Automobile Association sales and marketing director Bob Sinclair has admitted he was wrong to approve the motoring organisation’s controversial direct mail campaign (MW last week) and has personally apologised to distraught consumers. Sinclair says he approved the mail campaign devised by HHCL & Partners and mailed to 50,000 people last week. The mailer included fake […]

Bass has axed Moosehead Lager and Schlitz in a clear-out of franchised premium beers to make way for company-owned brands. The move is part of a rationalisation programme designed to shelve some of the experimental brands which the brewing giant has launched in the past two years. Bass has also withdrawn Caraca, Poker Alice and […]

McCann-Erickson has made at least ten redundancies within its account-handling and creative teams in London. The cuts are described by McCann as part of a process to “match agency resources to client needs”, but they are also being blamed on poor trading conditions – despite the agency having increased its billings by almost 12 per […]

Since rejoining Coke last year, Sergio Zyman has pushed a policy of splintering

BSkyB says it will have an agreement in place with TeleWest and Nynex within 30 days that satisfies the Office of Fair Trading. The OFT says the programming deal agreed by the three is anti-competitive. Channel One, Associated Newspapers’ London cable TV service, has signed a deal with TeleWest to roll the channel out in […]

Regional press sales house Mediaforce is threatening legal action against Zenith general manager Roy Jeans for jumping ship to competitor AMRA before taking up his post at Mediaforce. Jeans, who was to join Mediaforce as managing director (MW June 2), will now join AMRA as managing director in July with a remit to increase the […]

Wolfgang Schubert wants to build more emotion into the Vauxhall brand. No easy task, given that most car makers are throwing away money just to maintain their share.

The USM’s successor, the Alternative Investment Market, will be kept firmly in the grip of the City. But technology frees it to work anywhere in the UK.

Off, as befits any hard-working hack, to Frank Lowe’s personal tennis tournament at the Queen’s Club – otherwise known as the Stella Artois. Lowe in person keeps a benign eye on the proceedings from the players’ terrace. But, as if the sight of Lowe was not enough, at the centre court you could overhear the […]

UK Charity Lotteries has shortlisted BMP DDB Needham, Bartle Bogle Hegarty and Duckworth Finn Grubb Waters to handle its Lukcy (sic) Lotto scratchcards. The budget is undisclosed. The Royal Bank of Scotland MasterCard is testing a ground-breaking financial TV ad, through Faulds, which draws favourable comparisons between its card and those of other banks. BBJ […]

With consumers switching to supermarkets for their ‘pintas’, what can our milkmen do to take their service a door-step back in the right direction?

Mellors Reay & Partners has picked up the 1m-plus launch campaign for The Disney Channel UK, which will start broadcasting on October 1.

Hoover Group is being threatened with legal action by British rival Dyson Appliances, for starting a “dirty tricks” camp-aign to win back its declining share in the vacuum cleaner market. Dyson claims that Hoover has distributed a pamphlet which slates its products, criticising product reliability and performance. The pamphlet, headed with Dyson’s strapline, “Say goodbye […]

An increasing number of companies are recognising the value of linking their brands to top sporting events. And as James Luckhurst reports, the association can benefit both parties by injecting funds into the event and raising brand awareness