Furniture retailer Courts is hiring a former Texas Homecare marketing chief to be its first marketing director, as it expands into the North. The chain has brought in Clive Roylance to take control of marketing, previously run by chief executive Bruce Cohen. The company says the move will free Cohen to concentrate on expansion. Roylance […]

Leagas Delaney starts a poster and TV campaign for The Guardian in the North of England at the beginning of September, which will support the launch of the A5 version of The Guide (MW August 4). From September 9, the A5 Guide will be available across the North from Liverpool to Hull. The London A5 […]

With reference to the article “Fear and loathing in Kent” (MW August 11), I write to say that I am appalled to read yet another sarcastic piece about people attempting to retain the heritage and culture of our country and failing to list any of the important and relevant facts. If Iain Murray had bothered […]

Whitbread is relaunching the Merrydown cider brand, replacing its classic rural image with earthy Celtic imagery aimed at a younger, “new age” market. The TV advertising will play on Celtic themes and present the brand’s “dark side”. The brewer took over distribution and marketing for the brand in May, and has since moved its 1m […]

Paul McCann

“Christian radio station outraged by smutty innuendo bans ads” is a better story than “Christian radio station wanted to broadcast smutty innuendo but was advised not to by media buying agency”. Sadly, the truth behind the absence of two radio ads – produced for cable channel Bravo’s Cult TV Weekend – from Premier Radio is […]

Paul Stoneham, marketing director at Procter & Gamble (Oil of Ulay), gives his opinion on the sector

The 1996 round of ITV airtime negotiations are under starters orders with Carlton Sales attempting to make a pre-emptive strike to keep wavering London advertisers. A strong revenue performance from Carlton Sales, at the same time that Carlton TV has suffered from reduced audiences, combined to make some of the company’s deals this year more […]

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

Your article on the life and pensions industry, “A matter of life and death” (MW July 28), addresses, arguably, one of the UK’s most important social issues: the lack of pension provision for UK citizens from the early part of the next century. None of the major political parties or any financial services providers would […]

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

A lifestyles study has found there are subtle differences between Sunday papers’ readers.

Three marketing managers have quit Mazda Cars UK as the company restructures following the departure of marketing director Jan Smith (MW April 28). The resignations came as the company formally decided to replace Smith. Managing director David Heslop has handled all marketing since Smith’s departure but has now appointed a headhunter to find a replacement. […]

Carlsberg is likely to sell part of its 50 per cent stake in the Carlsberg-Tetley joint brewing venture and keep a minority share, according to stockbrokers James Capel. Analyst Julie Crampton says the most likely scenario is that either Whitbread or Bass will buy Allied Domecq’s 50 per cent share of Carlsberg-Tetley, plus a substantial […]