For the benefit of Lord Irvine, who will not have heard of her, Jodie Foster is employed as an actress in the American moving picture industry. She has enjoyed acclaim for her mimetic skill in such bioscopic confections as The Silence of the Lambs and The Accused and, in the opinion of the man on […]
An audience hungry for information about British Digital Broadcasting, the paid-for terrestrial venture from Carlton and Granada, were last week thrown a few choice morsels at the TV Barcelona conference, which is organised in association with Marketing Week. No doubt about it: the inevitability of digital terrestrial TV(DTT) is a compulsion driving BDB forward in […]
Whitbread’s new product plans have been dealt a blow following a decision by some supermarkets to axe two of its most innovative brands, Boston Beer and the alcopops range Shott’s. Whitbread, which produces Boston Beer under licence from the Massachusetts brewery Samuel Adams, launched the brand in a 3m TV campaign last summer. Created by […]
Sometimes it takes a particular event to crystallise changes happening all around us. The TV Barcelona conference last week was one of those occasions. Symbolically, ITV and its concerns, which have traditionally formed the backbone of these conferences (hitherto held in Monte Carlo) found themselves rescheduled to the second day of the event – coincidentally […]
It’s ironic that a Budget designed to give more to lower income families should also be taking it away from the same people through an extra 20p on a packet of cigarettes. Obviously not all of those who will benefit from a series of changes such as the cut in employers’ National Insurance contributions – […]
The Independent and Independent on Sunday’s creative and media accounts, worth more than 3m, are under review following the changes in their ownership. The move follows the announcement last Wednesday that Tony O’Reilly’s Independent Newspapers of Ireland has taken control of the titles. M&C Saatchi currently handles the creative work and Zenith Media UK the […]
The Independent is now part of a global newspaper group with assets of 1.3bn and operating profits of over 120m. The group operates broadsheet titles throughout the world. Independent Newspapers plc is the largest newspaper group in Ireland, South Africa, New Zealand and Portugal. It also has other extensive newspaper and media interests around the […]
Sport First, the new Sunday broadsheet dedicated entirely to sport, sold an estimated 75,000 to 85,000 copies in its first issue, according to the company. Sales and marketing director Nick Thompson says last Sunday’s trade sales fell short of the title’s settle down target figure of 150,000 due to editorial delays. Thompson says: “I think […]
Financial services regulators are considering a consumer advertising campaign to raise awareness about the mis-sale of pensions. The campaign is one of a number of proposals being mooted by regulatory bodies the Financial Services Authority (FSA) and Personal Investment Authority as a result of a pensions review. The ads would form a part of a […]
Cider maker HP Bulmer is considering taking legal action against rival Matthew Clark for copying the branding of its Strongbow cider range. Matthew Clark this week relaunches Blackthorn cider in new packaging with what it calls a “distinctive and contemporary new look”. It will be backed by a 14m marketing budget and a 7m ad […]
The criticism in your news analysis piece “Railtrack PR push misses the points” (MW March 12) is based on a shallow understanding of Railtrack’s position. However, Lucy Killgren is right to say that advertising alone is not going to change perceptions of Railtrack or the railways themselves. Despite the implications of the article, I believe […]
National Lottery operator Camelot is preparing to drop the “Hand of Good Fortune” from its advertising and is seeking a new device to promote the online game. The hand with the pointing “finger of fate”, devised by agency Saatchi & Saatchi, was first used in the launch advertising for the Lottery in November 1994. But […]
Alain de Pouzilhac, chairman and chief executive officer of Havas Advertising, says he will be “another unemployed guy” if he fails to secure a merger with a US or UK agency partner by the end of this year. His comments underline the importance that striking such a deal has for parent company Havas and its […]
BBC Broadcast has appointed Unilever marketing manager Simon Bell as its new head of BBC2 marketing. Bell who has worked for Unilever’s personal care division Elida Fabergé for more than 11 years, will report to the new controller of TV marketing Maureen Duffy. His appointment is the latest in a series of new marketing posts […]
Just a quick note to say how fantastic I find Iain Murray’s articles. He is, without doubt, one of the outstanding features of your magazine. His latest piece on the scientist who gleefully punched a bull on the nose only to be reminded of the physical law that every action has an equal and opposite […]