Centrica has restructured the company and promoted group marketing director Simon Waugh to the new role of deputy managing director for British Gas. The changes, effective from January 1, 2002, will result in Centrica-owned British Gas and the Automobile Association (AA) working as separate units. But Waugh will continue to have marketing control over both […]
Asda is taking on high street coffee retail outlets such as Starbucks with the launch of a new style café offering premium products at lower prices in 30 stores. The Food To Go café format will sell freshly ground coffee, latte, cappuccino and double espresso at 88p a cup – about half the price of […]
The Sunday Times is launching a new 64-page colour tabloid supplement, called Home. The new supplement will be launched in this weekend’s paper, and will replace the existing 16-page broadsheet Property section. Home will feature a range of articles, from how to buy a house abroad to useful tips on DIY projects. There will also […]
An activist group has lodged a complaint with the ASA against Procter & Gamble and Kimberly-Clark. The group is angered by a leaflet that claims there is no environmental benefit in using washable instead of disposable nappies.
The contract magazine sector is growing rapidly, with mainstream publishers and media groups fighting for a slice of a very lucrative cake
For a while it looked as if soup might be the new coffee – an extraordinary marketing phenomenon. But, as New Covent Garden, beset by own-brand competitors, seeks external funds, and Soup Works is sold by the administrators, premium soup is in
As Europe forges greater unity, its component countries are paradoxically creating a kind of branded nationalism. Has Belgium got what it takes to become a global brand?
Hewlett-Packard (H-P) chairwoman and chief executive Carly Fiorina has said that the Compaq brand will continue to exist, but only as a sub-brand, after the &£17bn computer and software merger which saw H-P come out on top. Speaking at a press conference in New York yesterday (Tuesday) she added that the merger was unlikely to […]
In the struggle to reach the stars, rigorous training, mental acuity and a relaxing lie down are just a few necessary skills – especially if you’re French, says Iain Murray
It is quite incredible that PC manufacturers are relying on Microsoft to help them out of the mire. (MW August 16). How unsurprising that the PC market is suffering. The entire sector has been buoyed by consumers’ eagerness to have Internet access at home. The market has reached saturation and foolishly the key players have […]
The National Magazine Company (NatMags), which publishes Cosmopolitan and Esquire, has awarded its women’s weekly title Best’s creative account to BMP DDB in a two-way pitch against Bates UK. BMP DDB has already created a radio ad for the magazine. NatMags does not use any other creative agency for its titles, and it is likely […]
The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), the Net’s commercial trade body, has teamed up with a credit card industry body, the Association for Payment Clearing Services (APACS), to publish guidelines designed to beat online credit card fraud. APACS says total plastic card fraud is expected to top £400m this year, up from £293m in 2000, but […]
Dumfries & Galloway (D&G) Tourist Board is to appoint a head of marketing, whose salary will be funded through a foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) recovery scheme.
I couldn’t help but be amused at the Diary’s revulsion towards Johnny Vegas.
So, according to the man in charge of marketing Miller beer, “Pilsner sounds German or Czech” (MW last week). Odd, that, although I’m sure the Czechs won’t mind that a senior employee at a large brewer doesn’t know that “pilsner” beer originates in a town called Pilzen in the Czech Republic, which has only occasionally […]