Newspaper publishing is a business in decline. Price wars, diversification and an over-reliance on promotions and product innovation at a time of rising newsprint costs is testament to the fact. And as if we needed further proof: across the world, from the Electronic Telegraph to the San Jose Mercury News, newspapers are leaping into cyberspace. […]

If you’re going to carry a misprint on your front page, you might as well make it a prominent one. Saturday’s Independent didn’t misspell its splash headline, but it produced the next best thing – a “literal” (as such mistakes are known in the trade) in the top right hand corner of the front page, […]

Alan Sugar is setting up a new Amstrad division to sell DIY beauty appliances. Sugar, founder of Amstrad, chairman of Tottenham Hotspur FC and PC-to-phone entrepreneur, is understood to have invested millions of pounds in the new operation.

A war of words has broken out between sales promotion trade bodies this week, after The Sales Promotion Consultants Association published an attack on the Institute of Sales Promotion. In a newsletter called Beyond Redemption, Malcolm Davies, managing director of sales promotion consultancy Coaxis, attacked the ISP for being “conservative and insular” and “among the […]

Rizla, the cigarette paper supplier is recruiting a former Roth- mans executive as sales and marketing director. He will spearhead a high-profile marketing campaign. Graham Bolt, formerly an account controller at Rothmans, replaces Chris Gaunt who left in June to “pursue other business interests”. Bolt will also oversee the appointment of an above-the-line advertising agency, […]

Dry-cleaning chain Sketchley is reshuffling senior management responsibilities after dropping its managing director Elizabeth Fagan. Fagan was asked to leave the company last month. Sketchley says it chose not to announce the decision because she was not a board member. Fagan’s role will be taken over by John Jackson, former Body Shop managing director, who […]

When the UK marriage of Carlsberg and Tetley was completed in December 1992 there were three key players at the new company who gave the impression that the then Allied-Lyons held the upper hand. Last week, Liz Morgan, marketing director and the only surviving member of the triumvirate, left the beer company. She has been […]

Battle-scarred laundry detergent brand Persil has increased its market share for the first time in more than a year after it ditched clothes-digesting Persil Power and replaced it with New Generation Persil. According to Nielsen Scan track, Lever Brother’s Persil brand has increased its overall share (by volume) of the laundry detergents market from 20.6 […]

The UK airport retail market will reach 1bn by value before the European Commission abolishes duty-free and tax-free sales in June 1999, says a new report by Mintel. In the past four years, the duty-free and tax-free sales market has risen by 62 per cent to 630m, representing 0.4 per cent of total retail sales. […]

The Diary has made a mental note to steer well clear of Virgin Energy. Just weeks after cavorting with Richard Branson on a giant bed and claiming that the drink had aphrodisiac properties, Pamela Anderson has fallen pregnant. It’s known that Anderson was sent a few crates of the stuff. Perhaps it would have been […]

Whitbread’s plan to reposition its Flowers Original cask ale through TV advertising has run into trouble with the Broadcast Advertising Clearance Centre. Whitbread had intended to use the tag-line “a damn fine ale”, but this was rejected by the BACC, which deemed “damn” to be a swear word. Instead, Whitbread is considering changing the line […]

Dry dog food brand Bakers Complete makes its television debut with a 1.5m push, breaking next week. The ad, created by Burkitt Edwards Martin, features dogs shopping and its hero is “Higgins”, who leaves a supermarket on a skateboard clutching a packet of Bakers. Dog lovers will be pleased to know “Higgins” is the son […]

Haircare company Wella has won the race to sponsor ITV’s top-rated Baywatch programme for its brand Wella ShockWaves. The deal, worth 750,000, will begin on September 23, for a 25-week run, across the ITV network. It is the first TV sponsorship by Wella, and ITV’s first sponsorship deal for a foreign-made programme. The Wella ShockWaves […]

Against a background of sustained booing and whistling, the president of the Cannes International Advertising Festival jury, Frank Lowe, presented the Agency of the Year award to Lowe Howard-Spink of London, part of the Lowe Group of which he is chairman and chief executive. It was the culmination of a bad night for Lowe. The […]

At last week’s ISBA media conference, two speakers forecast an era of technological growth.