose out.
Mike Anderson, marketing director at CIA Medianetwork, has resigned from the agency to join New PHD. The move comes just nine months after Anderson was promoted to the agency’s board, and praised by the agency’s then deputy managing director, Marco Rimini, for playing a central role in boosting billings through 1996. Anderson’s resignation last week […]
To stand out in a crowded market, car ads have been infringing established guidelines. But the ITC wants to apply the brakes. By Torin Douglas. Torin Douglas is BBC Radio’s media correspondent.