Month: March 2000

Danone poised to land top UB Euro brands

Marketing Week

Danone is poised to acquire United Biscuits’ (UB) top European brands if the company is sold to US and French venture capitalists. US group Burlington and French bidder Finalrealm, which includes Danone, are finalising a joint bid for UB following a three-month bidding war between the two. UK “power brands” such as McVitie’s Penguin, Digestives, […]

Shopsmart in £12m ad push

Marketing Week

Shopsmart.com, the price comparison Website, this week launches its biggest ad blitz to date. With a £12m marketing budget for 2000, the company is building on its Channel 5 evening movie sponsorship by running ads on ITV, Channel 4 and satellite TV channels. The new campaign will also include online advertising on Freeserve, MSN and […]

Co-op to launch first ‘Fairtrade’ own-label

Marketing Week

The Co-op, owned by the Co-operative Wholesale Society (CWS), is to be the first UK supermarket chain to stock own-label Fairtrade Foundation products with the launch of a milk chocolate bar. The Co-op Fairtrade Divine bar, which will be available in 2,000 outlets from March 6, is to be rolled out to coincide with the […]

Prudential brand chief resigns

Marketing Week

Prudential Retail head of brands Stephanie Campbell has resigned with no job to go to, just nine months after joining from Royal & Sun Alliance. Campbell was responsible for developing the Prudential brand and oversaw advertising, design, sponsorship and events. She reported to Frank Wilson, marketing director of Prudential Retail, the division responsible for marketing […]

Public Disservice

Marketing Week

The way the Lottery licence bids have been handled exposes major problems in marketing public/private partnerships and confusion in the Labour Party over how far it should go to embrace private enterprise. Tony Blair can only hope he doesn’t have another Dome or Railtrack on his hands. Choosing the next National Lottery operator should be […]

Camelot tops Branson Good Causes claim

Marketing Week

Camelot claims it will raise more money for Good Causes than rival the People’s Lottery if its bid to run the next National Lottery licence from November 2001 is successful. The deadline for delivering bids to the National Lottery Commission fell yesterday (Tuesday). The Commission will choose the winner of the next seven-year licence by […]

Brand values need to be accounted for

Marketing Week

It is dreadfully disappointing that such a small proportion of finance directors – 29 per cent, according to a recent Institute of Practitioners in Advertising poll – acknowledge that, after people, brands are a company’s most important asset. Encouraging the marketing community to talk to finance directors in a language they understand, as Rupert Howell […]

Kingfisher plans Big concessions

Marketing Week

Kingfisher, owner of B&Q and Woolworths, is to launch its first store with shop-in-shop concessions run by non-food retailers. The group has linked up with Carphone Warehouse, the Specsavers Optical Group, Thomas Cook and Time Computers to run concessions in a 100,000 sq ft Big W store – to open in Rotherham on March 3. […]

Daewoo piece masked reality

Marketing Week

Daewoo Cars would like to object to the use of a picture of its showroom in conjunction with a caption referring to dealers and servicing profits in Alan Mitchell’s article “Why car trade is stalling over new pricing policy” (MW February 17). The caption read: “Rough deal: The Great Car Rip-off has also displeased dealers, […]