Gordon Brown’s unfavourable comments on the price of UK consumer goods compared with the US have raised the hackles of the retail sector, parts of which are under intense pressure to defend over-pricing. Brown said US prices are half those in the UK and pointed to the Consumer Pricing Unit to be set up as […]
I refer to your Special Report “Loyalty bonuses” (MW February 18). It is interesting that the marketing press is one step behind the voluntary sector. One instance is the use of the acronym CRM, which most community-minded businesses have recognised for several years as representing the term cause-related marketing. Another is the assertion that customer […]
European companies are underestimating the positive aspects of the new millennium and failing to develop appropriate marketing activity to prepare their brands for the year 2000 and beyond. A study by The Brand Futures Consultancy has found the majority of consumers associate the new millennium with renewal and hope, yet many companies have become pre-occupied […]
Over the next 20 years, the Government will encourage private companies to build between 4.4 million and 5 million new homes in Britain to cope with a fundamental change in the way we live. While the UK population will remain roughly the same, the number of homes will increase rapidly, as the traditional nuclear family […]
JD Williams, the catalogue clothing retailer which targets women over size-16, is launching a new catalogue aimed at a younger market. The new range, called Simply Be, is aimed at 20- to 40-year-olds of sizes 16-30 who JD Williams says have been neglected by clothes retailers, despite making up a large part of the UK […]
I thought your recent article about companies not realising the full potential of call centre technology, “Down the line” (MW February 11), raised some interesting points . I agree the blame for bungled customer contact cannot be pinned on a lack of enabling technology. However, I find it very alarming that, of the call centres […]
Banks Hoggins O’Shea/FCB is an agency full of foot fetishists.
The sale of Havas’ outdoor media business takes on more of the complexity of a Chinese puzzle with every week that goes by. Dozens of potential bidders are considering the attraction of buying Havas Media Communications – Outdoor Advertising, which is estimated to be worth 360m. To complicate matters further, a number of its plum […]
I thought your recent article about companies not realising the full potential of call centre technology, “Down the line” (MW February 11), raised some interesting points . I agree the blame for bungled customer contact cannot be pinned on a lack of enabling technology. However, I find it very alarming that, of the call centres […]
SmithKline Beecham has handed Ogilvy & Mather its 18m Oxy skincare account in Europe and other international markets outside north America.
The Athena poster chain, which folded four years ago, is to be revived with the opening of a flagship store at the Bluewater shopping centre. A consortium of former Athena franchisees, who bought 14 outlets, the Athena trademark and the logo from receivers in 1995, are to open the 1,700 sq ft store on March […]
Acer, the computer manufacturer, is looking for an advertising agency network to handle a global branding campaign. The agency will be expected to have regional networks to handle product advertising and implement the branding campaign across regions including Europe. Acer will liaise with each regional agency network on the appointment of a media agency. European […]
British consumers made nearly 5 million purchases online in the second half of 1998, and are becoming increasingly confident in using the Web as a retail vehicle, according a new report by NOP. The latest wave of the research company’s Internet User Profile Study, conducted among 1,000 UK Internet users selected from 21,000 initial interviewees, […]
As delegates to the TV Barcelona conference settle down this week to discuss the merits of TV advertising, the words of Tony Scouller, marketing director of the world’s biggest spirits company, UDV, will be ringing in their ears. Last week, Scouller cast serious doubts on the effectiveness of advertising spirits on UK television. Four years […]
Alan Mitchell’s article (MW March 4) concluded that brand trust was a thing of the past and that advertising such as Ronseal’s “Does exactly what it says on the tin” would no longer be good enough. This is completely wrong. In fact, in a world where consumers increasingly doubt what they are told, the creation […]