In-depth features, interviews and insights into marketing’s biggest issues.
BSkyB’s plans to launch a pay-TV service on Freeview in time for the start of the 2007/08 football season have been scuppered by Ofcom. The service will not be launched before 2008, effectively giving rival Setanta a head start. Its offering of 46 live Premiership matches plus its other sports rights will be available to […]
Hewlett-Packard (HP) is gearing up for the release of a new PC product called Dragon as it rolls out the second phase of its global “It’s Personal Again” marketing strategy. Dragon is a cross between a laptop and desktop PC and will be marketed as a domestic portable PC. The Dragon has four built-in speakers […]
Sports shoe brand K-Swiss is gearing up for a major brand-building push as it aims to increase awareness and boost its consumer base. K-Swiss’ UK marketing chief Nick Crook says that the initiative seeks to build on the brand’s recent expansion into clothing and position K-Swiss as more than a sports-shoe brand. The drive starts […]
UK ad spend will grow by 4.1% this year and 3.9% in 2008, driven “almost entirely” by online advertising, according to figures published by media agency Carat. The predictions mark a dramatic rise on the 1.4% growth of 2006, but fall short of the global average. The 2007 estimate is also slightly down on Carat […]
The Incorporated Society of British Advertisers (ISBA) director-general Mike Hughes will use his first annual lunch as a rallying call for responsible advertising and attack the “vocal minority” who skew the debate. His comments echo the tough new stance of the Advertising Association, which, under chief executive Baroness Peta Buscombe, has made its mission to […]
Take Two Interactive, the parent company of Rockstar Games behind the banned Manhunt 2 game (MW last week), is understood to have axed its entire UK marketing department. UK marketing director Sarah Seaby left suddenly last week and a spokeswoman at the company says there now remains only a single PR representative for Take Two. […]
The savings specialist The Children’s Mutual has appointed the man who was easyJet’s first sales and marketing director Tony Anderson to its top marketing post. Anderson takes up the newly-created marketing director’s position immediately. He joins from research group Taylor Nelson Sofres (TNS) where he has been the company’s first e-commerce director since March 2001. […]
Online price comparison site PriceRunner.co.uk is gearing up for a major ad push as it aims to reposition the brand, build its profile and expand its user base. The strategy is part of a wider repositioning for PriceRunner, owned by ValueClick, which sees the site launch a new logo and brand strapline: “The Price Comparison […]
Carlsberg UK is launching premium Polish lager, Okocim, making the pilsner-style beer the first Polish lager available on draught in the UK. The national roll-out follows a trial run in the off trade in the London area. Okocim is popular in Poland, and Carlsberg is hoping to attract members of the growing Polish community who […]
Media agency Starcom is losing yet another high profile name with its group head of sponsorship and director of Starcom Adam Bishop leaving to join Andy Roberts’ start-up Village Green. Former EMAP Advertising cross-media director and founder of consultancy XmC Jane Kesley is the third partner in start-up Village Green, which will focus on offering […]
TBWA/London managing director Victoria Davies has resigned 12 months after being promoted to the role. Davies, who leads the McDonald’s business at the Omnicom-owned agency, is understood to have left without a job to go to. Her move comes just weeks after Tim Lindsay, former Publicis UK chairman, was unveiled as the new chief executive […]
Steve Jobs and Michael Dell have shown that they still have the magic to turn round the firms they started. But can Jerry Yang do the same for Yahoo!? Unlike the other two as Matthew Gorman finds out he’s never been away and there are fears that his vision could be blinkered
The Advertising Association is fighting against a climate of mistrust against the industry with a campaign to promote the benefits marketing brings to society. But some argue the AA must do more to win the support of its members before tackling public opinion. Sonoo Singh reports
Saatchi & Saatchi is thought to have made 20 redundancies at the agency, in the midst of its frantic search for a new chief executive to replace Lee Daley who left earlier this year. The redundancies are not understood to have affected the current agency management.
Home improvement chain Focus (DIY) could not have said it better itself. The beleaguered retailer, whose strapline is “Famous for low prices”, has been sold this week for just £1. Retail experts and analysts say the chain faces an uphill struggle to recover, having lost its “focus” and fallen victim to the downturn in DIY […]