UK-based large-format outdoor advertising company Mega Profile has teamed up with nine similar companies in different countries to offer advertisers access to the first international network of giant poster sites. The consortium will be called Mega Group and will be managed by Mega Profile International’s managing director Sam Cook. The move echoes attempts by outdoor […]
Gillette is reviewing its $408m (£274.5m) global media planning and buying account for the first time in more than a decade. The review involves three agencies – the two incumbents OMD and Universal McCann, and non-roster agency MindShare. The company says it opened the review to WPP Group-owned MindShare, following its “long-standing relationship with its […]
SMS has taken the UK market by storm – we generate more than 1 billion text messages a month. But SMS is just the tip of what is becoming a phenomenal market – in years to come, our mobile devices will not only be phones, but also organisers, wallets and even keys. Yet, to capitalise […]
Faced by fragmentation, media owners need to provide more than one platform in order to ensure advertising messages reach consumers, says Simon Lynds
Barclays Bank has ousted Publicis from the £6m Woolwich advertising account and handed the business to Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH). Barclays, which acquired the Woolwich account in October 2000, has decided to consolidate the advertising for the the two pieces of business into one agency, and BBH already handles the advertising for Barclays. Publicis held […]
Golden Vale has appointed Quiet Storm to handle the £4m advertising business for its Cheestrings brand. The move comes just four months after the Irish company appointed BDH/TBWA to the business, and the Manchester-based agency is understood to have pitched against Quiet Storm. The TV campaign, which breaks later this month, will focus on a […]
Argos is planning to launch its own-brand digital satellite television shopping channel, which will also be broadcast in store to its retail customers. It is thought that the channel will, like Thomas Cook’s travel channel, be broadcast as free-to-air. The move will mark the first time a high-street retailer has launched a branded home-shopping channel […]
The fragmented UK toy market faces a series of problems, from the ‘global-versus-local’ debate to children’s increasing precocity. Last week, Hasbro cut its European marketing department. A wise move?
UK advertising spend slumped six per cent in the first quarter of the year compared with the same period last year. The fall was compounded by a big drop in ad expenditure on business magazines, national newspapers, outdoor and television. The figures, compiled by the World Advertising Research Center for the Advertising Association’s (AA) quarterly […]
Carling’s latest television ad, launched last week during the England versus Sweden World Cup match, is being investigated by the Independent Television Commission (ITC), after a number of viewers complained that it was offensive. The campaign, which was created by Leith London, with media buying by BBJ, features a frustrated woman whose boyfriend refuses to […]
When Richard Wheatly first joined Jazz FM as chief executive, the business was worth less than £6m, but under his leadership it went from strength to strength and last week was sold for £44.5m. Lucy Barrett speaks to the man who helped to move
“Clutter,” I hear you mutter. Ads are everywhere and consumers are becoming disillusioned. Big brands are getting more and more frustrated at receiving very little return for the millions they splash out every year on advertising. This might be about to change. While digging through some discarded memos in a bin near Granada Television’s offices, […]
I suspect that all marketers who practise in specialist areas roll their eyes in anticipation of misunderstanding when commentators from outside make forays into the their domain. However, Polly Devaney’s article on the over-50s market made much better observations than most, but with one important exception (MW May 30). Marketers don’t pursue the mature market […]
Energy company npower is planning to launch a solar energy product later this year, marking its second foray into the renewable energy market. The product is understood to be a first for the consumer energy market. Last year it teamed up with Greenpeace to launch Juice, an ethical electricity product for consumers generated from wind […]
For the second time in three weeks, sales of the Saturday National Lottery main draw have fallen to a record low. Camelot has blamed the World Cup and the Jubilee double bank holiday for the slump in sales for its main Saturday Lotto game. Sales for the draw on June 8 fell to £42.3m. This […]