Smash! Hits, EMAP’s music magazine for youngsters, is launching a promotion with Little Chef, the roadside restaurant chain. The companies have enlisted artist management company BMG to launch the £250,000 summer marketing campaign, which aims to attract families with children. The campaign will give children the chance to pick up a free Smash! Hits CD […]
George Pitcher (MW last week) makes some interesting points about exploiting neglected markets, but as even he admits, his chosen example undermines his case somewhat. Topical it may be, but the Independent Insurance story is surely a cautionary tale: there are reasons why some markets are neglected and those who rediscover them must take care […]
Virgin Holidays has appointed Airtours purchasing director Amanda Wills to managing director. She replaces Ron Simms, who is due to retire at the end of the summer. Wills will have ultimate responsibility for marketing at the holiday group, and sales and marketing director Kathryn Street will report to her. Wills spent 14 years at Airtours, […]
The Financial Times (FT) has rejected a pre-booked ad for the Gay Times magazine’s July issue, which carries the strapline “Bend me, shape me, any way you want me” and a suggestive picture of a man with his hand on his stomach. The ad was due to appear in the FT’s Arts section on June […]
Fila UK has scrapped the role of marketing director in a restructure following the departure of Stuart Ryan last month (MW May 24). Ryan, who joined Fila in 1997 from rival sportswear brand Nike, was Fila’s first marketing director. His departure came hard on the heels of UK managing director Mike Baxter, who retired in […]
The Meat and Livestock Commission (MLC) has lost its battle to quash an ASA ruling against its ad campaign promoting British pork and the good living conditions of British pigs compared with those in other countries. An ad featuring a pig feeding its young with the heading “After she’s fed them, she could be fed […]
The ISL/Association of Tennis Professionals fiasco should serve as a wake-up call for an industry that is mesmerised by the pound sign, says Tom O’Sullivan
Some companies will offer the world to persuade people to buy their services. But Printbynet, the online printer, has cleverly cottoned on that many of its clients just want the moon on a stick. That’s why the company is offering the most bizarre prize draw the Diary has seen for months. By requesting a free […]
Kimberly-Clark (K-C) is slashing prices on its Andrex brand and could drop its famous “soft, strong and long” strapline, after reducing the size of the toilet roll. K-C is planning a summer marketing push for the Andrex range, which will start in August, and could include an ad campaign. The company is understood to be […]
Corporate vilification is the modern-day nightmare for marketers. Once, it was a case of a product failing to live up to performance-related claims in one market. Now, it is the fear of consumers biting back and targeting a company on a global scale for perceived misdemeanors or misplaced morality. Exxon Mobil is the latest company […]
Transport for London (TfL) is inviting agencies to pitch for a £20m project promoting London Mayor Ken Livingstone’s proposed congestion charges for the capital. As TfL is a separate contracting authority from the Greater London Authority, the pitch is not limited to the three agencies – BMP DDB, Soul and Euro RSCG Wnek Gosper – […]
Anti-smoking monomaniacs are upset by the Government’s lack of action on tobacco ads. But the cracks in the kitchen also merit their attention, says Iain Murray
Holiday websites are popular with independent travellers but package holidaymakers still favour the high street
Your editorial in the Marketing Week June 14 speculated on the development of marketing on a pan-European basis and on marketers becoming more European in outlook. Just a matter of weeks after we’ve collectively re-elected a sit-on-the-fence government, and rejected a Eurosceptic alternative, this sort of marketing “Europeanisation” still seems a long way away from […]
Esso’s sponsorship of National Tree Week could be under threat following complaints by environmental pressure group Greenpeace. The Tree Council, which runs National Tree Week, is to put Greenpeace’s concerns to its trustees. The event runs from November 21 to December 2. Greenpeace and campaigners from Stop Esso have called on the council to reconsider […]