Who is going to win the digital TV war in the UK? I believe there is the opportunity for all three digital TV platforms to succeed within the next five years. Why? Because the three platforms and their respective brands each have unique values, providing a competitive advantage in the race to sign up customers. […]
The Diary was hobnobbing with the art world at a recent Slade undergraduate exhibition at J Walter Thomson’s offices in Berkeley Square. The canapés were great, but there was a distinct lack of talent – particularly following the departure of the agency’s luscious marketing director Mark Robinson, who left to celebrate his 22nd wedding anniversary. […]
The apparently inexorable rise of own label within Britain’s multiple grocers seemed to level off in 1997, with the latest ACNielsen State of the Nation survey showing that penetration within the major multiples held steady at 55.3 per cent of unit sales for the year to the end of December 1997. Most observers agree, however, […]
Paris, Vienna, Palma de Mallorca or Malta – which would you choose? Faced with such options, Malta probably isn’t top of the list for most event organisers planning a European conference, combined with incentive travel. The cultural draw of Vienna, Mallorca’s relentless sun and tapas, or the romance of Paris seem far more enticing. The […]
Walkers crisps, Sainsbury’s supermarket and Carlsberg lager are the latest big brands to sign up to the Football Association’s sponsorship package Football Associates, the biggest sports sponsorship deal in the UK. Football Associates, a package worth 60m over four years, has already attracted Coca-Cola, Umbro and One-2-One, and has room for four more companies in […]
Asda is to launch an aggressive pricing offer on magazines involving “two for the price of three”. The initiative starts at the end of the month and will cover 20 magazines that will change continually. Asda spokesman Phil Reed refuses to reveal any titles, but says all the major magazine publishers are supporting the scheme. […]
Satellite channel Gay TV is considering legal action after one of its TV ads showing two men French kissing was rejected by Channel 5 and the Broadcasting Advertising Compliance Centre. The ad, which it tried to place after 11pm on Friday June 5, also showed one man licking another man’s face. Chris Ratcliff, Gay TV […]
An exhibition stand is not just an area in which to entertain as many unwitting visitors as possible, in the hope that you might happen across some useful contacts in the process. A stand is a marketing tool, often costing as much as 250,000, and should combine the ability to put across the company message […]
It seems Frank Lowe, president of the Stella Artois Tennis Tournament, is as much a football fan as he is a tennis enthusiast. The Diary was delighted to receive a kind invitation from the great man to attend a day at the tennis championship at Queens. However, the Diary was disappointed not to be able […]
Directories tend to be things we turn to at particular moments, to fulfil defined needs – an emergency plumber or electrician, a new advertising agency, the right people to mailshot with the agency brochure and showreel. We don’t tend to think about them much, unless we need that name or that number; and when we […]
Cosmetics group Avon is launching a Website this week, allowing customers to buy online using their credit cards. The company, famed for its “Ding Dong Avon calling!” ads, is the third largest cosmetics retailer in the UK after Boots and The Body Shop, with a market share of 10.6 per cent by value. Initially the […]
A Channel 4 programme featuring a family eating a woman’s placenta to celebrate a baby’s birth provoked 21 complaints – but none were upheld by the Independent Television Commission. The regulator concluded that the episode of TV Dinners, broadcast at 8.30pm last February, did not breach the Programme Code on taste and decency, because the […]
Cellnet marketing director Simon Esberger is moving to a new strategic role within the company after only nine months. He becomes commercial development director, with a brief to build brand partnerships, and will be replaced by Canadian Kent Thexton. Thexton was formerly executive vice president and chief operating officer of Canadian telecoms company Rogers Cantel […]
Tim Davie, one of the most senior figures behind Pepsi’s Project Blue, has been promoted to the top marketing job in Europe. Davie replaces Arnold Veraart as vice-president marketing for the business unit Europe and sub-Saharan Africa (ESSA), which includes the UK. He is currently marketing director of colas for ESSA and will take up […]
Picture the great corporate hospitality scene this summer. Pick a venue. Any venue. Now listen for the great cheer that goes up and watch everyone heading home when the day’s play is over. Inside one of the hospitality tents a group of well-fed executives prepare to pack up and stagger wearily home. “Did England win?” […]