Month: February 2006

As a keen student of history and erstwhile Unilever executive who has worked for Patrick Cescau, I was somewhat puzzled by last week’s Marketing Week front page cartoon. The inspiration of your cartoon was Tenniel’s 1890 Punch magazine cartoon also called “dropping the pilot”. In Tenniel’s cartoon the ship is Germany and the pilot is […]

It would appear that hardly a day goes by without some regulator or commentator having a pop at the food industry, largely on the grounds of safeguarding the nation’s health. For the most part, the food sector has chosen to react to each accusation as it surfaces on an entirely ad hoc basis. While the […]

At last – the cat is out of the bag on waste in the point of purchase (PoP) industry. David Benady’s article “Waste not want not” (MW February 9) hits the nail on the head, and though it may seem counter-intuitive for a major PoP supplier like SPS to say so, we too think there […]

The Co-operative movement has an enviable record of pioneering business standards and trends. Unfortunately, its imitators are usually the ones who have successfully cashed in. A good case in point is the modern supermarket. As a national force, the Co-op with its “divvie” was the one to beat in the early 1960s; and beat it […]

With the World Cup fast approaching, the Diary is looking forward to the glittering array of promotions that accompany the event – and, of course, the football. Not only that but there should be a bouncy, catchy, singalong song that will at first delight, then irritate and finally infuriate to the point of distraction all […]

Regular readers of the Diary may remember the story a couple of weeks ago about the Advertising Trumps card game. Well, those of you in search of even more old-style fun with a modern business edge should hunt down the intriguingly entitled board game “How Surprisingly Spacious”, produced by computer company Sun Microsystems to celebrate […]

The Diary never makes cheap gags about the ad industry and its relationship with white lines. But it certainly sniffed a story when it came across a website in the US which blatantly links the two. The Parking Stripe team have come up with yet another seemingly obscure place to advertise⦠on the floor in […]

Britvic is to launch leading squash brand Robinsons in Denmark and Sweden to begin the expansion of its drinks portfolio across the globe. This will be the company’s first serious push on the Continent. Establishing the brand in a market which accounts for 12 per cent of European squash sales could take five years according […]

Brewer Carlsberg UK has promoted brands director Darran Britton to the board as marketing director. He reports directly to chief executive Doug Clydesdale. Britton will be responsible for managing the brands and trade marketing teams. He joined the brewer as a graduate trainee in 1993 and rose to become marketing manager of Tetley’s Bitter and […]

Pizza Hut is poised to promote Simon Wallis, head of retail marketing at the fast food chain, to marketing director. He has been covering the role since the departure of former marketing director Martin Pugh last November. It is understood that Pizza Hut has not been actively seeking a replacement for the role, as it […]