Last week I flew back from the Oscars to find Rupert Murdoch making headlines on both sides of the Atlantic. In this country it was the row over Tony Blair supposedly interceding with the Italian prime minister, Romano Prodi, in Murdoch’s attempts to buy Silvio Berlusconi’s three-channel commercial television empire, Mediaset. In Los Angeles it […]
To stand on the McArthur Causeway in Miami, Florida, on a Saturday evening is to witness an extraordinary procession. Motoring slowly alongside the cars on the causeway is a long line of huge cruise ships (usually about eight, but it could be any number up to 14) making their way down the deep-water channel and […]
I read with interest Stephanie Bentley’s media analysis regarding recent concerns expressed by John Hooper, director general of ISBA, and others about the low level of media literacy among clients (MW March 26). As an advertiser who much values its long-established working relationships with its media buying agencies, CIA Medianetwork and Mediacom, I would totally […]
Now that the receiver has been called in to run Leagas Shafron Davis, the Diary believes it’s high time to reflect on that great agency’s contribution to the business. Who, for example, can forget the staunch defence of the industry made by agency chairman Ron Leagas? Last month, he appeared on BBC2’s The Money Programme, […]
Office supplies retailer Staples has switched its 6m media account from Zenith Media to Optimedia. The agency won the account in a pitch against TMD Carat, the Media Business as well as Zenith, which had held the account for two years. Staples media and advertising manager Nick Forster says: “We like to review our suppliers […]
CIA is to rehire the former managing director of its Interactive division, Rob Norman, who left in January last year to become senior vice-president of sports marketing operation Prisma Sports & Media. Sources say he will rejoin CIA in a business development role which will include new media acquisitions. “We are still in discussions but […]