Camelot’s plans to launch gambling games on cruise ships have collapsed after the National Lottery operator was forced to axe the scheme because of design problems. The bingo game, Hot Tracks, involved players betting on car races screened on TVs in the bars and lounges of cruise ships. A six-week test was carried out at […]
Audi, the German car-manufacturer, has awarded Wieden & Kennedy the £15m pan-European advertising account for its new AL2 aluminium car.
The die was cast barely weeks into the Blair administration when junior minister Tessa Jowett, delirious with the joy of being in charge of something and in possession of a fragment of power, gave a public demonstration of hand-washing. Like that of Pontius Pilate 2,000 years before, the gesture was powerfully symbolic, a lesson in […]
A group of entrepreneurs, including key members of the team behind the Seattle Coffee Company, is launching a chain of restaurants in the UK, specialising in South-western American cuisine. Scott Svenson, European president of Starbucks, has invested in the new business, called Santa Fe. He is a non-executive director. Starbucks bought the Seattle Coffee Company, […]
The article “Abbey joins the ‘two tier’ rush” (MW June 17) is misleading and misses a very important point. The Individual Banking Service offered by NatWest is about giving people a choice about how, when and where they deal with the bank. It is not about replacing the service they get from our branches: any […]
Advertising types are forever talking about lines. Some describe their agencies as above the line, some as below the line, while most these days seem to operate through the line. But Quintessential Ideas’ new managing director Andy Melbourne is having none of this line nonsense. Melbourne says: “We believe the concept of lines is not […]
Greg Turznski (MW June 10) is right to point out that most advertising is so far removed from the time and place of purchase that there are distinct barriers to achieving effectiveness. Yet there are simpler and far more immediate options than his suggestion of interactive TV, or indeed any other fashionable new media solution. […]
Tesco is aiming to double its toy sales over the next three years with plans to expand its Fun To Learn own-label toy brand into books and toiletries. The expansion will put it into direct competition with Wal-Mart, the US chain which has just bought Asda and which is the US’ biggest toy retailer. It […]
We asked three event organisers to respond to a corporate hospitality brief provided by a business publisher. The details were vague: The business publisher has a budget of between £20,000 and £30,000 to entertain 20 to 30 people (without spouses). The guests will be a combination of current and potential advertisers, and the object of […]
Short-term deals and dramatic changes in company ownership are being blamed for an estimated £20m drop in revenue in the outdoor market this year. According to industry players, revenue for the first six months of the year is down by about 15 to 20 per cent. One contractor, Maiden, issued its second profits warning of […]
Scottish Courage is spending up to £3m on a marketing campaign based on French sport for its premium-packaged lager Kronenbourg 1664 to tackle runaway market-leader Stella Artois.
Londis, the convenience store chain, is to become the first UK food retailer to offer cybercafés in its stores. The symbol group chain, which has just under 2,000 stores in the UK – run largely by individual retailers, is offering its licensees the cyberstop@Londis concept for under &£2,000. Cyberstops will offer up to four PCs […]
The Central Office of Information is to draw up a roster of branding consultancies which will advise government departments on how to improve their images. The new roster, which will be finalised in September, is likely to comprise 12 agencies with branding expertise. A COI spokesman says the move comes in response to requests from […]
Booth Lockett Makin (BLM) is tipped to win the media account for innovative vacuum cleaner manufacturer Dyson’s UK. BLM pitched against Western International Media, Optimedia and Walker Media. The account had been held by Concord London, which bought media for the company in the UK and Ireland. In January, MediaVest was appointed to handle the […]
The Bank of Scotland is moving control of marketing for personal banking to England as it merges its marketing operations with subsidiary Capital Bank. The bank, which was forced to cut business ties with American TV evangelist Pat Robertson after he described Scotland as a “dark land” and a stronghold of homosexuality, is restructuring the […]