The food and pharmaceuticals industries are joining forces to develop a new category of products that could revive both of their fortunes. Margarines that lower cholesterol, cereals that are good for the heart and yogurts which help the digestion are among this new generation of products dubbed “functional foods” or “neutriceuticals”. The sector has proved […]
BT has finally acquired Securicor’s 40 per cent stake in BTCellnet, the UK’s second largest mobile phone operator, for £3.15bn. The deal, subject to approval by regulators and Securicor’s shareholders, means BT and BT Cellnet will bid as a single entity for one of the five third-generation mobile phone licences to be auctioned by the […]
Associated Newspapers is to pay an initial £5m to acquire a 50 per cent stake in Arcadia-owned shopping portal and Internet service provider Zoom.co.uk. The media group will then pay an additional £10m over the next five years, in a deal which will see the online venture heavily promoted by the newspaper group’s titles. The […]
Congratulations to Camelot, the National Lottery operator, for its part in securing the licence to run the South African lottery for the Uthingo consortium, in which it has a ten per cent stake. Each member of the consortium will concentrate on its own specialisation. Tattersalls will handle promotion, while Gtech will run the software and […]
Rugby Football Union (RFU) chief executive Francis Baron has spent the past ten months trying to halt the continual infighting that has dogged the growth of the sport since it turned professional. Now, in the run-up to the Rugby World Cup, he is ready to sell the game to the public. Baron wants to expand […]
The number of upmarket men watching Channel 4 during the first four days of its England cricket coverage soared by more than 300 per cent compared with the previous week’s viewing, despite the home side’s dismal performance. According to figures obtained by Marketing Week, the station attracted an average audience of 350,000 ABC1 men across […]
The first branded McDonald’s motorway service station is to open in September as the fast-food giant looks for new areas of growth beyond its core high street restaurants. The development, called simply “McDonald’s Services”, opens on the M5 at Cullompton in Devon. It gives the company the chance to put its name and the McDonald’s […]
Three of the country’s biggest high street banks are to trial community branches offering financial services to people with low credit ratings. NatWest, Lloyds TSB and Barclays are working on the scheme at a time when major lenders face criticism for turning their backs on poorer customers. Consumer groups are concerned about the introduction of […]
As we all know, award ceremonies are cheesy affairs. But there cannot be many which can claim to really be about cheese, apart from perhaps, The British Cheese Awards. The Diary can reveal that cheesemakers all over the country will be hanging on to their gorgonzolas in anticipation on September 23. They will no doubt […]
Furniture retailer Uno Upholstery has appointed Manchester agency Sass Panayi to its £2m TV account to create a “radical” new brand identity. There are 19 Uno Upholstery superstores nationwide competing with larger groups DFS and Courts. The chain’s parent company, Uno plc, also owns World of Leather. Sass Panayi won the account in a three-way […]
Elderly Italians get up to mischief on a seaside vacation in the latest advertising for Van den Bergh’s Olivio olive oil spread. The message of the ads is that an active lifestyle can be enjoyed at any age, especially if you follow a healthy Mediterranean diet. The commercials, by Bartle Bogle Hegarty, have the theme […]
Is the food industry setting itself up for another embarrassing U-turn? Fresh from the controversy over the use of genetically modified organisms, the industry is already rubbing its hands at the prospect of a new, high margin category, dubbed ‘functional foods’. These are foods that claim to be physically ‘beneficial’ for certain parts of the […]
ONdigital has had to become a fast moving business to survive in the fiercely competitive pay-TV sector, but its chief executive Stephen Grabiner could not have foreseen the speed of events which took place the week after news of his departure was published in the national press. When The Independent on Sunday ran a story […]
Advertising agency art directors have been known to seek a little seclusion in order to conjure up inspiration, but Geoff Allum of DMB&B is taking things a little too far. Fearless Allum is preparing to row the Atlantic, solo. At 52, he will be the oldest person ever to attempt the 3,000 mile route this […]
There is a danger that one of the most exciting developments of the late 20th century is also becoming one of the most boring. That’s because the sheer repetition of the fantastic potential of the Internet, plus the debate over whether Internet companies are highly overvalued and thus distorting equity markets, begins to hang heavy […]