Month: June 2000

M&A price rise angers buyers

Marketing Week

A row has broken out between Mills & Allen and poster buying specialists over the outdoor contractor’s plans to include scrolling units in its new premium sales packages and the price it is charging for them.

ScotsPower Retail hires M&C ‘suit

Marketing Week

ScottishPower Retail, the domestic appliance retailer, has appointed Ronnie Wayte, deputy group account director at ad agency M&C Saatchi, as its head of retail marketing. Wayte, who was account director on the Dixons business at M&C, will be responsible for the marketing strategy of ScottishPower’s 190-strong retail chain. He will report to ScottishPower group marketing […]

Bannister runs into BBC trouble

Marketing Week

Matthew Bannister is in an invidious position as he unveils his proposals for the future of the BBC marketing and communications empire he has headed since April. Empire it is too, albeit one embarking on a spot of decolonisation. One unintended result of the three-month gestation period of these ‘reforms’ has been the disclosure of […]

Banks to meet pressure group over UK closures

Marketing Week

The UK’s high-street banks have taken the unprecedented step of agreeing to meet community groups fighting the closure of inner-city branches. The move is the culmination of a two-year campaign by the Citizens’ Organising Foundation (COF), an umbrella group representing inner-city organisations, and follows the intervention of Bank of England governor Eddie George, who met […]

Back on Track?

Marketing Week

P&G has been plunged into transformational chaos. It has suffered a leadership crisis and lost the trust of its shareholders. In an exclusive interview, new boss Alan Lafley speaks frankly about its massive problems, and explains why the only

Spar chief takes charge of Latium Group marketing strategy

Marketing Week

Neil Henry, former marketing director of convenience store chain Spar UK, has been appointed to the new position of group marketing director of home improvement company the Latium Group. Henry, who took up the post last week, will report to group chief executive Harvey Sampson. He will hold overall responsibility for the marketing strategy of […]

Manning Gottlieb loses £6m Dr Martens task to Starcom

Marketing Week

AirWair has moved the £6.25m international media account for its footwear brand Dr Martens out of Manning Gottlieb Media (MGM) into Starcom Motive without a pitch. The shoe brand – known for heavy work boots and fashion shoes – intends to adopt a “guerrilla-style” approach to media planning, similar to that used by Nike. Last […]

DIY design to suit consumers

Marketing Week

As packaging design managers to B&Q, the market leader in DIY, we live and breath DIY design, and were surprised by Simon Sholl’s article “Colour schemes” (MW June 15). If he goes into any of the major DIY chains he will see great shifts in packaging design, both graphic and, particularly in the case of […]

Chris cross enough to leave ASAP

Marketing Week

Time for another of The Diary’s occasional looks at life in the ASA press office. Last time we visited Torrington Place, ginger-haired external affairs manager Chris Reed was cheerfully accepting his lot, despite his employers refusing to adjudicate on a cruel anti-ginger ad campaign. But it seems the wound was deeper than anyone thought, because […]

Turning the world upside down

Marketing Week

Agencies often ask what they have to do to get into the pages of Marketing Week. Usually, it is news of an account win. But Ignition Marketing Group has taken another tack. It has gone to the trouble of sending in pictures of their “enviable location” on the South Bank of the Thames with a […]

Dome bidder calls in O&M to handle £20m project

Marketing Week

Dome Europe, one of two schemes competing to take over the Millennium Dome next year, has called in ad agency Ogilvy & Mather to develop its marketing strategy and handle its proposed £20m communications budget. The proposals by Dome Europe, which is run by Japanese bank Nomura – also the UK’s largest pub operator – […]