Responsible marketing is no oxymoron. Companies that recklessly plug insufficiently tried and tested products soon discover why. They are assaulted with a crescendo of lobbyist pressure and media criticism, which eventually results in drastic loss of public confidence and shareholder value, possible prosecution, not to mention the termination of a few boardroom careers. So, when […]
With BA mortgaging planes, Argentina defaulting and middle-class landlords forcing nurses out of London, it must be time for a property crash, says George Pitcher
A majority of customers will no longer be able to switch electricity suppliers at no charge, because energy regulator Ofgem is unable to decide whether energy companies can legally hold customers to ransom with fixed-term contracts and penalty clauses. British Gas and npower have both capped their electricity prices for fixed periods, but the offer […]
Motorola has made its biggest move yet into the youth market by signing a £1m sponsorship deal with radio station Capital FM.
While I do not wish to exonerate Andersen for its part in the Enron debacle, George Pitcher (MW February 7) cannot be allowed to paint Lord Wakeham as whiter than white in the affair. As far as I understand, Wakeham has not, as Pitcher states, resigned as chairman of the Press Complaints Commission. He has […]
Royal Canin to lose its bulk brands and concentrate on upmarket and specialist sales
The Ryvita Company has appointed Walsh Trott Chick Smith to handle its £1.5m advertising business ahead of a series of product launches outside its crispbread range.
Whatever views Niall Fitzgerald and Paul Seligman express in “GM Monsters” (MW February 7), I wonder whether either have contemplated the possible scenario that food crops might be engineered into sterility. Imagine the benefit to developing countries of a more reliable crop, but any saved seeds for next year’s planting being sterile – so the […]
Internet portal Vizzavi next week launches the first official spin-off product from ITV’s Pop Idol – a Mobile Idol gift box, to be sold exclusively by Woolworths. Produced under licence by Vizzavi, the product will be launched on February 25 to accompany the release of Pop Idol winner Will Young’s debut single. The Mobile Idol […]
Sanyo UK Sales, the sales and marketing division for electronics company Sanyo’s consumer products, has promoted general marketing manager Peter Eldon to sales and marketing director. He will combine responsibility for sales and marketing for the first time at Sanyo UK’s sales division. Eldon will report to managing director Yuji Moriya. The former sales director […]
British Airways (BA) marketing and communications director Martin George has been given commercial development responsibilities as part of a restructure, with one of his first tasks being to cut his 700-strong staff by up to a quarter. George is now director of marketing and commercial development and in addition to his original duties will be […]
The Diary is aware that mistakes can be made, and regular readers have no doubt spotted the occasional error. But what if your company just spent between &£36,000 and &£58,000 on a full-page ad in the Financial Times, only to find the proof-readers had taken a short holiday to Algiers? This happened to Publicis last […]
HHCL & Partners has ended a recent spell of disastrous business losses by winning the £2m Autoglass account.
Alasdair Ritchie, the president of IPG-owned Octagon Marketing, is to leave the company, following a shake-up of its operating regions. Octagon has moved its head office from London to New York in the US, and has realigned the company from four operating groups to three regional divisions. As a result, Octagon Marketing has been scrapped […]
In your leader “Nurturing the creative urge” (MW February 7), you said, “professional advisers have built a formidable panoply of competitive examinations around them” whereas advertising has “low, permeable barriers to entry”. You are correct, but with one glaring exception – most creative people have spent a minimum of four years in higher education, learning […]