All new mobile phones sold in the UK will be WAP-enabled by 2001, driving a two-year period of hypergrowth, according to a new report from Forrester Research. As the price of WAP handsets reaches parity with today’s phones, consumer uptake will increase rapidly, creating a market of 41 million mobile Internet users in the UK […]
The computer game website Gameswire.com is searching for the first creative and media agencies for a £5m ad spend. The company, which launched last June as a computer games information site and began retailing games over the Internet in November, is securing extra financing, some of which will be spent on ads. Gameswire.com head of […]
It’s the nightmare scenario. Some readers have probably been through it already; picture it if you haven’t. You’re at the controls of a powerful brand. Everything seems to be in place: positioning, budget suppliers, distribution and a nicely developing sales curve. Then along comes a bigger company and gobbles you up. Suddenly all the certainties […]
WSJ.com, the Wall Street Journal’s online subscription site, has appointed Karen Gallagher as its first marketing and circulation director for Europe. Publisher Dow Jones has handed the $1m (&£625,000) pan-European on- and offline creative account to Ogilvy & Mather, while media is being handled by MindShare. The agencies handle the accounts for the Wall Street […]
Virgin.com has poached Ed Sims from holiday giant Airtours to be the deputy managing director of its online travel business. Sims, Airtours sales, marketing and development director, will join Virgin.com/travel in October. He has been at Airtours for 18 months and was previously with Austravel and Unijet. Sims will have overall responsibility for marketing and […]
Danone has moved savoury biscuit brands Tuc, McVitie’s Cheddars and Cheddar Breadsticks – which were acquired from United Biscuits’ UK division – into Jacob’s Bakery. The savoury biscuits are part of a package of United Biscuits (UB) brands and central European brands, including Hungarian biscuit Gyori Keksz and Polish biscuit San, that has been sold […]
Consolidation among ITV owners could lead to ‘snowball effect’ on rules covering airtime sales
Shropshire County Council’s successful lawsuit against Nestlé over claims that Shredded Wheat can cut the risk of heart disease is being hailed as a test case. Global food giants should have a care.
The concept of ‘new’ and ‘old’ economies is already dead. ‘Core’ and ‘non-core’ are more meaningful terms – just take a look at the FTSE 100.
France Telecom’s £31bn acquisition of Orange is likely to lead to the creation of a £100m global advertising account, which may be snared by a UK agency.
A radical technique to test a company’s competitive health is providing the means to assess that business’s future performance.
EMAP is understood to have approached a national newspaper with a view to forming a joint venture to bid for magazine giant IPC Media. It is rumoured in the City that EMAP was rebuffed by the newspaper group over a combined purchase of the company, which recently changed its name from IPC Magazines to IPC […]
English cricket conjures up many images… of village greens… of willow on leather… of cucumber sandwiches… and, if West Indies’ sponsor Sandals has its way, of sand, sea and… sex. That’s right, it’s enough to make the brigadiers and colonels of English county cricket choke on their Pimms. But holiday company Sandals is apparently planning […]
Your analysis of the demise of Boo.com makes interesting reading (MW May 25).
Lever Brothers is launching a new Domestos TV commercial this week, as part of a &£3m marketing campaign, through Lowe Lintas. The ad, called ‘Swimmer’, features a brother and sister playing on the kitchen floor, imagining they are having an aquatic adventure, surrounded by fish. The endline is ‘Domestos protects. Even in the world you […]