Ford is winding down the car leasing scheme it launched three years ago with a 5m advertising campaign, after attracting less than 100 customers in the UK. Called Acumen, the scheme was initiated after the Government reduced the VAT payable on leased goods by 50 per cent (MW August 4, 1995). It was set up […]
As we drove out of Dulles airport one afternoon last week for Washington DC, I said to my colleague that arriving in the States no longer gave me any kind of buzz and that it must be my age. He agreed with the conclusion, but added that there were increasingly few stimuli from which to […]
The European Parliament has backed down over its proposal to outlaw unsolicited junk e-mail (spam). However, the assembly’s legal affairs committee did vote to adopt measures aimed at giving consumers the right to opt out of receiving unsolicited promotional e-mails, as part of a review of EU legislation covering e-commerce and online copyright. The move […]
In the space of two months Japanese car brand Mitsubishi has lost every key figure associated with its UK marketing operation. The rout began in March when Stephen Dixon, former managing director of the Colt Car Company (which handles Mitsubishi’s UK concession), left after allegedly being unable to settle terms for a new contract. Two […]
Nestlé chief executive Peter Brabeck took the unusual step last week of flying to London to present a review of the 1998 financial results for the world’s biggest food producer.
Scottish Radio Holdings, the radio and newspapers group, is believed to be signing a multimillion pound deal to buy Vision, the Birmingham-based poster contractor. The two are known to have been in talks, with estimates of a price ranging from 10m to 15m. The company is also thought to have been in discussions with the […]
Specialist conferences have taken off in recent years, as smaller focus groups become increasingly popular in many industries. The average gathering used to involve between 400 and 4,000 participants with, in general, networking being the prime objective; learning from the speakers and support material tended to come second on the list of priorities. However, with […]
Paul Lambert’s letter (MW April 29) about Graham Green’s appointment to head up Bates’ new integrated marketing operation, apart from being personally rude, was fundamentally wrong. As an early sales promotion protagonist (who fits Lambert’s strange list of criteria as a guru) who now works in response management and customer support at the heart of […]
This year looks like a bumper one for entertainment licensing. Lucozade has signed up Tomb Raider computer game character Lara Croft, BT is breaking its new ET campaign, and no one can have failed to notice that Star Wars and The Force will be with us once again. Entertainment licensing is no more than a […]
The Central Office of Information has appointed JWT (Manchester) to handle a campaign against tobacco and alcohol smuggling an activity which costs the Treasury 1.5bn in lost taxes a year. The 3m campaign will encourage people to inform on anyone they suspect of this type of activity. The ads will break in the summer and […]
Express Newspapers’ managing director Nicholas Rudd-Jones is leaving to head online business development for parent company United News & Media. Rudd-Jones is being replaced by Express Newspapers’ advertisement director Andy Jonesco. Rudd-Jones will now be responsible for championing and co-ordinating cross-group online oppor- tunities, reporting directly to Clive Hollick, chief executive of United News & […]
Direct Line Financial Services is expected to appoint Faulds Advertising to its 6m creative account, after a final pitch this week, in which it is the sole participant. DMB&B Financial, the only other agency left on the shortlist, has not been invited to pitch again. The pitch list for the account, which comprises Direct Line’s […]
Virgin Entertainment Group has appointed Megastores managing director Simon Wright to the post of chief operating officer as the group embarks on a major expansion drive. Wright will add responsibility for the launch of Virgin Cinemas overseas to his role managing the foreign expansion of the Megastores chain. He is taking on both roles on […]
Bungee jumping has yet to be adopted by management gurus as a way of loosening up the flow of ideas, or even to promote a company’s reputation. But all that could change if South Korea’s Hansol Telecom ever became a global brand. To steal a march on rivals, the company’s management, including the 63-year-old chief […]
What do Unijet Travel, The Virgin Cosmetics Company, Guinness and Crayola have in common? They all harbour Marketing Week-reading sports fanatics who have won tickets to the 1999 Cricket World Cup. Sponsorship specialists SRI Prime Consulting issued a “What’s your game?” crossword challenge to MW readers in April. Four winners will now enjoy the sound […]