20 August 1998

United Biscuits has created a new “power brand development team” for McVitie’s Group, headed by recently appointed ex-Unilever chief Ed Jackson, to drive international expansion. Jackson was appointed to the new position of managing director of development operations in July, as revealed exclusively in Marketing Week. (MW July 9). He will head a team of […]

Umbro has dropped its “Only Football” tag as the brand diversifies into general leisure sportswear. The privately-owned Manchester-based company, which kits out the England football team, will produce trainers and apparel, such as tops and jackets, for the general sports market. Until now all shoes and clothing were made expressly for football use. Steve Preston, […]

Andrew Ingham’s Factfile “Why radio has local authority”, highlighted a most unrevealing piece of research that the Radio Advertising Bureau is no doubt going to hail as “groundbreaking”. Unfortunately, the research would seem to back up a most ordinary perception of the medium among its own listeners. None of the stations are particularly authoritative and […]

August, the month when car manufacturers traditionally do their briskest trade with private buyers, is proving a testing time for leading Korean marques Daewoo and Hyundai. After several years of spectacular progress, in which improved product, thoughtful marketing and keen pricing combined to create ballooning sales and increased prestige, they now face a crisis. The […]

Dairy Crest has ditched Mellors Reay & Partners and appointed Grey in an agency roster shake-up which also entails brand-swaps for lead agency Young & Rubicam.

The reorganisation of BT an-nounced by group managing director Bill Cockburn last week (MW August 13) is designed to make it lean, responsive and adaptable. The BT Cockburn has in mind is completely different from today’s telecoms giant. The former WH Smith chief executive has restructured the company to protect it against rivals which are […]

Allergan, the contact lens solution manufacturer, is talking to agencies about its 8m pan-European advertising account. The company has asked Grey Advertising and Saatchi & Saatchi’s healthcare division to pitch. The UK account is being reviewed out of London-based Innovation Advertising. Ogilvy & Mather won the 2m Allergan northern European account at the end of […]

A source at one Korean car manufacturer says his company can make 40 per cent more money per car in the UK than at home. The collapse of South Korea’s currency, the won, combined with the strength of the pound, means Korean goods can be made for considerably less than they are sold for internationally. […]

The Internet is rapidly emerging as the Wild West of the market research world. Few in the industry doubt its long-term potential to reduce the cost and improve the quality of market research. But, as all the potential benefits of conducting research through this frontier medium are being debated, many fear that standards are being […]

Whitbread launches its first print campaign for Rolling Rock beer on August 24, using creative work based on a game of odds and evens. The initiative, devised by Bartle Bogle Hegarty, carries the endline ‘On a roll with a rock’ and challenges consumers to take actions de-pending on five rolls of the dice. These include […]

WPP Group, the advertising and marketing company, has reported a 20 per cent increase in half-year profits to 93.8m. In the first half of the year to June, WPP won new business worth 800m, up from 700m in the same period last year. WPP’s public relations and consulting business showed the fastest revenue growth, rising […]