Drugs giants are obliged by industry rules to give their conferences an educational slant. So how do they grab medics’ attention?

GGT Direct, rocked by the defections of its top management to start-up Lowe Direct, has appointed top executive Mike Cornwell from Ogilvy & Mather Direct as its new managing director. As Cornwell joins so GGT Direct’s head of account management Sue Gull and head of client services Tess Doughty confirmed they are leaving the agency. […]

The first European Media and Marketing Survey is a chance, at last, to assess pan-European TV as a medium for reaching the affluent international business market, says John Shannon. John Shannon is president of Grey International.

Jim Diamond’s letter “Farmers are sick of Loony Left disease” (MW April 12) seems to be suffering from, if not mad cow disease, then slightly eccentric correspondent syndrome. If farmers cut corners to “make a fast buck” in the Eighties (for example by feeding scrapie-infected sheep brains to naturally herbivorous cows) then I for one […]

Camelot has admitted that flagging sales of National Lottery Instants scratchcards – which last week achieved their lowest sales so far – has been caused by a lack of new games. Instants sales plummeted to 16.9 million last week, over 1 million below the previous lowest level of 18.1 million. During the first months of […]

Ladbroke Racing is hunting a director of marketing as the betting industry prepares to exploit greater advertising freedom resulting from Government reforms. The new director will oversee a marketing budget of 5m, and work alongside Ladbroke’s commercial director John O’Reilly. The company controls a 1,900-strong chain of betting shops. O’Reilly comments: “We have got a […]

The future of Liptonice iced tea in the UK looks bleak after a split between the three companies which produce and distribute it. PepsiCo and Britvic (which is part-owned by PepsiCo and distributes the product) are dissolving their partnership with Van den Bergh Foods, a Unilever subsidiary. Van den Bergh is to take over distribution […]

BSkyB’s Philip Ley believes he has spotted a niche for an agency able to respond in fast-moving markets. But can the man credited with the success of Sky and Sega succeed in the cut-throat agency world?

This month BrandTrack looks at the market for painkillers and cold cures. With the introduction of ever more powerful formulations, brands are building a strong franchise on specialist distribution and commanding premium pricing

How could the Americans consider a work of art on a French wine bottle to be an incitement to commit child abuse?

International Distillers & Vintners has moved its international marketing director for Pierre Smirnoff, Paul Davey, to head its fledgling Russian division.

International Distillers & Vintners has moved its international marketing director for Pierre Smirnoff, Paul Davey, to head its fledgling Russian division.

I feel a few words are required in response to your news story concerning the SMMT new car re gistration figures: “Boost for Volkswagen as sales rise by a third” (MW April 12). The SMMT figures you have quoted only take into account passenger vehicle registrations, and while it is true that Daihatsu’s passenger vehicle […]

WPP is combining five of its companies to form a network of corporate identity specialists to work with global clients. The Enterprise Identity Group joins London-based Sampson Tyrrell with sister companies in the US, Portugal, Hong Kong and Taiwan. The combined revenues for the agencies last year totalled 30m. WPP chief executive Martin Sorrell comments: […]

Sales of Unilever’s Chicken Tonight have slumped by almost a quarter since their peak in 1994, despite a 5m investment in the brand last summer. The brand was hailed a huge success after it shot to the leading position in the market, just eight months after its 1993 UK launch. It was supported by the […]