Buy.com, the US electronics online retailer which is looking for a stock market valuation of almost &£2bn when it floats early this year, is searching for a head of consumer marketing. The appointee will lead the UK launch of the site in one of the first initiatives of News Corporation’s eVentures, the Internet launch vehicle […]
Scandinavian e-commerce start-up Letsbuyit.com’s announcement last week that it has chosen Abbott Mead Vickers.BBDO and the BBDO network to handle its $100m (£63m)-plus global ad account is remarkable – more for the scale of the budget than the agency’s selection. The business model behind the international roll-out of the Letsbuyit network is intriguing, if not […]
Supermarket chain Waitrose is demanding premium rates as it begins to accept third-party advertising on its Website, despite offering a modest audience of 35,000 online customers and just 22,000 subscribers to its free Internet service. Marketing director Mark Price says the aggressive pricing strategy is justified by the premium audience Waitrose’s online services deliver. Ad […]
McVitie’s and KP Snacks have teamed up to launch a £1.5m TV campaign to back the Free Maths Stuff for Schools on-pack promotion. The scheme – run in conjunction with Trinity Mirror Newspapers – will provide free maths equipment for UK and Irish schools, with tokens appearing on various McVitie’s and KP brand packs. Publicis […]
This millennium edition of the Marketing Week/Ball & Hoolahan Salary Survey takes stock of key themes affecting the profession over the past ten years and asks whether they will remain issues in the new century.
The shy, retiring and perfectly sane Tony Kaye continues to wage a one-man war against former employers Bacardi and McCann-Erickson. You all know the background to this long and predictable story by now: Kaye gets an itsy bit upset at the refilming of the end to his new Bacardi ad, he “hides” the actors used, […]
Procter & Gamble has handed Saatchi & Saatchi an estimated £90m global brief to launch its Iams petfood in supermarkets worldwide.
Laurence Haselhurst is retiring from his role as international media manager for petfoods at Pedigree Masterfoods. Haselhurst will be replaced by Angus McIntosh, media manager at Mars Confectionery. Haselhurst is also chairman of the Incorporated Society of British Advertisers’ TV Action Group. Pedigree Masterfoods refused to comment on the moves. The announcement comes amid a […]
Senior tobacco executives are expected to be grilled about low-tar cigarettes when they appear before the Government’s health select committee this week. Imperial Tobacco chief executive Gareth Davis, British American Tobacco chairman Martin Broughton and top executives from Gallaher – Philip Morris Europe and RJ Reynolds – are to be quizzed by the all-party committee. […]
Vodafone’s bid for Mannesmann has resulted in both companies ploughing millions of pounds into offensive – and defensive – advertising. But will any of it succeed?
Contrary to the claim made in “TV washout” (MW December 2), Heinz has not pulled out of TV and put most of its ad spend below the line. In Heinz terms, marketing strategy is not simply executed either above or below the line. Heinz’s highly successful two-pronged strategy combining award-winning, over-arching advertising campaigns – “United […]
Interactive TV service Open is losing marketing director Nick Mercer, who is to join the online division of financial services software supplier Mysis. Mercer takes up the position of marketing director at Mysis Interactive Trading (MIT) on February 7, and will oversee the &£50m launch of online financial services for consumers. He will have a […]
CIA Medianetwork’s managing director Alan Brydon is quitting the agency just as it has picked up the &£15m media buying business for Internet recruitment site jobs.co.uk. Brydon leaves the company at the end of the month with no job to go to. He will not be replaced. Brydon’s future at the Tempus-owned CIA was put […]
The TV series Castaway 2000 is a social experiment in how long the British public will tolerate the BBC’s ability to waste money
Sportal, the international online sports company, is poised to sign up as a sponsor of the Uefa Euro 2000 football championships, in a deal believed to be worth almost &£7m. The company has aggressive expansion plans and provides Web content for some of the top European football clubs, including AC Milan, Juventus and Bayern Munich. […]