Carlton Screen Advertising (CSA) will become the first cinema contractor to sponsor the London Film Festival trailers. The trailers include rising British stars Lesley Sharp of The Full Monty and Ewen Bremner of Trainspotting, and will be shown before all of the festival’s 300 films. The trailers will also be shown across the country to […]
Whitbread Beer Company has begun reorganising its marketing department following the loss of two key managers. Tracey Darwen, marketing controller for Stella Artois, Whitbread’s best performing brand, is leaving to join media buying agency Motive Communications as head of development. This follows the recent decision by John Derkach, marketing director for Whitbread Beer, to move […]
Word has it that British motor shows have been toning down the glamour – which is a polite way of saying they’re featuring more cars and fewer half-naked women. Clearly someone forgot to tell this to some companies exhibiting at the Birmingham Motor Show last week. The Diary spent several minutes grappling with the astonishing […]
On August 2 – as an existing Sky subscriber – I asked for the advertised digital information pack. I received the pack on October 23 having made at least four calls chasing it. I rang ONdigital on October 11 and received its pack six days later. Observations? The Sky Digital material has made me think […]
The Open Agency, formerly McBains, has created a new TV advertising campaign for the Hazlewood Foods Gary Rhodes frozen ready meal range ‘Rhodes to Home’. The new campaign breaks on November 2 following the agency’s appoint ment in July. It supports the addition of nine new products to the range and features the celebrity chef […]
Allied Bakeries is relaunching its Kingsmill bread range with a new recipe, a packaging redesign and a 2.5m TV ad campaign which aims to give the brand a more modern feel. The seven-week TV campaign, created by Publicis with media planning and buying by Optimedia, breaks on November 4. It is intended to counter the […]
The TV arm of Mark McCormack’s sports agency, International Management Group (IMG), is to expand into the radio market. Trans World International (TWI) is in advanced talks with radio group Unique Broadcasting to supply sports programming to radio stations across the UK. Both companies’ lawyers are studying the deal. The name of the joint company […]
When ITV became the first media company to publish performance targets, chief executive Richard Eyre was setting himself up to fail. And fail he probably will. After a dire August and a shaky start to the autumn schedule, it seems highly likely that ITV will not meet this year’s audience share target unless the last […]
Mondex International this week launches an all-in-one loyalty “smart” card system which allows retailers to combine a loyalty points scheme, credit or debit card, electronic cash and customer details on one card. Mondex, a subsidiary of MasterCard, claims the smart card Interactive Loyalty software heralds the “next generation” of customer loyalty schemes. The system allows […]
Amazon.co.uk, the British subsidiary of leading US online bookseller Amazon.com, has signed a deal to become the “exclusive supplier of books” for Virgin Net. Under the terms of the deal, Amazon.co.uk will receive “prominent placement through specific links and advertising throughout the site”. Virgin Net claims 140,000 subscribers and a significant level of non-subscriber traffic […]
Microsoft has approached Nicholas Parsons, former question master of hit TV quiz show Sale of the Century, to launch its new Internet shopping channel. A number of proposals are being considered by the software manufacturer to promote the November 4 launch of the channel on its MSN information site, a specially-developed high traffic site. One […]
Anti-tobacco lobbyist ASH (Action on Smoking & Health) is launching a new poster campaign calling for bigger health warnings on cigarette packets.
EMAP Active, the newly-formed special interest division of EMAP, is to axe three titles, hive off four others and plough 3m into marketing six key titles. Lads’ title Sported!, which failed to attract sufficient advertising, will be axed. Photo Answers will be folded into Practical Photography, and Boat Angler folded into Sea Angler. Your Dog […]
Carlton Screen Advertising (CSA) will become the first cinema contractor to sponsor the London Film Festival trailers. The trailers include rising British stars Lesley Sharp of The Full Monty and Ewen Bremner of Trainspotting, and will be shown before all of the festival’s 300 films. The trailers will also be shown across the country to […]
First Quench, the recently merged Victoria Wine and Thresher off licence chain, has scrapped one of its gift delivery brands in what is expected to be a long-term rationalisation. Post Haste, formerly Victoria Wine’s delivery service, is to operate under the Thresher name Drinks Direct. The two services will merge from November and will run […]