DIY retailing is a risky business – misjudge the market, as many have done, and there’s a heavy price to pay. So is Sainsbury’s biting off more than it can chew with plans to buy a shaky-looking Texas?

The European will launch a series of heavy promotions around the revamp of its lifestyle Elan section as a glossy magazine at the start of February. Promotion will include poster and radio advertising, supported by an extensive point-of-sale campaign. It is the culmination of investment by the paper’s owners, the Barclay brothers, aiming to revive […]

Maurice Saatchi has fuelled the legal battle with his former employers by issuing a writ alleging breach of contract. The former Saatchi & Saatchi chairman alleges that the plc “unlawfully terminated” his service contract on or about December 16 and misrepresented itself when the service contract was negotiated in June 1994. It is his response […]

This month, BrandTrack looks at the purchase of chocolate-covered countlines. In a sector where the impulse purchase reigns supreme, old favourites Snickers and Kit Kat were forced to fight hard to beat off aspirant Time Out

In today’s post-recession market, are retailers desperately struggling to keep profit margins buoyant or merely ripping off an unsuspecting public?

Jewellery group Signet, formerly Ratners, is reviewing its advertising in the wake of lacklustre Christmas sales. Marketing director Dianne Thompson, who joined the company last year from Woolworths, has spoken to a number of agencies and is drawing up a shortlist. However, the company would not indicate which agencies are on the list or the […]

The former marketing director of Dillons, Julian Rivers, has resigned from parent company Pentos, where he was due to take up the position of commercial development director. Rivers was replaced as Dillons’ marketing director last year by Stephen Dunn, poached from Thornton’s, the chocolate manufacturer and retailer. Rivers was offered the development role at the […]

Retailers issued a stream of upbeat Christmas trading statements this week. Storehouse, The Body Shop and Argos – which reported a 17 per cent improvement on sales compared with the same period last year – all did better than expected.

In the lean Nineties, the emphasis of corporate entertainment is shifting. The traditional boundaries between corporate hospitality and sales incentives are coming down, to form hybrid entertainment packages. These changes could spell lots mor

Now that Lever is to launch a “competitor” to Persil Power, in New Generation Persil, it will be a matter of time before the brand is killed off altogether. The decision to announce the launch of New Generation Persil last week was made to coincide with the launch of rival Ariel Future, Procter & Gamble’s […]

The Observer looks set for yet another relaunch when a new editor replaces Jonathan Fenby, who resigned last week. The Sunday paper is looking to reverse its news-based strategy by raising the profile of its features, interviews and themed sections, which have failed to convince enough readers to buy the newspaper, say sources at the […]

Last week we asked, is Saatchi & Saatchi cracking up? In this week’s switchback instalment of the fairground saga, we might just as well ask the question of Saatchi the brothers as Saatchi plc.

Only weeks after the launch of Mastercard’s TV branding campaign, rival Visa has begun a four-week burst pushing its own debit card. The TV ads, which have been created by Saatchi & Saatchi, use word games to illustrate the voice-over. The picture, above, illustrates `a count’. The ads are the first since last year’s Denis […]

Slimmers can buy the first guilt-free, low-calorie indulgence chocolate bar, Lo Gold, this week, according to manufacturers Leaf UK. Leaf says it is the first confectionery of its type to be aimed at the mainstream chocolate countline market. The caramel and chocolate flavour truffle sweet has only 129 calories in each 35g bar. Leaf says […]

Simon Mallalieu, the former sales and marketing director of Lyons Cakes who left to become managing director of holiday firm Wallace Arnold, has left the post after three months. Mallalieu, who also headed sales and marketing for Wallace Arnold, was appointed following a major restructure last summer after the company’s first half losses increased to […]