Cause-related marketing has become an important part of the marketing mix, but not all causes elicit the desired responses from different sectors of the population. Mintel interviewed 1,500 people to find out their attitudes to different charities and cause-related marketing activities. The type of charities held to be most appealing or worthwhile to those surveyed […]
Travel remains a major tool for companies looking to motivate staff, but there are still many companies who seem unable to get the best results from these trips. Incentive trips are logistically difficult to organise, but also contain the seeds for much dissatisfaction among staff – the very people one is trying to please. So, […]
Exhibitions are all too often one of those items that appear on the marketing budget year in year out without question. You’ve always done them, your competitors do them, so they must be a good thing. But, in these days of marketing accountability, that’s no longer an adequate rationale. Participation at exhibitions has to be […]
Reading David Reed’s article on call centres (MW February 12) reinforced in my mind the certainty that only the most serious training will produce a successful call centre. The need to offer training and career progression is essential if your telemarketing personnel are to remain committed and well motivated. Anticipating the response and the feedback […]
Ben Sherman, the fashion retailer, is launching a controversial ad campaign with a World Cup theme and is planning to sponsor a TV football programme. Ben Sherman, which spends 2m on advertising a year, is launching a print and poster campaign in April or May, through Grey Advertising. The ads will run on 48-sheet sites […]
Three of the UK’s biggest computer games retailers have run national press ads hitting back at Tesco’s “misleading” claims that it was selling cheap Sony PlayStation games consoles. Dixons, Comet and Toys R Us have run separate full-page ads in national titles including The Sun, the Mirror and the Express on Friday and Saturday, pointing […]
In a few months time, the Thomson Travel Group is expected to make a momentous move. It will, conditions permitting, float itself on the UK stock exchange. So what? you say; companies do it all the time. But Thomson is no ordinary company. Its size and importance within the travel sector give it a commanding […]
Somerfield marketing director David Coles will become marketing head of a 1400-strong high street food store chain if the proposed 1.2bn merger of Kwik Save and Somerfield goes ahead. Coles was marketing director at Safeway before joining Somerfield four years ago. He began his marketing career at United Biscuits as a marketing controller then stepped […]
If you are Coca Cola, Nike, Walkers, McDonald’s, Cadbury’s and cable channel Nickelodeon the future looks good. Children aged 5 to 17 love you. But if you are one of their closest, or even more distant, rivals the views of these key consumers makes less happy reading. According to fresh research from SMRC Childwise (MW […]
A marketing or exhibitions manager discussing the cost of a stand booking with a show organiser could find themself facing a few hidden dangers, as only 20 per cent of the costs are visible. Among many experienced managers, exhibition costs have a legendary infamy – like TV advertising production there always seem to be many […]
The Diary was leafing through Mintel’s report on the football business and was suddenly struck by the line: “The market for football is characterised by intense loyalty to a team with most spectators being supporters who want their team to win”. The Diary is looking forward to Mintel’s searing report on water, where it reveals […]
It is now commonly said in media circles that, very soon, posters will be the only broadcast medium. With the development of digital transmissions, it seems certain that other traditionally-broadcast media will see their audiences fragment, leaving outdoor as the only medium which is unavoidable and unmissable – especially for the young and upmarket. But […]
We hear a lot of talk about how Website owners can deliver targeted, good value, accountable advertising through the Internet. But does reality match the hype? In practice, a number of stumbling blocks continue to raise con cerns among those, myself included, responsible for handling online media buying. The reluctance of site owners to be […]
When the last Mini Metro rolled off the Longbridge production line, the knocking sound you heard was not the piston rods, but a hammer driving yet another nail into the coffin of Middle England. You could spot a Metro driver a mile away. Not that he ever was a mile away: he was always right […]
Once, conferences were low on a hotel’s priority list, with badly-lit rooms and a flipchart plus indelible marker described as “comprehensive facilities”. Today many offer a proficient one-stop-shop to conference organisers. Aware that clients expect increasingly professional service for meetings and conferences, hotels have installed sophisticated technology and staff are trained to provide a dedicated […]