Return on investment for UK retailers experimenting with interactive TV (ITV) is only “a distant prospect” as long as dozens of retailers chase tiny revenues, says a new report from Forrester Research. Focusing on what it calls “tRetail”, the report warns that UK retailers face some difficult decisions. Forrester says that rather than struggle on, […]
The BBC is to put up to £10m into advertising the new digital TV channels and radio stations, approved by culture secretary Tessa Jowell, in order to give them a kick start and to drive digital take-up.
The children’s rights charity, Save the Children, is looking for an agency to handle its above-the-line advertising. In the past, the charity has used M&C Saatchi, but recently it has handled its advertising in house. M&C Saatchi created the charity’s “Save the Children from Violence” campaign in 1999, which was used to spearhead its efforts […]
With respect to Alan Mitchell (MW last week) and ignoring the fact that his column says the same thing each time it runs, his points about value and values don’t necessarily hold true. Yes, we may feel good when we buy a product from a company that treats its staff well and provides friendly service, […]
Many companies associate themselves with specific countries in order to add value to their brand. These associations are often considered misleading and, as Moben recently discovered, can lead to censure.
In times of recession, marketing budgets are usually the first thing to be cut. But many commentators argue that because advertising is cheaper during periods of economic slowdown, increasing advertising spend can give brands an edge over thei
The fact that the importance of internal marketing is being written about more frequently (MW September 6) does not disguise the fact that most marketing departments divorce themselves from how their brand promises are fulfilled. It is more than a little ironic that CRM has become the latest marketing trend, absorbing millions in investment while […]
The Automobile Association (AA) is reviewing its below-the-line business worth up to &£30m. The Centrica-owned company is looking at how the AA’s financial services and roadside divisions, currently held by a roster of agencies, can work more closely together following the announcement last week that they are merging into a single business unit. Ehs realtime, […]
The Diary is an extremely eloquent and confident public speaker and never gets nervous when addressing hundreds of important people nor does the Diary make elementary mistakes such as talking too fast or not taking short pauses so people can mull over what is being said which if not observed can lead to the speaker […]
Club Med UK has appointed Chris Woodbridge-Cox to the newly created position of director of marketing, sales and transport. The position combines the managing director and marketing functions. The previous managing director, Alex El Kayem, retired in early July, and marketing director Daniel Chafey left at the same time. Finance director Annie Hanneuse has been […]
Your article on marketing mistakes and fraud (MW August 30) was interesting, but in one respect incorrect. The imprisonment of Mike Doyle (ex-marketing director of Abbey National) and some directors of BDP and other agencies, was a direct result of the actions of a young (at the time) sales promotion manager at Abbey National called […]
Hotel chain Holiday Inn launches its first brand push for ten years, with a £2m advertising campaign which breaks Wednesday 19 September.
London radio station 95.8 Capital FM is to overhaul its 14-year-old Birthday Bonanza competition, and is launching a &£350,000 ad campaign to promote the new competition, called Birthday Bank. Birthday Bank will be publicised from next Monday through ads in the Evening Standard and Metro, and from October 8 on 1,000 six-sheet poster sites in […]
Being linked to a mass murderer is no laughing matter, especially when you’ve got a corporate reputation to uphold. So the Diary has a lot of sympathy for the Creative Consortium, a design and Internet consultancy which got mistaken for a company of the same name which was making a Channel 5 documentary about serial […]
Lord Ashdown’s diary is pure vanity with spurious tales of political success. While he was in the back seat with his pants down, Alan Clark had real drive. By Iain Murray