A row has broken out between Gillette and Asda this week after the US razor giant publicly attacked the quality of Asda’s triple-blade razor, launched to undercut Gillette’s market-leading Mach 3. Asda’s new Tri-Flex blades, made by the American Safety Razor Company (ASR), fit Gillette’s Sensor and Sensor Excel razor handles as well as its […]
Tommy Hilfiger is to launch a new male and female fragrance called Freedom to extend the brand’s appeal from its core teenage following to twentysomethings. Hilfiger’s His Freedom and Her Freedom fragrances will launch globally on August 14. It is the first time Hilfiger has introduced male and female fragrances simultaneously. In the UK they […]
Many companies claim to be customer-centric. However, when asked, consumers claim that it is the product and not the customers’ needs that are at the centre of most companies’ direct marketing strategies. Where there are few alternatives to choose from, consumers may be prepared to settle for a product that meets part of their needs. […]
Boo.com’s Swedish co-founders Ernst Malmsen, Kajsa Lender and Patrik Hedelin will this month kick off an assault on the transatlantic online fashion retailing market. Boo.com is located in London’s once fashionable Carnaby Street to take advantage of a pool of IT and marketing talent. But if it emerges as a success then the beneficiaries will […]
Pearl & Dean managing director Peter Howard-Williams has left the company after it was bought by Scottish Media Group (SMG) for £22.2m this week.
Parcelforce Worldwide, the packages and express mail arm of the Post Office, has appointed Carat to its &£3m media account. Carat was chosen from a shortlist which included BMP Optimum, Motive Communications and New PHD. The agency already holds the Royal Mail media account, although the two organisations are run separately. Carat will initially buy […]
Mark Horgan, United Biscuits’ marketing director for countlines, is returning to Mars to handle marketing of the Mars Bar across Europe. Mars has confirmed that Horgan will be employed by Snack Foods Europe as a franchise manager from July, with responsibility for the Mars countline brand in Europe. Horgan left the company in 1996, where […]
Bates UK faces legal action from Peter Crossing, the ex-chairman of its below-the-line agency 141 Blue Skies, who left two weeks ago. Crossing is locked in an acrimonious dispute with Bates about the circumstances surrounding his exit, but is understood not to have issued legal proceedings. Bates UK chairman Hinton refuses to comment. As Marketing […]
Radio Times is to launch a film and video guide in book and Website formats as part of its brand extension programme. The title is also looking for a creative advertising agency to conduct a campaign in the autumn, which will coincide with a redesign of the magazine. Radio Times publisher Ashley Munday says: “It’s […]
Why bother spending large sums of money on advertising and other forms of marketing communication when you can get your customers to spread the word for you, far more effectively and free of charge? This is the question spurring many companies to search for the secrets of customer satisfaction – and hence staff motivation, the […]
David Wheldon, former global advertising director of Coca-Cola and ex-president of the BBDO network in Europe, is setting up an agency in London to handle project work for multinational clients. He refuses to give details, but says the new agency is likely to start operating this autumn. He declines to name any clients or senior […]
Sky is looking to pay-per-view to recoup revenue. Is this fair to viewers and advertisers, given they won’t be getting more for their money? asks Pedro Avery. Pedro Avery is head of television at Booth Lockett Makin.
Three major overseas agencies set up London offices with great expectations last year (MW January 8 1998). Their performance so far has been a case of the good, the not-so-bad, and the downright ugly. In corresponding order, the agencies in question are US-owned Fallon McElligott, the Bates-owned German agency Scholz & Friends, and US-owned Wieden […]
MindShare has won the media buying and planning accounts, worth more than £23m, for both Britvic’s and PepsiCo’s soft drinks brands.