Month: January 2001

Talks on League sponsor kick off

Marketing Week

The Nationwide Building Society has opened negotiations to continue its sponsorship of the Football League. An industry insider claims that the building society may have to pay up to £6m a year – double the amount of its current £6m two-year deal – in order to remain headline sponsors. Nationwide’s present sponsorship deal ends this […]

Woolworths buys Ladybird brand name

Marketing Week

Woolworths has bought the rights to the Ladybird clothing brand from Coats Viyella and aims to use it as a springboard to become a major childrenswear retailer. The Kingfisher-owned chain had exclusive rights to the brand and has been designing clothing under the Ladybird name since 1984. Following the Ladybird acquisition, for an undisclosed multi-million […]

Book relaunch to give Dahl characters new lease of life

Marketing Week

Children’s favourites Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda and The Twits are among the Roald Dahl characters about to have new life breathed into them. The classic novels are being extended into new product lines for the first time as part of a marketing push. Publisher Puffin is relaunching the books this spring, with new […]

Innovation: ‘breaks conventions’

Marketing Week

Your cover story and editorial concerning the dearth of true innovation (MW January 11) struck many chords. So many companies insist that they want to be market-led with their new product development efforts. In fact to break new ground, to really innovate, the requirement is to be market-leading. Being market-led implies being led by the […]

Virgin Terrain

Marketing Week

Marketing has never been the watchword of train operators but that will soon have to change. The Hatfield rail crash has opened the train companies’ eyes to the importance of passenger perceptions, and the recent cut-price tickets initiative o

Cooking up some food for thought

Marketing Week

Children’s foods provoke vigorous debate over worries about levels of preservatives, colourings and sugar in products. The debate is set to hot up with the launch of ready-made meals for children.

A wee bit of toilet humour for the day

Marketing Week

The Diary was wondering whether to send Madonna and Guy Ritchie a belated wedding present. But what do you buy the couple that has everything? Kimberly-Clark, the makers of Kleenex products, came up with the perfect gift. It shipped two rolls of toilet paper to Dornoch Cathedral in Scotland for the big occasion on December […]

Johnson & Johnson promotes md

Marketing Week

Pharmaceutical and consumer goods company Johnson & Johnson UK, has promoted its managing director Ignacio Larracoechea to the position of area manager for Johnson & Johnson companies in UK, Ireland, France and the Benelux and Scandinavian cou

Genie succeeds Stella as Empire film awards sponsor

Marketing Week

Genie, the mobile Internet company spun off from BT, has signed its first sponsorship deal – as sole sponsor of the film awards staged by EMAP’s Empire magazine. The event is due to be televised on the evening of Saturday February 24 and will be aired on both Channel 4 and Film Four. The Empire […]