Sales of sanitary protection products have increased by more than 50 per cent in four years, according to a new report by Mintel. The growth of the market, now worth about 273m and divided between internal and external protection, has been largely driven by product innovation and the launch of Procter & Gamble’s Always range […]

National newspapers are being accused of misleading advertisers by manipulating their sales through underhand deals with wholesalers. One major media agency is investigating a practice where wholesalers can sell copies of newspapers at a discount to hotel chains and transport companies, which then give them away free. But the copies appear as paid for on […]

Matsushita, the Japanese consumer electronics giant which owns the Panasonic and Technics brand, is believed to be planning a network of retail outlets in the UK to bypass established retailers such as Dixons and Comet. It would follow in the footsteps of rivals such as Sony, which has built a chain of 90 stores throughout […]

Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corporation’s (HSBC) asset management division is on the verge of appointing TBWA to handle its global advertising account. TBWA managing director Jonathan Hoare says: “I cannot comment except to say we are talking to them.” However, it is believed that the only stumbling block to TBWA’s appointment is the size of […]

RADAR, the Royal Association for Disability and Rehabilitation, is advertising for the first time since it was formed as a national pressure group in 1977. The first in a series of poster advertisements through agency Roose & Partners highlights the charity’s success in campaigning for wheelchair access in taxis. It will run from this week […]

The concept of giving free gifts as an incentive for buying perfume was first introduced over 40 years ago, although it was not until the Eighties that it was widely adopted by the fragrance houses. But, as Imogen Matthews reports, both consum

After four years in development, 1.1bn of investment and months of anguish Vauxhall is finally ready to break its emotional ties with the car which has single handedly driven its success in the UK over the last 13 years. The Cavalier, better known as the “rep-mobile”, and ever present at motorway service stations up and […]

Troubled cruise company Cunard is ditching famous cruise line brand names, such as QE II, Royal Viking and Crown, and rebranding its eight ships with the Cunard name. The company, which is still recovering from the bad publicity it received over the QE II refit at the end of last year, is in the first […]

Ogilvy & Mather is looking externally for a global media director and a European media chief executive to run its rejigged media operations.

The sale of the Thomson Corporation’s Scottish newspapers is expected to be finalised within the next two weeks. At the same time, Trinity International has decided to close Thomson Media Sales. Dundee-based publisher DC Thomson is the front-runner to buy the Aberdeen Press & Journal, while the owners of The European, the secretive Barclay brothers, […]

Today (Wednesday) is important not only in the Ecumenical calendar, but is also a key date that all involved in advertising should note carefully. For today is St Luke’s day. The Patron Saint of the finer things in life – iconography and artisans – is also the saint who saved Chiat/Day by selflessly lending his […]

Last month, I wrote that the jury was out on Pearson, the media conglomerate that owns the Financial Times, among much else. City apprehension was largely attached to what life for Pearson was likely to deliver in the wake of the sale of its stake in BSkyB – and the shares hung loose as we […]

With a unique heritage and vast consumer base, India offers enormous potential. But in their rush to the Far East, many marketers have overlooked the country.