Targeting the working classes effectively is the challenge facing the marketing fraternity.

For the shopper tired of consumerism, an alternative way to share in the experience has come to light – buying into the shopping business. By Virginia Matthews Despite the annual spectacle of shopaholics queuing their lives away for the standard January sale “bargains” of remaindered china and discontinued TV sets, serious moves are afoot to […]

A US haircare range, which was originally developed for horses, is being prepared for a UK launch targeted at humans. Mane `n Tail shampoo and styling products will launch on the QVC satellite shopping channel by the end of January. Within four months, supermarkets and chemists are expected to stock the range, which includes a […]

The Scottish Amicable advertising account has moved from BMP DDB Needham to Lowe Howard-Spink. The account, worth ú900,000 last year, will be worth ú2m to LH-S. Leagas Delaney and DMB&B Financial also pitched. Hosta UK, the confectionery company, has appointed Butterfield Day Devito Hockney to handle its ú1m Mr.Tom chocolate bar account and a new […]

The latest advertising agency league table, compiled for Marketing Week by Register-MEAL, shows that two of the three Saatchi Group agencies had a rough ride in the year ending last September. “Billings” for Bates Dorland and CME KHBB dropped by 5.7 per cent to £151.33m and 10.2 per cent to £48.22m respectively. CME KHBB resigned […]

Charlotte Pinder, European marketing director of PepsiCo International is understood to be joining KFC as managing director. KFC has yet to offer Pinder the job officially. She is understood to have been inadvertently informed of KFC’s decision by a member of its personnel team who congratulated her on the appointment, unaware that Pinder had yet […]

Pharmaceutical companies will be fighting it out in a multimillion pound battle for access to a Government-held database on patients’ reactions to drugs. The database was originally compiled by Vamp Health, which won 25 per cent of the market to supply computer systems to general practitioners. Some 700 medical practices agreed to supply the company […]

SmithKline Beecham’s Lucozade is preparing for competition from Virgin, which is understood to be planning the launch of a canned sport drink made by the Cott Corporation. The company describes the new product as a high-energy, restorative drink, which will line up alongside the cola it launched last year (MW October 14). Cott also supplies […]

What an appalling mess. No, not the Saatchi imbroglio for once, but the Government’s so-called media policy. The Broadcast Act 1990 seemed ill-conceived at the time. Now it has more holes through it than a piece of timber riddled with death-watch beetle. Will the Government clear out this deadwood with sweeping new legislation? Not before […]

Jo-Anne Walker paints a totally misleading picture when she assesses direct mail opening and reading statistics (MW December 9). The figure quoted (or rather misquoted) gives the impression, when viewed in isolation, that hardly anybody opens and reads their direct mail. Not true. In fact, if you look at the opening statistics in full you […]

Targeting the working classes effectively is the challenge facing the marketing fraternity.

The NW Ayer offer for Bates may have been officially withdrawn, but a continuing role in the Saatchi saga cannot be discounted. Richard Humphreys, a former Saatchi director close to Maurice Saatchi, and major player at Ayer, is currently in South Korea conferring with Ayer’s main financial backer Choi Won-Young. Ayer money, possibly supplemented by […]

Brookside makes its debut as a national radio soap next week when a version of the Channel 4 soap breaks on commercial radio. The hunt is under way for a sponsor. “Brookside: the radio series” will be broadcast to approximately 95 per cent of the UK’s commercial radio audience through deals struck with more than […]

The NW Ayer offer for Bates may have been officially withdrawn, but a continuing role in the Saatchi saga cannot be discounted. Richard Humphreys, a former Saatchi director close to Maurice Saatchi, and major player at Ayer, is currently in South Korea conferring with Ayer’s main financial backer Choi Won-Young. Ayer money, possibly supplemented by […]

Italian battery brand Volta has called on actor Bill Maynard, who plays Claude Greengrass in the hit TV series Heartbeat, to launch its products in the UK. Already established on the Continent, Volta will this month unveil an ad campaign, featuring the actor. Volta aims to take a five per cent share of the ú460m […]