IPG-owned Octagon has appointed Alasdair Ritchie to the new role of president, marketing for Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia for its merged sports marketing arms API and Advantage International. Last month Ritchie resigned from TBWA, where he was senior vice-president of worldwide operations as a result of the merger of GGT and TBWA Simons Palmer […]
Your feature “Style Counsel” (MW October 15) highlighted a number of issues that the fashion industry needs to face in order to maximise advertising effectiveness and enable their brands to grow. In reality the number of consumers that can afford to buy all their clothes from fashion houses are few and far between. Many designers […]
Is the head of FilmFour – Channel 4’s new cable, satellite and digital TV channel – really more powerful than the controller of BBC1 or the chief executive of ITV? He is if you believe The Power List, the Channel 4/Observer analysis of the 300 most powerful people in Britain, published this week. FilmFour’s Paul […]
Bates Dorland has created a 17m Christmas press and television campaign for Woolworths, which breaks today. The ads feature various people receiving the precise gift that they want – ranging from a Teletubby toy to a cat-shaped biscuit jar. John Stubbings, Bates Dorland chief executive, says: ‘The role of the advertising is to make Woolworths […]
Kingfisher’s B&Q is giving J Sainsbury’s Homebase a pasting. Just days after Kingfisher announced that it would open 55 more giant B&Q Warehouse stores, J Sainsbury published figures last week showing Homebase’s like-for-like sales slipping. The DIY market may be facing tough times, and this will inevitably hit B&Q as well. But observers believe it […]
EMVI, the newly-formed company which bought the Harmony brand from Unilever last week, is planning to talk to advertising agencies about a global campaign for the haircare brand. The campaign, which is scheduled to break next summer, is likely to use the famous strapline created by J Walter Thompson in the Seventies. Mike Jatania, chief […]
Draft legislation that is currently plodding through Parliament is threatening to rip the heart out of the incentive business at a time when motivation is crucial. If there is a recession looming, competitiveness will be at a premium and motivated staff will be the greatest assets a company can have. The proposed changes could also […]
Fuji, the photographic film and camera manufacturer, is talking to agencies about its 2.5m account held by TBWA GGT Simons Palmer. It is understood that a number of agencies have been briefed about the business through consultant Andrew Melsom at Agency Insight. The briefing is likely to lead to a full pitch for the account […]
This month’s Poster Watch threw up a clear winner. Of the 300 people that were interviewed by Ipsos-RSL, 50 per cent recognised Energizer’s animated battery campaign from the debranded posters they were shown, and seven out of ten were favourably impressed by it. Barclaycard came second in terms of recognition with 45 per cent, just […]
It is often said that media is a relationship business. It can be defined further as providing media services and expertise to clients. But what does that mean to clients in practice? What happens after client and agency have got past their first meeting? To find out, PHD Compass carried out detailed independent research among […]
An RSPCA national press campaign to ban hunting with dogs has come under fire from the Advertising Standards Authority. The ASA received 20 complaints about the campaign created by Abbott Mead Vickers.BBDO, including an official complaint from the Countryside Alliance. One ad was captioned “Whatever you think about foxes, you have to admire their guts” […]
In the ranks of zealotry vegetarians come low. Far above them in terms of nastiness are the anti-smokers and you have to descend through several layers of manic political correctness before you come to the nibbling herbivores. They are not, however, without their extremists. It would, for instance, be hard to find an animal rights […]
Hollywood movie star Jeff Goldblum is starring in an advertisement for the Apple iMac which breaks in the UK on November 9. Created by TBWA/Chiat Day, the ad shows Goldblum talking about consumers’ fears of being left out of the online revolution and outlining the advantages of e-mail and the Internet. The ad forms part […]
ITV2, scheduled to launch on December 7, has signed a deal with Cable & Wireless Communications which will make the channel available on analogue television. The station launches on digital on the same night.
The travel industry is the last place you would expect to find a superbrand. For a sector that has seen considerable consolidation over the past few years, the industry’s branding still looks unwieldy and fragmented. This is despite the fact that it is controlled in the UK by four main players. Thomson, the market leader, […]