When you are working on a 758m project, the Millennium Dome for example, the last thing you want to do is to tempt fate. Sadly, the organisers of what must be one of the world’s biggest marquees had to learn this the hard way. A construction project on the scale of the Dome is likely […]
The death knell has sounded so many times for tobacco sponsorship that the rest of the marketing community appears to have become deaf to its toll. But a concerted attack on sponsorship freedom by several EU member states now threatens millions of pounds-worth of alcohol sponsorship and valuable sponsorship of education programmes. “After tobacco, there’s […]
This week the Institute of Education hosts a one-day conference to investigate the role of business involvement in education. The event is being seen as a response to the growing question of whether business and commercial communications have a valid role within schools. The Financial Times recently reported that the UK’s Consumers’ Association believes business […]
After years of bickering and infighting, the poster industry has been working hard on co-operating for the good of the medium. But now this show of unity is about to face one of its toughest tests. There are ominous signs that outdoor advertising is coming under threat from overzealous town planners. Anecdotal evidence and Government […]
Foote Cone & Belding, the biggest advertising agency in the US, wants to get itself back to the days when it was a leading agency in the UK. Its acquisition of Banks Hoggins O’Shea last week (MW November 12) is a step in the right direction, b
The survey conducted by Marketing Week (November 12) regarding direct marketing agency reputations makes for interesting reading. It does flag a major issue which is somewhat frustrating to the more educated direct marketer. First, with 302 in-depth telephone interviews, I’m sure it’s a robust piece of research, although I did note wryly that copies of […]
Mustoe Merriman Herring Levy has won an assignment to handle Lever Brothers soap powder Radion, previously held by Ogilvy & Mather. The brand has been without a UK agency since O&M lost 15m-worth of international laundry detergent business in August this year (MW August 6). At the time, Unilever realigned the bulk of the business […]
EMAP is about to make a number of redundancies as part of a restructuring exercise. There are 17 potential redundancies to be made at EMAP Construct, which publishes Construction News, with five more possible at EMAP Media, which publishes Broadcast. Both EMAP Construct and EMAP Media are part of EMAP Business Communications division. Its chief […]
Mark Bernstein wants each and everyone of us to create our own Website, and he will even give us the tools and free Webspace to do it. The catch? He wants to own and sell all the ad space on it. Not a conventional publishing strategy, but it is a business model which has so […]
Christmas, as anyone who has done any supermarket shopping recently can tell you, is here already – or at least, the retailers would like to think so. Consumers, however, are less sure. Research just published by Mintel suggests that more and more shoppers are putting off buying their Christmas supplies until the last minute. According […]
The BSE crisis, the strong pound and over-supply are combining to create a recipe of disaster for the UK’s 14bn meat industry. An extra ingredient is the rivalry between beef, lamb, pork and poultry producers. Gwyn Howells, marketing director of the Meat & Livestock Commission, the statutory body which promotes sales of beef, lamb and […]
I was struck by two articles in Marketing Week (November 12) – “Digital’s changes to viewing habits” and “Rock’s road to ruin”. The article on viewing habits concluded that “more profound viewing habits are sure to come” and I would go further and say that not only is viewing going to change, but our relationship […]
Microsoft’s WebTV Networks is to test interactive TV with Carlton Communications and Granada, which co-own ONdigital. The six-month test, which links familiar TV programmes such as Coronation Street and London Bridge with additional information on the Internet, will be conducted in the analogue format. ONdigital plans to introduce some interactivity to its service. And is […]
Zenith Media has won the 8.8m planning and buying account for KFC after successfully exploiting an unusual chain of events. The agency – which handled the buying for Diageo’s Burger King chain – was only free to pitch for fast-food rival KFC after it pulled out of the pitch for Diageo’s centralised media. This was […]