In-depth features, interviews and insights into marketing’s biggest issues.
Sportswomen have long been the butt of cruel jokes in a male-dominated industry, with a national newspaper once shamelessly suggesting that female footballers were more likely to burst the ball with their long nails and eyelashes than poke it into the back of the net…
MoreThan, the Royal & Sun Alliance-owned direct insurance brand, is piloting a loyalty scheme for policyholders in the hope of retaining customers in a price-led marketplace (MW last week). The Smartsave scheme gives policyholders up to 20% off at a range of online shops, UK attractions and on worldwide travel. It is being offered to […]
Competition for sponsors and viewers in the motor racing industry is set to heat up following A1 Grand Prix’s (A1 GP) appointment of JWT and MindShare to handle its &£8m advertising and branding business (MW last week). As it cements plans to raise its profile, it also hopes to ignite interest among potential sponsors. The […]
News International’s launch of a free evening newspaper in the capital next month is expected to shake up the market as publishers bid for distribution licences. The response of Associated Newspapers, owner of the Evening Standard and Metro, is eagerly awaited. By Mark Choueke When the launch date of Rupert Murdoch’s new “urbanite” London newspaper […]
The sudden departure of BSkyB-owned Sky Bet’s marketing director Simon Miller (MW last week) has left the betting and gaming brand’s advertising agency arrangements shrouded in mystery. St Luke’s apparently picked up the business following a pitch earlier this year – but the broadcaster denies a contract has been inked. The company was believed to […]
Sports organisations are increasingly looking to marketers with classic packaged goods experience in an effort to raise the bar on the industry’s professional image. Figures released by specialist sports consultancy The Sports Recruitment Company reveal the number of candidates entering the sporting arena from the outside jumped from 8% in the second quarter of 2005 […]
Nestlé Rowntree is investing 5m in a revamp of its flagship Kit Kat brand to persuade UK consumers that the chocolate bar is still an essential part of taking a break.
Bartle Bogle Hegarty’s announcement last week that it is resigning its European portion of the &£50m Sony Ericsson mobile phone account has focused attention on the rapid pace of change at an agency seeking to cope with the many new accounts it won last year. One observer claims that the shop is “overwhelmed” by new […]
Playground gossip and university rumours have forced cereal giant Kellogg to issue a statement denying that the teenage star of its current UK Frosties campaign is dead. In the ad, the boy leaps from his bed singing a refrain which includes the words “They’re gonna taste great/I can hear the sound of Frosties hitting my […]
Engine Group, the umbrella group for agencies such as WCRS and digital shop Meme, has spread its wings further by buying a majority stake in search engine marketing firm Eyefall (MW last week). There has been plenty of recent speculation within the online industry about search marketing agencies being bought and acquisition activity now appears […]
Social networking is to play a core role in Bacardi’s new ‘You In?’ global marketing campaign, which starts in the UK at the beginning of August (MW last week). Although traditional media – television, cinema and poster advertising – will be important to the ‘celebrity-free’ campaign, interactive media – online and interactive TV – will […]
McDonald’s, like any major UK advertiser, is subject to almost weekly speculation that it is on the verge of reviewing its account, worth &£42m. Now the chain is holding its second roster pitch this year – this time between The Marketing Store and Publicis Dialogue for European below-the-line work – adding fuel to the rumours […]
If the extravagance of a car launch offers an insight into its importance to a manufacturer then the roll-out of the new Corsa is crucial to Vauxhall. The car was flown along the River Thames by helicopter last week, before being unveiled to 1
The Sportsman, heralded as the first national newspaper launch for 20 years when it hit the newsstands in March, is struggling amid reports its management team has spent the &£12m start-up budget and is seeking an extra &£4m from the title’s original backers. Ahead of its launch, much was made of the newspaper’s heavyweight executive […]
Advertising agencies are failing their clients when it comes to digital marketing – and the clients with the biggest budgets are the ones complaining the most, according to research from intermediary The Haystack Group.