As the battle rages for market share in the trainer market, fashion fights performance

The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children is launching a shocking cinema campaign to highlight the impact of domestic violence on children. The new work features a simulated model of a foetus in the womb with a soundtrack of a worsening argument between a man and woman. The woman is physically attacked […]

Clever marketing plug it may be, but Help the Aged’s adopt a granny campaign falls short in failing to clarify just which type of granny donors will be supporting.

Sainsbury’s is understood to be on the verge of striking a deal to sell Classic Cola via hospitals. It is understood this would be the first time Sainsbury’s has taken one of its brands outside its grocery distribution network. The deal would provide the right environment for Sainsbury’s to capitalise on its “caring, family store” […]

United Biscuits has invited three media independents and its four incumbents to make presentations in a fortnight – the first stage of its £18m media centralisation. IDK Media and Carat subsidiaries TMD Carat and BBJ Media Services are understood to be joining incumbents Leo Burnett, Optimedia, MediaCom and John Ayling & Associates on a list […]

Children make their purchasing decisions on the basis of playground opinion and are cynical about advertising, according to two reports published this week. The first report, SMRC’s ChildWise, has devised seven new categories of school child to demonstrate that word-of-mouth influences at school are just as significant as ads. In a survey of 883 seven […]

We are surprised at repeated descriptions of the performance of our Weight Watchers from Heinz brand as poor in “New Heinz UK divisions absorb Weight Watchers” (MW April 14). Had you but asked how that division is performing, we could have told you that Weight Watchers from Heinz has, in fact, grown from nothing in […]

Procter & Gamble’s new television advertising campaign for washing detergent brand Daz will feature Danny Baker `morphing’ into Shane Richie, who hosts Lucky Numbers on ITV.

Mirror Group is considering a joint venture to exploit broadcast rights for Premier League football by maximising money raised through TV deals. BSkyB and the BBC currently hold the TV rights in a £304m five-year deal… …Mirror Group pre-tax profits jumped 43 per cent to £189.3m in 1994 (see page 12). The Association of Media […]

Always keen to prove its investigative skills, the Diary set out to find the answers to two burning questions about a pro-feminism advertisement designed by TBWA for a recent article in She magazine. The first: Why is TBWA’s ad practically identical to the one Cowan Kemsley Taylor designed nine months ago for Women in Marketing […]

Sainsbury’s has recruited a top management consultant as senior marketing executive as it looks at ways of reversing the marketing gains of rival Tesco. Jonathan Smith joins from consultancy KPMG Peat Marwick as senior manager for special projects. He starts on May 1. Smith will report to director of marketing Anthony Rees. Smith’s remit is […]

Senior ITV executives are divided over the merits of spirit advertising, sources confirm. The matter, which will be raised at the next ITV Council meeting on May 2, has now become a board-level issue with television companies at odds over plans to overturn the 45-year-old voluntary TV advertising ban on spirits. ITV sales sources suggest […]

Russia’s advertising industry is in a state of chaos, its stature tarnished by criminal activities, and its freedom hampered by Boris Yeltsin’s decrees on what can be advertised. But thousands of agencies are still prepared to gamble for a sta

We are surprised at repeated descriptions of the performance of our Weight Watchers from Heinz brand as poor in “New Heinz UK divisions absorb Weight Watchers” (MW April 14). Had you but asked how that division is performing, we could have told you that Weight Watchers from Heinz has, in fact, grown from nothing in […]

IDV is planning to rejuvenate its Cinzano vermouth brand with the test launch of two new variants, in a move that could lead to the brand’s relaunch by the end of the year. IDV is to test two extensions to the brand in bars in two cities. A Lemongrass variant will be trialled in York […]