I write with reference to Amanda Wilkinson’s article entitled Which? pulls offer after porn blunder (MW July 29). This piece mentions a CD that we produce for people wishing to subscribe to our Internet service Which? Online. We have had a major business issue with our site this week as we discovered that Alta Vista […]
Sunderland Football Club has raided United Distillers & Vinters’ (UDV) marketing department to poach Jim Slater as its first marketing director.
Northern Rock and the Halifax are among the companies which have suffered the worst press coverage, according to a survey from PressWatch. Northern Rock comes second from the bottom of the table with the Halifax only one position higher. Northern Rock – the subject of an Office of Fair Trading investigation over the arbitrary changing […]
Does TV advertising influence viewers? The question has been a vexed one, especially in the early Nineties, when brand advertising for packaged goods could not point to a direct uplift in sales, and often did not influence attitudes. Direct response TV (DRTV) entered this debate with its hard evidence of an effect – if the […]
Chris Townsend, the former marketing director of BSkyB’s digital services, has joined South African-based new media company Primedia. Townsend will be the commercial director for the company which has a variety of new media interests including interactive digital TV sites, databases and Websites. Townsend also takes up a place on Primedia’s UK board, as well […]
Sony UK will launch a 3m campaign on national television for its MiniDisc system next week. The ad, through BMP, is called ‘the Finger’ and is designed to demonstrate the recording and editing facilities of the MiniDisc. It was shot in New York and the opening scene features a young man putting a disc into […]
London Transport is to allow advertisers to sponsor its London Underground roundel – the famous red circle and blue bar station sign – for the first time. This is a radical departure for London Underground which previously regarded its trademark as sacrosanct. The sponsor will be able to put its name on the white background […]
EMAP Active, the magazine publishing giant’s newly formed special interest division, has appointed Andrew Gillespie as group marketing director to oversee the group’s 58 titles and 70 marketing staff. The enlarged publishing division results from a merger of four EMAP units – Apex, Nationals, Images and Pursuits. The division will house mass-market newsstand titles such […]
British Interactive Broadcasting (BIB) has been given the go-ahead to launch after spending a year convincing the European Commission (EC) that it does not represent a monopoly. BIB – a joint venture between BT, BSkyB, the Midland Bank and Matsushita Electric – plans to offer interactive home shopping and banking as part of BSkyB’s 200-channel […]
FCA! has won the 2.5m Department of Social Security account to launch a campaign encouraging unemployed lone parents into work. Pitches for the New Deal for Lone Parents programme were conducted by the Central Office of Information. FCA! beat Bates Dorland and Ogilvy One. The integrated campaign, featuring television, press and outdoor advertising and direct […]
The private equity fund affiliate of US investment bank Veronis Suhler & Associates has acquired a 36 per cent stake in Centaur Communications, owner of Marketing Week.
BT marketers could be excused for thinking zany wildman of comedy Vic Reeves had dropped his sidekick Bob Mortimer to join their ranks. But they would be sadly mistaken. The bespectacled Reeves look-a-like soon to be seen stalking BT’s corridors of power is new head of brand and corporate communications Tim Evans. The Diary wonders […]
WPP Group and Japan’s third largest agency Asatsu are forging a strategic alliance. WPP is to take a $208m (130m) stake in Asatsu – 20 per cent of its shares – and will give the Japanese agency an equivalent number of WPP shares in exchange, accounting for a four per cent stake in the company. […]
The Fashion Café’s vice president of sales and marketing, Elizabeth Harraway, has left the company after just five months in the job to join car rental company Hertz Europe as director of retail sales and marketing for leisure services.
Mobile phone manufacturer Nokia is to open a flagship retail store in London in a joint venture with Carphone Warehouse. The Regent Street store will be “a cross between the Levi’s store and Nike Town”, says Carphone Warehouse chief executive Charles Dunstone. Due to open in late September, it will be the first time a […]