A cross-country skier may have survived with the aid of a Mars bar, but the firm will need something more to prosper – modern marketing strategies and better product development, for a start. By Marketing Week reporters

Newspapers have been in the business of making the news this year. So it was little surprise last week that The Daily Telegraph overshadowed its financial results with news that proprietor Conrad Black intends to buy back the 42 per cent of the company that trades on the London stock market. Some old City bores […]

Asking newspapers to give details of bulk deals is one thing – trying to calculate the number of broadsheet sections unread by the punters is another.

May I counter a number of unwarranted jibes in Tom O’Sullivan’s otherwise scrupulously fair portrait of the Consumers’ Association (“Shopper’s friend counters enemies”, MW February 10). John Murphy of Interbrand must choose a new set of adjectives if he is to criticise us more effectively. Self-appointed? The Consumers’ Association? We have more than 800,000 members. […]

Esprit Sponsorship was this week appointed sponsorship agent for London Underground (LU). “We’re looking at anything from name association to full sponsorship of the entire LU system,” says Esprit account director Marcus Wight. However, care will need to be taken to avoid unnecessary duplication with the activities of LTA Advertising, which handles advertising sales for […]

The vast majority of teenagers are apathetic about the monarchy, religion and politics, according to new research from Carrick James. A survey of today’s teenage tastes shows the Royal family scoring a 92 per cent “not very/not at all interested”rating among 15 to19-year-olds. Politics did little better, registering 57 per cent on the “not-at-all interested” […]

Bainsfair Sharkey Trott has won the ú3m Red Stripe lager account, which will be relaunched by its owner HP Bulmer in May.

WCRS has lost two of its top creatives, copywriter Robin Weeks and art director Robin Smith, the duo that invented the Sega pirate TV campaign. Both resigned on Friday, and are understood to be joining Leo Burnett. Emirates, the Dubai airline, has shortlisted TBWA, Butterfield Day Devito Hockney, D’Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles, Leagas Delaney, […]

Colgate could face action from the Advertising Standards Authority for a knocking campaign against rival mouthwash product Listerine. Colgate’s new Plax mouthwash 96-sheet campaign, launched last Friday through Young & Rubicam, promotes its accreditation from the British Dental Association and ridicules Listerine’s TV ads. Listerine, it says, is recommended not by the BDA but “a […]

Virgin Cola has been withdrawn from Martin the Newsagent only two months after going on sale. Virgin officials confirmed this week it would no longer be supplying its own-brand cola to Martin’s 780 UK shops. According to Virgin it decided to withdraw the product after Martin demanded a listing fee for the product to be […]

Virgin’s joint financial venture with Norwich Union, Virgin Direct, opens this week with a £1m press campaign created by Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe. The full-colour ads publicise Virgin personal equity plans (PEPs). Later this year, Virgin plans to extend its product line to general insurance and pensions and back it with a TV push. Virgin […]

EMAP Radio has set up a London-based sponsorship and promotions team to deal with agencies and advertisers using any of its radio stations in the North-West, London, Leeds and Cardiff. Already, the unit has struck its first deal with Sky Television, which has booked a weekend promotion across six FM stations. The team, based at […]

Tony Bennett, Thomas Cook strategic marketing & development director for Europe, is leaving the company after turning down a senior management role within the group’s worldwide travellers cheque business.

Jet is following its rivals into the petrol loyalty market with the launch of its Collect for Cash scheme. But, unlike its competitors, Jet is offering cash vouchers to customers who use its forecourt shops. For every ú6 spent, customers will get a ú1 token – with a bonus ú1 when they have collected 48 […]

Poster specialist More O’Ferrall is gearing up for a fight with the Joint Industry Council on Poster Audience Research (JICPAR) over the introduction of Oscar II – the industry’s new research and planning system. MOF is understood to want the geodemographic part of the system scrapped because it does not believe that models of local […]