The Playboy Channel has poached a rival’s marketing director and appointed Saatchi & Saatchi and Equinox Communications to handle the 2m launch. Jessica Cox, marketing director at TNT and Cartoon Network, is to join the company as marketing director. She will work with managing director Rita Lewis to develop the details of its launch strategy. […]
Westbay Distributors will take on rum rival Seagram with the 3.5m launch of a new Bacardi drink which targets men. Bacardi Spice is a gold rum with spices such as cinnamon, caramel, vanilla and pepper. It is stronger than the standard Bacardi, at 40 per cent alcohol by volume, compared to Bacardi’s 37.5 per cent. […]
Mars has ended uncertainty over the merger of its European Petcare and Main Meal food businesses by appointing a new president for the operation. There had been fears that merger plans would be delayed because of Mars’ struggle to find a successor for president Tony Hallatt who died in a car accident on July 21 […]
If chicken tikka with mixed salad and French dressing isn’t enough to tempt you back to the humble sandwich – quite apart from what it may do to your delicate alimentary organs – then what about banana, walnut and tomato, chocolate cookie and cream cheese or avocado with an unspeakable side dressing? Among the stranger […]
Anyone who has ever had to address an audience of marketers – particularly after they’ve had a good lunch – will be familiar with that sudden, terrifying question: “How am I going to keep this lot awake for the next 45 minutes?” Business people are no different to anyone else. No matter how interested they […]
Agency press buyers are planning to get tough with magazine publishers, following the release of the January-June ABCs. Agencies are concerned that titles such as Vogue, which plans to increase its ratecard by ten per cent next year, have not raised their circulations enough to justify the increases. Vogue’s January-June ABCs were almost static year-on-year […]
ITV is to hold a second forum with car advertisers in September to discuss their concerns about TV airtime inflation . Car advertisers are likely to be told that they must move their airtime out of the overcrowded period after News at Ten and buy against other audiences such as women, instead of just ABC1 […]
Oil giant Texaco has appointed its first worldwide marketing co-ordinator to develop global marketing strategies. Helen Clark has been transferred from her position as Texaco’s brand development manager in the UK to take up the new role based in New York. The move comes as Texaco unveils initiatives to develop its forecourt retail sites, an […]
Pharmaceutical giant, Bayer is to reclaim the sales and distribution of its Alka-Seltzer brand in the UK from Warner Wellcome starting next January as predicted in Marketing Week (December 16, 1994). Warner Wellcome product manager Nick Wall says the details of this transfer have not yet been finalised but adds that the advertising and marketing […]
Consumers will soon be able to enjoy a post-match bath with England football star David Platt through the launch of a range of Team England toiletries. Platt will unveil the products, which include aftershave, shampoo and conditioner, next week. They will be available at Boots the Chemist, Tesco and other major multiples. Team England products […]
A global brand needs to be able to cross language as well as trade barriers. “Coca-Cola” is internationally recognised, and the “McDonald’s” name is more famous than Jesus Christ, we are told. But up-and-coming US beer Miller Genuine Draft has fallen victim to its own conceit. In signing a brewing and distribution deal with Japanese […]
Denim giant Wrangler is seeking two marketing chiefs for its UK and European operations. Sue Childer, UK marketing manager, left last week after three years at the company to join Champion Sports in Barcelona. She had been in charge of Wrangler’s UK marketing since October last year, when the UK sales and marketing director role […]
Whitbread is repositioning premium lager brand Heineken Export in a major advertising campaign that breaks this Friday. The new television and cinema campaign is the first since it dropped Stephen Fry’s “smooth talking bar steward” ads for Heineken Export (MW March 10). It is part of a 10m push to make Heineken Export into an […]
Condé Nast and NatMags have moved into the contract magazine market.
The poster industry is braced for a round of takeovers following the Office of Fair Trading’s decision to allow Maiden Outdoor to buy British Transport Advertising. The OFT no longer regards outdoor as a collection of different sized markets, but accepts Maiden’s arguments that it is one whole market. The acquisition gives Maiden 36 per […]