ITV has moved to create a level playing field for newspaper publishers wanting to sponsor network game shows for reader promotions after criticism that some publishers were getting an unfair advantage. The ITV sponsorship committee this week opened bidding for the three network quiz shows that do not have contractual options with newspaper sponsors – […]

The Marketing Week/York Racecourse competition The winner of Round 1 is Trevor Anderson of Bayer plc. Trevor and a companion will enjoy a champagne day out at York Races in May.

Scottish & Newcastle’s proposed acquisition of the bulk of Courage and its portfolio of beer brands could lead to the consolidation of marketing under marketing director Richard Gibb at the company’s Edinburgh office.

Virgin Radio sales director John Pearson has been appointed managing director as part of a long-term strategy to enable chief executive David Campbell to focus on exporting Virgin Radio overseas. Virgin hopes to follow Classic FM, which last year launched national radio services in the Netherlands and Finland and a local service in southern Sweden. […]

The Samaritans has launched its first fully-integrated ad campaign through Ogilvy & Mather. The £400,000 campaign, “whatever you’re going through, we’ll go through it with you”, aims to highlight the broader range of issues the charity now deals with, as well as its 24- hour support service. The campaign will run on cinema, press and […]

Madame Tussaud’s new poster campaign is a radical departure from its previous advertising and depicts the exhibition as upbeat and humorous. This is the first work through J Walter Thompson since it won the business in December. Six executions will run on 48-sheet cross tracks on the London Underground. TEXT:

With reference to your report by Torin Douglas “Listen and learn” (MW March 10), perhaps I should have been more explicit in my welcome address at ITV’s Gala dinner. When I said I had found it refreshing to attend a conference where, for the first time in nearly a decade, our agenda had not been […]

Louise Wall, managing director of sales promotion agency Clarke Hooper, is to join Option One in the same role amid speculation that she has been brought in to revive the agency’s fortunes. Wall has accepted the job which Richard Bailey, managing director of the tba agency, is understood to have turned down. Bailey’s appointment is […]

The UK’s biggest advertorial campaign, worth ú2m, will be launched next week for nine months for Smith & Nephew’s Simple skincare brand.

The spiralling number of detergents on supermarket shelves is working against manufacturers by making shopping more of a chore. By Virginia Matthews

Northern Dairies marketing director Martin Jamieson is leaving the UK’s largest milk deliverer a week after parent company Northern Foods an-nounced massive redundancies. Jamieson’s departure after three years in the post follows swiftly on the heels of the 2,200 redundancies from Northern Foods’ 30,000-strong workforce, which were announced last week. The dairy side of the […]

Daewoo is poised to revolutionise the UK car market. Not only will the firm’s unglamorous ads focus on price and service, but it hopes to hit rivals just where they are most vulnerable – through distribution. By Tom O’Sullivan

BSkyB is understood to be joining forces with Telecommunications Inc to bid for Channel 5. The consortium could also include Granada and Yorkshire-Tyne Tees Television. Pearson reported pre-tax profits of £297.8m for the year to December 31 1994, including a one-off £57.6m earning from BSkyB, in which Pearson holds a 14 per cent stake. Ulster […]

Prince Charles is backing a new range of soft drinks whose ingredients include elderflower plucked from the gardens of Highgrove. Duchy Originals, the company formed by the Prince of Wales in 1990, is launching a soft drinks range which is intended to provide an elegant alternative to wine. Called Duchy No.1 and Duchy No.3, the […]

Sara Lee has appointed TBWA to launch American clothing brand Hanes in Europe. TBWA was responsible for the worldwide launch of Sara Lee subsidiary Playtex Wonderbra, but had to pitch for the Hanes business against a number of Sara Lee roster agencies. WWAV Rapp Collins and Vauxhall Motors are still in dispute over £2.5m in […]