Good to see there’s more to dot.com enterprise than being a 23-year-old anorak with a flaky idea and some gullible private equity investors. Former Marketing Week journalist Nick Hall (age 40, married, two children) has turned his talents to building a virtual art gallery on the Internet. The aim of www.orchard gallery.com, launched last week, […]
The Post Office is talking to Camelot consortium members about increasing its proposed stake in the National Lottery operator in a move that could see it become the largest shareholder. A Post Office spokeswoman this week confirmed that the organisation is holding talks with consortium members ICL, De La Rue and Cadbury Schweppes about how […]
The Manchester 2002 Commonwealth Games has signed a top-line sponsorship agreement with United Utilities. The deal is understood to be worth more than &£3m. The company, which owns the Norweb and North West Water brands, is only the second top-tier sponsor out of a proposed 12-strong line-up. Manchester City Airport was the first to sign. […]
Everyone has had it. The aches, the pains, the sweats and the wracking cough. But smart-thinking agency bosses at Duckworth Finn Grubb Waters were one step ahead of one of the most fearsome flu bugs to strike the marketing community.
Nestlé is launching a Kit Kat Chunky ice cream as an extension of its number one chocolate bar brand. The confectionery giant is believed to be pouring £3m into the March launch, which will include TV advertising.
The former head of marketing for the Coca-Cola brand in the UK, James Saunders, has quit the company to launch an Internet start-up. Saunders was most recently in charge of Coca-Cola’s involvement in the &£50m millennium festival national programme, including the recent Shine on Glasgow Coca-Cola event. The programme, which like the Millennium Dome is […]
The merger between AOL and Time Warner may seem a match made in heaven, but it will limit their opportunities for international growth, says Alan Mitchell.
John Charcol, the UK’s largest mortgage broker, has dropped DMB&B Financial from its £5m advertising account after an 11-year relationship, and just six weeks after re-appointing the agency. Its replacement, B’lowfish Advertising, is understood to have been working for Charcol since November, but DMB&B Financial was only notified it had lost the business last week. […]
Blockbuster has hired Doner Cardwell Hawkins as its lead creative agency for all markets outside the US and its domestic UK account, worth a combined £65m. DCH’s US sister agency Doner is the video retailer’s main agency in the US. DCH has been selected to create an international brand-building campaign, worth £50m, that will be […]
Home shopping and high-street retailer Great Universal Stores (GUS) has struck a deal with US online loyalty scheme specialists MyPoints.com to roll out a Web-based loyalty scheme venture across Europe. GUS, which already holds a 13 per cent stake in the US venture, will invest $13m (£8.13m) to become majority shareholder. MyPoints.com has struck deals […]
Littlewoods Retail has promoted director of high street marketing Greg Ball to lead its Internet push as marketing director of e-commerce, following the loss of Ajay Kavan to B&Q earlier this month. Ball, the company’s most senior stores and catalogue marketer after marketing director Susan Murray, has already taken up his role working alongside Kavan, […]
Nicki Darzinkas, group marketing and communications director of the Rover Group, has quit the company. Darzinkas, who joined the troubled car company as a graduate over ten years ago, does not have a job to go to. Working in the central organisation of the company, Darzinkas reported to Rover Group board director of global sales […]
Grey and Ogilvy & Mather are preparing to battle for their £25m SmithKline Beecham (SB) consumer health care accounts as speculation grows that many brands will be sold off after SB merges with Glaxo Wellcome.
Kelvin MacKenzie is reinventing Talk Radio as a dedicated sports channel. It will make, break or turn it into a better merger proposition.
Fox’s Biscuits is hoping to break into the impulse chocolate market with the launch of Echo bar. The company – part of Northern Foods – plans to challenge Kit Kat’s leading market share with the new bar. Echo is aimed at mothers and children. It will be backed by a press campaign, featuring ads and […]