New regulations governing commercial radio promise greater freedom (“Radio Active” MW October 7), but what may appear advantageous to large radio groups is, in fact, offensive to the discerning listener. Exactly how many people really want to sit down and listen to “mainstream” music on every radio channel? Maybe it is possible to be “popular […]
Debenhams Direct, the catalogue joint venture between Debenhams and Freemans which is launching next year, has appointed WCRS to create an integrated campaign. Tequila Payne Stracey and Ogilvy One were also shortlisted for the account. Evans Hunt Scott was involved in the pitch at an earlier stage but pulled out because of a conflict of […]
British Retail Consortium (BRC) director general Anne Robinson has been chosen by the Department of Trade and Industry to become the first chairman of the new Energy Consumers Council when it is formed later in the year. The announcement comes after Robinson’s appointment this week as chairman of the Gas Consumers’ Council (GCC), replacing Jenny […]
Sportswear brand Adidas has re-appointed New PHD to its £10m UK TV buying account after a two-way pitch against Carat. The review was called after Carat landed the £50m European media account last year (MW October 1 ), beating Optimedia, Initiative Media and MindShare’s Media Insight to the business. After the review, Adidas said it […]
Asda’s attempts to portray itself as the best value supermarket in the UK have suffered a setback after the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ruled that one of its comparative price ads was misleading. The ASA upheld a complaint by Tesco that accused Asda of exaggerating the “representative nature” of a promotion comparing the price of […]
Manchester United’s 1998 treble-winning football squad could soon be pitted against the club’s European Cup-winning side of 1968 through the extension of the Manchester United brand into computer games. The club, which has licensed toys manufacturer Hasbro to create children’s games based on its growing brand, has revealed it is in talks with software development […]
Trinity Mirror has appointed a sales director to oversee advertising for the group’s new media operations. Jason Smith, who takes up the post of new media sales director, joins from Virgin Net, where he has been sales manager since October 1997. He will report to David Clarke, managing director for new media and interactive services […]
Tim Satchwell (“Net natives end dominance of UK broadsheets” New Media, MW October 7) develops a coherent analysis but comes to the wrong conclusions when reviewing the performance of UK broadsheets online. It is certainly true that, although early adopters of the medium, the broadsheets have lagged behind other online content owners in thinking and […]
French entrepreneur Bernard Arnault is clearly a man who likes to hedge his bets. A week after pan-European QXL.com, in which Arnault holds a minority stake, floated on the stock market valued at £263m, rival Aucland.com launches in the UK. Arnault also holds a majority stake in Aucland, through his Internet investment company Europ@Web. It […]
ITV has turned around its fortunes through improved branding, imitating the BBC’s factual programming and spending heavily on sport, John McGeough reports
BOL, the online books seller owned by media giant Bertelsmann, is launching a £6m UK ad campaign this weekend following its appointment of M&C Saatchi in August. The new campaign uses the strapline ‘Love books? Buy online at bol.com’. The first of two television executions, which breaks on Saturday, shows a man being saved from […]
UK Internet users are settling into conservative patterns of using a limited number of Websites, which will make it increasingly difficult for new entrants to challenge the loyalty of experienced Web users. Research released this week by Netpoll suggests that most Web users, after an initial flurry of online use and exploration, quickly settle into […]
More and more companies are turning to design consultancies to visualise brand values. Manuals which offer detailed branding guidelines tackle potential risks at the planning stage.
The expected demise of the United Biscuits is a startling example of brand values sacrificed to appease the beancounter mentality.
Life and insurance giant drafts in senior Zurich Municipal executive to revamp marketing team