Far be it from the Diary to admit defeat, but we hold our hands up to KP for turning its Hoopy McHula into a success. We were certain the crisp packet glove puppet, which stars in the Publicis-created Hoola Hoop ads and was launched with a whopping £14m media spend last year, would go down […]
A survey obtained by the Diary this week reveals that marketing professionals’ fantasy boss is Dame Judi Dench’s character “M” in the James Bond films. Career psychologist Siobhan Hamilton-Phillips says the choice of M suggests that marketers “take their jobs seriously”. Proof, if any were needed, that career psychologists know naff all. Interestingly, Dench was […]
Handbag.com, the women’s website jointly owned by Boots and Hollinger New Media, is raising the curtain this week on what it bills the world’s first interactive e-mail drama. Written by BAFTA nominated IMP Corporation, the e-soap will run for eight weeks from July 2. Entitled, “Love, life & e-mail”, it will be delivered to registered […]
Shaun Orpen, Microsoft’s outgoing director of corporate marketing, is to become an IT consultant from September. Orpen says he will try consulting for six months but his long term goal is to become the managing director of a smallto medium-sized IT-related company. He says he has had discussions with companies over new marketing jobs but […]
Cadbury Trebor Bassett (CTB) has won a ten-year extension to its contract to supply vending machines on the London Underground (LU). The confectionery giant has promised to install new machines and widen the range of products available to the 3 million passengers who use the Tube every day. CTB, which beat companies such as Coca-Cola […]
Digital terrestrial TV has a key role to play in the switchover to digital. However, the rescue of ONdigital may come at a high price for advertisers.
Delaney Lund Knox Warren has won the Australian Tourist Commission’s (ATC) European account, at a time when the board is shifting its advertising strategy away from TV. The ATC, which previously used D’Arcy globally, has split its worldwide account between several agencies as it aims to be “more flexible” in its approach to marketing. Delaney […]
A range of children’s merchandise featuring artwork by Beatles legend John Lennon will go on sale in the UK and Europe next spring. Lennon’s estate is signing 11 licences with major high street retailers to put Lennon’s Real Love artwork on children’s clothes, bedding, furniture and gift sets. The names of the retailers and the […]
ITV is right to be frustrated by the Government’s lethargy over digital TV, but its stab at the BBC and Sky is unjustified and could cost it its freedom, warns Torin Douglas
In times to come, this period may well be termed the phoney recession. Undeniably, there’s an air of unreality about it. On the one hand, evidence of stable consumer prosperity is all around us. Interest rates and inflation remain firmly stationed at historic lows, providing the backdrop to a housing boom and unprecedented activity in […]
Nestlé is understood to be concluding a global review of its advertising, which is expected to result in a major realignment of its accounts.
Whitbread has appointed Joanne Adamson to the new role of marketing controller at its Beefeater division, as part of a wider restructuring. Adamson replaces Beefeater marketing director Anne Elliott, who left the company earlier this year to become a consultant. Adamson, who was previously marketing controller in charge of the youth sector at The Pub […]
Alliance & Leicester (A&L) has consolidated its £25m below-the-line credit card and loans accounts into ehsrealtime (ehs).
General Motors (GM) is planning a wide-ranging review of its European sales and marketing strategies. The company, which has suffered poor sales, has appointed Vauxhall’s managing director Nick Reilly to oversee the review. Reilly has been promoted to European vice-president of sales, marketing and aftersales at GM. According to insiders, the sales and marketing review […]
The World Cup captures people’s imaginations across the globe, so naturally brands want to be a part of it. But how do companies maximise the potential of sponsoring the tournament?