Imagine you are marketing a brand where you know customers will stay with you for life and only rarely defect to competitors. This is not a marketing utopia but the situation that many of the country’s top football clubs find themselves in. The affinity of fans to the brand image means clubs are earning revenue […]
Redstone Telecom is looking for an advertising agency and may relaunch with a new name later this year following the appointment of a new marketing director. Marketing chief Bob Cushing joins Redstone from networking company 3Com Corporation, where he was director of worldwide strategic alliances and, before that, European marketing director. Cushing says he is […]
John Shannon’s article last week about the need for brands to take a positive attitude towards the millennium misses one crucial point. The millennium bug is a major brand issue. Any brand that fails any of its audiences as a result of the millennium bug will have to do an awful lot more than “create […]
Electronics giant Sony is understood to be reviewing its 50m European advertising account held by DDB Needham (BMP DDB in the UK). Sony could not be reached for comment but the review is expected to begin this summer. It follows restructuring within the company as it looks for cost savings to compensate for the recession […]
A friend of mine is an airline pilot, and he maintains that the biggest problem he has in a real emergency is reminding himself he’s not in a flight simulator. During any flying situation he can keep amazingly calm because he’s been through it many times before, in a training environment. Simulation technology has also […]
The rush by brands to launch their own free Internet access services received another boost last week, as rivals World CallNet and the BT/Excite alliance extended their schemes to support these services. The rise of the free virtual Internet service provider (VISP) may well provide the next easy route for brands to establish a heavyweight […]
While Alan Mitchell’s excellent article “Marketers must grasp the Net or face oblivion” (MW February 18) makes its point well, it fails to go far enough in its assessment of the challenges facing marketers. Principally, references to the Net are misleading. The revolution that we find ourselves in is about how technology is overturning all […]
Loyalty scheme specialist Dynamo Marketing is the main backer of a new Internet loyalty scheme, ipoints (www.ipoints.co.uk), which launches this week. The initiative, which allows online shoppers to accumulate and redeem points, has signed up Kingfisher-backed Entertainment Express, online insurance broker Screentrade, Amazon.co.uk and Beyond.com as initial participants in the scheme. According to Aaron O’Sullivan, […]
Eurostar is to examine its advertising arrangements as part of a broader restructure. The move could result in the cross-channel train operator consolidating an estimated 15m of media and creative work across its three markets – the UK, France and Belgium. At present, St Luke’s handles Eurostar’s 10m advertising account in the UK and Young […]
The economy may be slowing down – depending on which economist you talk to – but the British public’s continuing need to put on a happy face means health and beauty products continue to be one of the most dynamic sectors in the packaged goods market. Toiletry sales rose more than seven per cent by […]
Bacardi-Martini’s UK marketing director Stella David has been promoted to managing director. The appointment comes as Simon Gould, the current managing director of the UK, is being promoted to regional president of Bacardi-Martini across Asia Pacific. David has been marketing director overseeing brands such as Bacardi rum, Bacardi Breezers, Martini, Metz, V2 and Bombay Sapphire […]
BMP OMD has won the 5m UK media strategy and buying account for channel tunnel operator Eurotunnel. The business was awarded to BMP after a three-way pitch. Eurotunnel refuses to name the other agencies involved, saying only that they were “leading London agencies”. Eurotunnel’s media was previously handled by TMD Carat, whose contract expired recently. […]
PowerGen is scrapping the East Midlands Electricity brand following its purchase of the company last year. The company has decided that East Midlands Electricity (EME) had limited potential as a brand name, and its business will be rebranded as PowerGen from late summer. Saatchi & Saatchi, which already handles corporate advertising for PowerGen, has won […]
Last week’s Budget rise of 17.5p on a pack of 20 cigarettes is a modest victory by the anti-smoking lobby, in a long and dismal war against the tobacco barons. Despite widespread knowledge that cigarettes can impair your longevity and even your sex life, more cigarettes than ever are sold worldwide. In Britain, the number […]
Online book seller Amazon.co.uk has poached a senior marketer from the Automobile Association (AA) as its first UK-based marketing director. Chris Ketley left the AA where he was a general manager for membership marketing, and started at Amazon.co.uk last week. He joined the AA fours years ago and his responsibilities included advertising, product development and […]