Homebase is planning to offer customers more free services, such as garden design and home decorating, in a bid to boost customer loyalty and differentiate itself from rivals.
Confusion still reigns over BlackBerry’s future business strategy, after the company insisted at an event to showcase its new Z30 smartphone it remained focused on the consumer market, despite its prospective owner Fairfax saying earlier this week its future was rooted in providing “secure enterprise solutions”.
Heineken has hinted it is to launch a home appliance for beer inspired by the success of the coffee machine as the result of a global tie-up with industrial designer Marc Newson.
There was something of a sea change in the retail industry this week with news that eBay is partnering with Argos for a click-and-collect service.
Virgin Media is scrapping the CMO role currently held by Jeff Dodds as part of a wider management team shakeup following Liberty Global’s $23.3bn acquisition of the telecoms operator earlier this year.
Apple is on a recruitment drive to bolster the UK arm of its iAd business as it holds ongoing talks with UK agencies over potential iAd opportunities for brands ahead of the impending launch of its iTunes Radio service here.
The organisers of the Rugby Champions Cup, the Anglo-French break-away competition, are confident of securing a title sponsor in the next couple of months.
Asda has been forced into making an apology after widespread criticism from both charities and consumers over the sale of a Halloween outfit advertised as a ‘mental patient fancy dress costume’.
British Gas is to launch a brand called Hive around a family of products and services offering homeowners the chance to control the energy efficiency of their homes via their smartphones.
The games industry has been told it faces enforcement action if it fails to explicitly tell gamers if games feature in-game advertising and whether their personal data could be used for marketing purposes.
Breast Cancer Care is launching the first marketing campaign to carry its new orange logo, using ‘powerful and striking’ images of women showing their mastectomy scars to convey its role in supporting cancer sufferers both during and after treatment.
Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary’s comment that “we should try to eliminate things that unnecessarily piss people off” in the wake of a series of damaging brand reputation blows has been well aired.
Marketers could get a reality check from a study which shows they are overestimating the use of mobiles and tablets in shopper research as well as the use of social media for customer service.
The French tourism development agency Atout France is readying its biggest UK marketing campaign to promote the whole of France as a holiday destination, rather than just specific regions, as it looks to regain visitor numbers lost to other European countries.
Britons’ love affair with Aldi is showing no signs of cooling, with sales growing at a record-breaking pace over the summer and a marketing push to highlight price and quality helping to boost brand perceptions.