Initiative Media’s loss of the pan-European Johnson & Johnson business is yet another blow for the Interpublic Group-owned network, which lost General Motors – one of its biggest clients – last year and Credit Suisse earlier this summer.
MTV has signed fashion retailer Esprit as a sponsor of its Europe Music Awards in a multi-million pound deal that will give Esprit’s youth brand, edc, TV exposure for the first time. The partnership marks a change in strategy for Esprit; it wants to launch edc as a standalone brand. MTV Networks International will produce […]
Internet entrepreneur Marc Worth, the founder of online fashion directory Worth Global Style Network (WGSN), has been appointed to the board of the soon-to-be-launched shopping site Osoyou.com. This will be Worth’s first venture since selling his trend forecasting WGSN to EMAP for £140m last year. The Osoyou.com website, due to launch next month, will be […]
Dragon’s Den presenter Peter Jones is backing a new men’s title, Man About Town, which will launch in August and target affluent 30to 45-year-old males. Man About Town will initially have a print run of about 140,000 and has secured advertising from fashion brands like Paul Smith, Gucci, Marc Jacobs and Dolce & Gabbana. The […]
Swedish telecommunications company Tele2 is thought to be reviewing its estimated £20m global media-planning and buying account. It has shortlisted Starcom, Carat, Universal McCann and WPP’s Group M to pitch for the business. Tele2 launched in the UK in 2003 and has worked with BLM Media in the past. The company, which sold its declining […]
Toy company VTech has appointed John Ayling & Associates to handle its 2m media planning and buying business. It is thought that the agency won the business following a competitive pitch, which started last year.
Media buyers have hit out at the National Readership Survey (NRS) after it decided against publishing its first set of figures for the London freesheets, with one buyer calling for the readership survey to be scrapped. Buyers want the NRS to look at fresh ways of improving the number and quality of its sample size, […]
WWAV Rapp Collins has won a 5m pan-European above-the-line advertising project for Sony Handycam following a three-way pitch.
Fox’s Biscuits is holding a pitch for its 5m advertising business after parting company with Propaganda.
WPP Group has given experiential marketing a shot in the arm by describing it as a “crucial sector” following its decision to merge branding and events agency PCI Fitch with digital specialist Clever Media to create a global experiential agency called FitchLive (MW last week). But many marketers are still unsure about exactly what experiential […]
Silverjet, the low-cost business class-only carrier, has appointed Anna Lamont as its first head of marketing. She reports to chief executive Lawrence Hunt. Lamont, who has 13 years of marketing experience in the airline industry with brands such as Etihad Airways, Virgin Atlantic and Emirates, took up her role at the beginning of the week. […]
The biggest programme of housebuilding in 30 years is under way after new Prime Minister Gordon Brown last week pledged to build 3 million homes by 2020. The announcement comes at a time when the Office of Fair Trading is looking at the housebuilding market amid fears consumers could be getting a raw deal, and […]
Videogames publisher Sega has restructured and beefed up its UK marketing team. Tina Hicks, formerly brand manager, has been promoted to marketing director for the UK, reporting to managing director Alan Pritchard.
Esprit is plotting a raft of standalone stores across Europe for its youth fashion sub-brand edc by Esprit. It marks a dramatic change of strategy by the clothing retailer, which until now has sold and marketed edc with the masterbrand. Esprit brand president Thomas Grote says: “From now on, edc is taking its own path […]
As the saying goes, when one door closes, another opens. The smoking ban in England means that for tobacco companies the doors to pubs – and all other enclosed public places – are firmly shut but the ban may have opened up a host of new marketing possibilities. The Gallaher Group, whose brands include Benson […]