What do rain and ITV commercial impacts have in common? We haven’t seen much of either recently. Unfair? Well, in ITV’s case there have been lots of impacts about but, crucially, not as many as in 1993 or 1994. The result of showing 14 year-on-year minuses out of the past 20 weeks (with another four […]

The Butter Council is to wind up by the end of the year, citing the withdrawal of funding by UK milk producers. The Council, which was first set up in 1954, took the decision to fold after the UK’s Milk Development Council withdrew its support. Parcelforce has appointed Peter Wigglesworth as general manager marketing (UK). […]

Simon Esberger is believed to have accepted a holding position within the Spillers group. The former Spillers UK marketing director is understood to have shifted to another position in the petfood company’s own label/ business-to-business division when it seemed in-evitable he would leave Dalgety. Esberger became acting managing director at Spillers in February (MW February […]

Pan-European channels, including CNN, Eurosport, MTV and NBC Super Channel, are considering joint marketing initiatives to improve selling pan-European television to advertisers. Sales directors from the main channels meet at the offices of MTV Europe later today (Wed-nesday) to consider a number of options which could include a joint media conference, or even a joint […]

Bartle Bogle Hegarty has come up with its own version of an equal opportunities policy by creating ads that are equally good, indeed remarkably similar, to those of rival ad agencies. Alon Hochdorf, the Saatchi & Saatchi account director for Castlemaine XXXX, was straight on the blower to the Diary after seeing the new BBH […]

TV industry insiders believe the pace of terrestrial digital TV will be dictated by BSkyB when it launches its own digital satellite broadcasting next year… …Terrestrial broadcasters are understood to be in talks about developing digital receiver equipment so as not to rely on pay-TV technology controlled by Rupert Murdoch (Torin Douglas, page 17)… BSkyB’s […]

Telecoms giant BT will introduce voicemail for the home to encourage consumers to use the phone more often. BT has just finished filming a new ad featuring Bob Hoskins, which will air in the autumn. The ad introduces call minder – a telephone-answering service based at the local telephone exchange. The service, which costs 7 […]

To stem the present rush of speculative customers, building societies are hiking their minimum investment levels. But freezing out small account holders now could spell trouble for the future. Sean Brierley investigates

The mobile phone market has an image problem. While handsets can be cheap, users are often shocked by the running costs and the length of contracts they are tied into

Saatchi & Saatchi is searching for a long-term successor to chairman and chief executive Ed Wax. Wax is contracted until the end of 1997 but wants to appoint a number two – the role previously held by Bill Muirhead.

MEDIA Mars Confectionery is expected to replace Kellogg’s Frosties as the new sponsor of the Gladiators programme while BT is to sponsor Granada TV’s This Morning, presented by Judy Finnegan and Richard Madeley.

Consortia fighting for digital terrestrial TV multiplexes will overshadow those that won ITV licences. Can such big players unite to sell the concept?

EURO RSCG Institutionnel has been appointed by Microsoft to handle a forthcoming campaign aimed at combating youth unemployment in France. McCann-Erickson Frankfurt is to resign the Spalt analgesic account, blaming ‘strategic differences’ over the current campaign. The agency will continue to handle other brands marketed by Much Pharma, including Clear Blue and Fibrosine. The Publicis […]

Britain’s largest fridge manufacturer, Lec Refrigeration, is about to appoint Banks Hoggins O’Shea as its advertising agency. BHO and Cowan Kemsley Taylor fought for the account, which is worth 4m over three years. BHO is reported to have won the account, although Lec says it will not announce its decision until September 4. BHO creative […]