Government continues to insist on frittering away public money on research projects whose worth is in severe doubt

Infomatin, the French daily newspaper, will cease publication this week. The paper was reported to have lost FF60m (7.7m) last year and its circulation has fallen from 360,000 at its launch two years ago to about 60,000. Fraud at Ogilvy & Mather’s French operation has cost the company about FF100m (13.3m). It was perpetrated between […]

Scottish distiller Whyte & Mackay has completed its year-long search for a marketing director with the appointment of Dominic Brand, Allied Domecq’s international marketing director for Ballantine’s and Teacher’s.

Northwest Airlines has appointed TBWA to its 1.5m European account. The US airline fired Impact FCA! six months ago because it was part of the Publicis Group.

Once your base of customers has signed up for your loyalty scheme, the next challenge is to keep them. Richenda Wilson finds that a mixture of subtlety and hard sell is a tricky but effective solution

Eurocamp is losing European marketing director Martin Leppard as part of a management shake-up. The changes include recruiting Eurostar’s head of advertising, Paul Tracy, as head of marketing at subsidiary company Eurocamp Travel. The Eurocamp group includes the brand leader in the UK’s 40m camping holiday market, as well as UK short-break brand Superbreak, Sunsites […]

CDP has won the Yorkshire Bank account after a three-way pitch against Banks Hoggins O’Shea and J Walter Thompson (Manchester). A campaign, worth up to 2m, will break at the end of February and is expected to consist of TV and press ads and mailings. The first bursts will focus on the bank’s Flexible Payment […]

I read with interest Rod Peel’s prescription for a power industry consumer strategy in his piece The Mains Attraction (MW December 8). Apparently, “it will be about brand positioning, market segmentation, delivery of a promise, creation of tariffs and quality of customer service following (sic) through”. In other words, success will be based on marketing […]

It was the day of the pitch for the Yorkshire Bank advertising account when David Gibson, the bank’s communications manager, had to dash out early because his home had been burgled. To David’s horror he discovered the thieves had cleaned out his Leeds home, not forgetting to swipe videos made by agency hopefuls Banks Hoggins […]

Richard Hytner, chief executive of Ammirati & Puris/ Lintas London, is leaving the agency after turning down a job on the A&P/L board in New York.

The Telegraph is promoting Daily Telegraph marketing manager Hugo Drayton to marketing director, filling the role left vacant since the departure of David Pugh. Paul Woolfenden is taking on the new role of promotions director. A former promotions director for The Sunday Times and The Times, he joins from marketing and sales promotion specialist Firecrest. […]

The Prudential is on the verge of switching its 11.5m account from Mustoe Merriman Herring Levy to Abbott Mead Vickers.BBDO. Sources inside the UK’s biggest life assurer say that despite claims from senior managers that the account will go to a full pitch, it will be handed to AMV at the end of the week. […]

A new hybrid Sky channel is proving the multi-channel format can be a success if the quality is high enough

British Energy has recruited Lowe Howard-Spink to handle the controversial 5m privatisation of the nuclear industry. The sell-off, scheduled for summer, is likely to be one of the most difficult Government priva-tisations to date. The nuclear side of the electricity industry was dropped from the National Power privatisation in 1995 because it was feared it […]