Omnicom has bought the sales promotion company Claydon Heeley in a deal worth an estimated 10m. The deal, struck by Omnicom’s Diversified Agency Services division, brings to an end 12 months in which the sales promotion agency has been linked to several suitors, including M&C Saatchi and Publicis. Its client list includes Ford, British Airways, […]
Spare a thought for the team developing corporate identity for a privatised rail operator. You are attempting to rebrand a service which was largely inherited and where any investment in that service is likely to take months or years to feed through. You are shackled to a company – Railtrack – which is generally perceived […]
You won’t want to hear more about a Budget that is now more than a week old and is consequently, in stock market as well as political terms, well past its sell-by date. But now that the dust has settled and the nation’s three-year-olds can sleep happily in the knowledge that the Chancellor won’t be […]
The oldest sports marketing consultancy in the UK, CSS, is up for sale for 7m,and the most likely buyer is US sports marketing agency ProServ. The two companies have been in discussions for a month and have been haggling over price. The UK sports marketing industry which, according to sports tracking group RSL, was worth […]
The response from Domino Creative Services and Lloyd Northover Citigate to your News Analysis “Railtrack PR push misses the points” (MW March 12, 19), highlights again the fundamental problem with marketing the fragmented railway network. Your correspondents point out that passengers are mystified as to who does what on the privatised railway, and sceptical about […]
The launch of the Ford Focus is being disrupted by a copyright battle which could force the company to change the car’s name in Germany, or even drop it altogether. The weekly German current affairs magazine Focus, which has a circulation of more than 700,000, is threatening the motor company with legal proceedings, claiming that […]
TV broadcasters are to unveil an umbrella brand for digital terrestrial television (DTT), using a logo and the collective name “The Digital Network”. The use of a single name and logo in advertising and communications to support the launch of DTT, planned for November, has been agreed by a group of broadcasters. These are the […]
Cinema sales house Carlton Screen Advertising has created the new post of commercial director to spearhead its fight to win back market share from rival Pearl & Dean. It has appointed regional sales manager Geraint Davies to the position. Davies’ role will be to stem the flow of accounts to Pearl & Dean and win […]
So the ball is back in Chris Smith’s court – if not yet over the line. The emotional issue of sport’s “Crown Jewels”, the listed sports events, is a googly of Shane Warne-like proportions for the Culture, Media & Sport Secretary. Mr Smith – to mix the sporting metaphors – had kicked the ball elegantly […]
Not long ago, one of our directors came storming into my office in a rage.
Rail company West Anglia Great Northern (WAGN) is poised to appoint an advertising agency to handle its 1.5m account. Three agencies, Mustoe Merriman Herring Levy, Carlson, and HDM Linx, are understood to have pitched for the business. A spokeswoman for the company says WAGN wishes to forge a long-term relationship with a single agency. WAGN […]
Like Angela Eagle, the MP who came out last year, the news that The Independent is mooting a gay section has merited barely a whisper, which is progress indeed. It’s also no surprise: for years The Independent has integrated gay-themed material into its news, arts and features pages. Should it go ahead, the unexplored potential […]
British Gas is in trouble for inundating its 19 million customers with junk mail quite unrelated to gas. The Data Protection Registrar says the company is behaving in a manner which is unlawful and unfair and should desist forthwith. For its part, British Gas says it should be treated just like any other business and […]
The Media Shop has added an extra 8.4m of business from Henkel, the DIY to cosmetics multinational, after taking two media buying accounts from CIA Media Solutions. The Media Shop has won the 5.4m DIY account which includes the No More Nails adhesive and Solvite wallpaper paste products. It has also won the 3m stationery […]
Boots the Chemist is launching health and travel insurance policies in a tie-up with Royal & Sun Alliance. The scheme, which launches in mid-April, will offer instant insurance cover. Customers fill in a policy form, pay for it at the till and receive instant cover. The launch will be supported by an 8m marketing spend, […]