Digital Explosion
Marketing WeekThe digital radio revolution is advancing slowly. But when it started no one thought to take new media into account: many are now arguing that the Net offers advertisers more choice.
The digital radio revolution is advancing slowly. But when it started no one thought to take new media into account: many are now arguing that the Net offers advertisers more choice.
The Open University is understood to be reviewing its £5m advertising account as it prepares to appoint a new head of marketing. Former head of marketing Ted Atchinson retired at the beginning of the year with Jim Brannen, the business development and marketing manager, becoming acting head at the time. The OU is using the […]
Virgin Megastores will focus on consumers’ “bizarre obsessions” with their favourite types of music in a £7m TV, press and outdoor advertising campaign launched on November 1. The eight-month campaign uses a new strapline for the stores: “Virgin Megastores – whatever turns you on”. The ads, created by TBWA/London, will focus on the emotional appeal […]
British Gas is planning to provide all its 14 million gas and electricity customers with free insurance to cover unpaid bills in the event of accidental death. It claims to be the first utility company to offer the service, which launches on November 1, free to customers. St Andrew’s Insurance Company, one of the insurers […]
Baby boomers’ determination to grow old disgracefully is making it more difficult than ever to target the over-50s as a coherent group. But that hasn’t stopped some people from trying
After allegedly breaking EU competition rules, Interbrew finds itself caught in a pincer movement by European and UK regulators and may yet live to regret its controversial acquisition of Bass Brewers.
Consumer goods giant Unilever is to sell its Elizabeth Arden business to US-based FFI Fragrances for $225m (£155m) giving the perfume company a UK presence. The brands involved in the sale to FFI Fragrances include skincare brands Ceramides, Millennium and Visible Difference and Elizabeth Arden cosmetics line. The deal offers the company, which already has […]
The two biggest agencies in Japan are adopting very different Internet strategies – one is moving into consulting while the other is offering greetings cards.
Siemens’ new worldwide marketing chief has handed the company’s $100m (£70m) global mobile phone advertising account to Wieden & Kennedy (W&K) Amsterdam. Siemens Communications Devices senior vice-president of marketing Ruud Krabbe is believed to have made the appointment four months after joining the company from the Swatch Group. W&K Amsterdam pitched for the business against […]
There comes a point on a Friday night when the Diary has to make tracks for either a curry house or a pizza restaurant. So while the Clerkenwell area of London was still raving the Diary and some contacts headed for the reliable Pizza Express, managing to beat other revellers to a table. While a […]
Time Computers is poised to stock other computer brands in a new venture, branded Time Extra, which it is launching to rival PC World. Time has sealed deals with other major manufacturers, including Hewlett-Packard and Fujitsu, to sell 1,500 products through three major channels. Time Extra concessions will be rolled out in 200 UK Time […]
Stelios Haji-Ioannou struck gold with his Easy Group, but has he set his sights too high with his plan to float easyJet? Investors’ scrutiny of the bottom line may not suit his visionary business style, and flotation precedents set by similar-
Dennis Publishing has appointed Kerin O’Connor as its first marketing director in five years. O’Connor will combine the role, overseeing 14 other marketers, with his responsibilities as international licensing director and publisher of The Week. Marketing was previously overseen by circulation director Sean Farmer, who has now joined Dennis’s distributor, Seymour. Dennis publishes Maxim and […]
“Too Much, Too Often” (MW October 12), the article about the persistence marketing of financial services companies and the continuing volume-based approach to their direct mailing, struck a real chord with me. Very recently, I received a DM mailing from my bank encouraging me to phone for a quote for home and contents insurance. They […]
After the entrepreneurial wilderness that characterised marketing through much of the nineties, it’s good to see a new star in the ascendant. Step forward Stelios Haji-Ioannou, founder and chairman of the burgeoning Easy Group empire. The next few weeks will be critical to the future success of the group as Haji-Ioannou places 25 per cent […]