Month: November 1999

Parent says bad buy to Disney Stores

Marketing Week

In reference to “Disney Stores in £300m overhaul” (MW November 18), it came as no surprise that the company is losing money. It’s about time too given the dreadful quality of much of its over-priced merchandise. As a parent whose only regular visits to Disney Stores are to return faulty goods, I am staggered that […]

Woolworths seeks expert Net marketer

Marketing Week

Woolworths is searching for a marketer to lead its Internet push. An Internet manager will be appointed to manage the operation and expansion of the Woolworths e-commerce site, which launches on December 1.

Sound barrier

Marketing Week

Agencies have traditionally valued radio far less than TV. But a new breed of creatives is focusing its expertise on radio and calling attention to its unique potential as a medium, says Stephanie Bentley.

BBC marketing to ‘charm’ Dyke

Marketing Week

The BBC’s marketing department has launched a charm offensive to convince incoming director-general Greg Dyke of its essential role at the highest levels of the corporation. Independent research commissioned by the BBC about the EastEnders promotional campaign, which ran from March to July, suggests it helped to reverse the soap’s ailing fortunes. The findings will […]

HHCL parts company with £3m BAA brief

Marketing Week

HHCL & Partners has split with airport operator BAA a year after being appointed to the £3m retail account. BAA is carrying out an annual statutory review of its retail account and HHCL says it has opted not to repitch.

Grow up to grey market needs

Marketing Week

The flow and cross-flow of debate in your letters pages on the “grey” market makes interesting reading, not least that in our very ageist industry we demonstrate how schizophrenic we can be. Customers are surely customers whatever their age, and with some 40 per cent of the population in the grey category, and increasing thanks […]

Kingfisher appoints Woolworths marketer

Marketing Week

Kingfisher has appointed a Woolworths marketing director to replace Alan McWalter, who defected to Marks & Spencer. Ken Lewis, managing director of Kingfisher entertainment chain MVC, has been named as the new Woolworths marketing chief. Lewis has headed the 70-store music and video chain since January 1996. He takes up his new role in January […]

Post Office creates bank to see off closure threat

Marketing Week

Post Office Counters is looking for a marketer to head a new banking division created to help prevent the closure of about 30 per cent of its 19,000 branches. The move comes as a Treasury report into financial exclusion, released this week, advises the Government to examine how the Post Office network can be used […]

Samsung starts £90m digital push

Marketing Week

Consumer electronics giant Samsung is poised to launch a range of digital products backed by a £90m pan-European TV and press advertising push. The Personal Multimedia range includes: a watch with an inbuilt mobile phone; a hand-held MP3 music player – which downloads music from the Net – with an inbuilt video screen; and mobile […]

WD-40 seeks agency to push Swarfega rival

Marketing Week

Lubricants manufacturer WD-40 Company is seeking an agency to promote its new hand-cleaning product Lava, a competitor to Swarfega. Lava, which has been sold in the US for more than a century, is launching in the UK and Europe following WD 40’s purchase of the brand last May. Simon Daw, WD-40’s European marketing director, says […]

Mizz clothes start IPC branded goods drive

Marketing Week

IPC Magazines’ teen title Mizz is to be extended into a range of clothing as part of a branded goods push across IPC titles. IPC Southbank division has struck a licence deal with clothing company WW Group to produce a range of underwear, nightwear, casual wear and accessories. The licensee will arrange retail distribution for […]

Avoiding pitfalls of globalisation

Marketing Week

Global brand builders should focus less on achieving economies of scale, and more on finding the best creative strategy by exploring agencies’ full range of services. By John Shannon. John Shannon is president of Grey International.

Tricky course for the ASA to plot

Marketing Week

Chris Graham, plucked from the relative obscurity of the BBC mandarinate, will find his new post as director general of the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) calls for a very different set of skills to the ones he is used to exercising. For this is no longer, if it ever was, a discreet backroom role – […]