Marketing articles from April 1991

Marketing archives from April 1991

BSkyB: Burned Not Beaten
April 25, 1991... BSkyB: burned not beaten Comet's High Court victory comes at a bad time for troubled BSkyB. But it may prove to be little more than a useful bargaining tool for companies keen to exploit satellite TV, says Andy Fry British Sky Broadcasting...

Nintendo Abandons Turtles
April 25, 1991... NINTENDO ABANDONS TURTLES A new sales promotion will promote Nintendo's Mario character -- another nail in the coffin for the Turtles Nintendo is to loosen its links with the fast-declining Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles. A new sales promotion...

British Gas heats up national campaign. (Service Industries)
April 25, 1991... British Gas heats up national campaign British Gas (BG) is planning a unified national marketing drive to counter the growing competition from the recently privatised electricity boards. Last week's appointment of ad agency, BMP DDB...

The 90s: A Decade of Revolu-
April 25, 1991... The 90s: a decade of revolu- In the late 70s an academic historian called Wiener wrote a book called English Culture and the Decline of the Industrial Spirit. In it he traced the roots of our industrial malaise to the resilience of the English...

SupaSnaps ads seek to be hard on the heels of Boots. (Photography)
April 25, 1991... SupaSnaps ads seek to be hard on the heels of Boots Photographic chain SupaSnaps is mounting its biggest-ever sales promotion next month backed by a debut national television campaign, in an attempt to boost its share of a declining market....

LH-S's TV Quick Ad Angers Public but Gladdens Marketers
April 25, 1991... LH-S's TV Quick ad angers public but gladdens marketers It is not often that a TV ad attracts such hostility from the public that letters flood in berating the "guilty" agency. But that is exactly what has happened to Lowe Howard-Spink (LH-S)....

No small beer for lager. (European beer advertising) (Eurobrands)
April 25, 1991... The exclusive focus on Europe's biggest advertisers NO SMALL BEER FOR LAGER Heineken, the world's leading lager brand with a global market share of around 2%, slipped down the Eurobrands ranking in the last six months of 1990....

Anger as Mills & Allen Nets Dolphin
April 25, 1991... Anger as Mills & Allen nets Dolphin Rivals have been knocked back on their heels following the takeover of poster contractor Dolphin by Mills and Allen (M&A). The industry is split on its response. Rival contractors including National...

Nurofen brings TV relief. (Nurofen, medicine) (Media Buying)
April 25, 1991... NUROFEN BRINGS TV RELIEF After four years of topping awareness charts, ibuprofen-based painkiller Nurofen is still playing the branding game. Television has been -- and continues to be -- Nurofen's sole weapon in its phenomenal rise...

Where Ignorance Is Bliss
April 25, 1991... Where ignorance is bliss In just over three months from now we are about to see the most fundamental change in a generation in the BARB system of measuring television audiences. It has resulted from years of detailed argument between the various...

NPD Firms Act on Joint Prospect
April 25, 1991... NPD firms act on joint Prospect The decision by the UK's top new product development (NPD) specialists to band together to form an umbrella group comes as they face unprecedented pressure from budget cuts. NPD has long been tipped to be the...

EC Noose Tightens on OTC Ads
April 25, 1991... EC noose tightens on OTC ads Marketers across Europe would do well to sit up and listen to the grinding and gnashing of teeth in the pharmaceutical industry. The European Parliament has just embarked on a project to thoroughly castrate the...

Cyclical success story waiting in the wings. (British bicycle industry) (Mintel)
April 25, 1991... Cyclical success story waiting in the wings "On your bike" may have been a Tebbitesque expression designed to galvanise the unemployed into action, but today the bicycle is seen primarily as a leisure item. When asked what a bike would...

Diary of an Adman Age over 49
April 25, 1991... Diary of an adman age over 49 Friday night, return from Paris in blizzard after two-hour flight delay. With knees quaking and indigestion simmering, redeem car from Heathrow car park and hurtle to Highgate to instil sense of urgency into the word...

Sales Brought to Book
April 25, 1991... Sales brought to book Only a few streets separate London bookshops Foyles and Dillons, yet the philosophical divide between them is enormous, writes Suzanne Bidlake An old man regaling stories of drunken orgies over lunch may not be your idea of...

The Hard Rock with a Soft Sell
April 25, 1991... The Hard Rock with a soft sell Many famous institutions leave it to others to advertise for them. But at the Hard Rock Cafe, Christopher Middleton finds there's more going on below-the-line than meets the eye At the top of the escalators in Hyde...

Drawing for the Board
April 25, 1991... DRAWING FOR THE BOARD Hester Thomas discovers why design firms are changing tack on annual reports Cool winds of change are blowing in the halls of design companies working on annual reports. Words like "strategic", "evolutionary" and...

Scots Missed
April 25, 1991... SCOTS MISSED What do Scottish fishermen, photographers, retired people and teenagers have in common? Answer: they can't be targeted by potential advertisers across the border. Media buyers in Scotland are finding that the sub-groups are...

Taking the High Road
April 25, 1991... TAKING THE HIGH ROAD Barkers is expanding, while Leith is restructuring. Sue Coutts reports on a handful of the top Scottish advertising agencies, which are finding that more than local expertise is required, now that the cold wind of recession...

Ferrero Chocs Box Clever
April 18, 1991... Ferrero is launching its Fresco Mint brand into the UK. But is its famous tried and tested approach enough to guarantee success? Karen Hoggan reports The world's third biggest confectionery company Ferrero is to launch a new boxed mint...

Readers Digest sacks staff in UK. (Publishing)
April 18, 1991... Reader's Digest has shed 110 staff in the UK - 10% of its workforce. The cuts will affect all departments including sales and marketing. In a guarded statement, UK managing director Neil McRae described the cuts as "sad but neccessary." ...

Boddingtons suffers technical hitch. (Whitbread and Company PLC's Draught Boddingtons, canned beer)
April 18, 1991... The launc of the first canned draught bitter announced by a major UK brewer has been plagued by technical problems. Whitbread is canned Draught Boddingtons was due to sell in to retailers last month - but will now not appear until...

Telegraph eyes up Yorkshire franchise. (Telegraph Group, Yorkshire, England, television broadcasting franchise) (TV Franchises)
April 18, 1991... The Telegraph Group is to launch a bid for the Yorkshire TV franchise after the collapse of its joint play for Scottish TV, says sources. Industry insiders say the Telegraph has joined Cith backers in financing a bid for Yorkshire by the...

TSB Says No to Access
April 18, 1991... Trustee Savings Bank (TSB) is to relaunch its international Mastercard credit card, spurring new doubts over the future of the UK brand Access. The relaunch will be part of a complete overhaul of TSB's plastic card line-up. TSB will start...

Terry's unwraps revamp for its Chocolate Orange. (Chocolate Orange, brand candies) (Confectionary)
April 18, 1991... United Biscuits-owned Terry's is relaunching its 60-year-old Chocolate Orange to boost static sales and put its bar business on the map. Terry's, best known for boxed chocolates from All Gold to Le Box, is pouring resources into the...

Sega/Nintendo battle hots up as Virgin rejigs. (Sega Enterprises Ltd., Nintendo Company Ltd., Virgin Mastertronic Ltd.) (Electronics)
April 18, 1991... Sega distributor Virgin Mastertronics has appointed its former ad agency account handler as marketing manager as the battle with rival Nintendo enters a criticla phase. Simon Morris, who hadled the Sega business at Still Price: Lintas...

Nivea envisages new regime to beat rivals. (Smith and Nephew Associated Companies PLC markets Nivea Visage, health and beauty aid) (Cosmetics)
April 18, 1991... Cosmetics manufacturer Smith and Nephey (S&N) is poised for its biggest ever launch in the UK as it shifts closer to arch-rivals' sophisticated "regine" products. Nivea Visage, which is already available in most continental European...

Sony sings to the tune of karaoke with CD player. (Sony Corp. markets CDP-KI, compact disc player) (Consumer Electronics)
April 18, 1991... Sony has launched the UK's first karaoke CD player to bring the "sing-a-long" craze of pubs and clubs into living rooms. The 200 pounds CDP-K1 filters out vocals from ordinary CDs. People can then use a microphone to embellish the music...

Max Factor Faces Total Overhaul by New Owner P&G
April 18, 1991... Procter and Gamble (P&G) is tipped to transform and upgrade its newly-acquired Max Factor brand through hi-tech new product development and huge marketing investment. P&G is not the world's biggest personal products company after last...

NCC slams marketing of Turtles outside ITC code. (Great Britain. National Consumer Council, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, fictitious character, Great Britain. Independent Television Commission) (Cross-Promotion)
April 18, 1991... Marketing of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is being challenged by the state-financed National Consumer Council (NCC) as a breach of stict codes on advertising to children. And the NCC claims the Turtle phenomenon, whcih saw...

FTTV strikes programme deal with Sky News. (Financial Times Television) (Broadcasting)
April 18, 1991... Financial Times Television (FTTV) is to provide business programming for Sky News in its biggest deal to date. It is the first time that the FT's broadcast offshoot has had access to a large scale UK audience with its Business Weekly...

Audi 100 drives the Green message home. (Audi AG's Audi 100, automobile, environmentally safe products) (Cars)
April 18, 1991... German car marker Audi is claiming its revamped flaship 100 model is "the safest and most environmentally-friendly car in Britain". The new 18,000 pounds-plus 100 features a bodyshell 30% more rigid than the old one, as well as ABS...

Cleaning Up Below-the-Line
April 18, 1991... Next Tuesday is BA Day rather than St George's Day. Some five million people are waiting anxiously to see whether they have won tickets in British Airways'(BA) Worldwide Give-away. The biggest direct response ever has focussed more attention...

Reay-Smith Takes Credit for Barclaycard Success
April 18, 1991... As Richard Reay-Smith takes over as chief executive of Barclays Central Retail Services, he inherits a credit card legacy unrivalled in the UK market. Naturally he sounds confident. But an air of caution qualifies his good humour. The...

Saatchis Goes Back to Tories with Party Political Broadcast Theme
April 18, 1991... What was the last piece of political advertising that suck in your mind? The answer for many will inevitably be Saatchi and Saatchi's iconic "Labour isn't Working" poster that featured so heavily in the 1979 election. Last week the agency...

Sony spend tops the lot. (Eurobrands)
April 18, 1991... Sony took over from arch-rival Philips as Europe's biggest brown goods advertiser in the last six months of 1990. However, Philips spend for the whole year is still $15m (8.47m pounds) ahead. After the mini-boom engineered by the World...

OFT technicality frees M&A to buy Dolphin. (Great Britain. Office of Fair Trading, Mills and ALlen International PLC, Dolphin Outdoor Advertising) (Outdoor Advertising)
April 18, 1991... A technicality has freed the UK's biggest outdoor contractor Mills & Allen (M&A) from an undertaking to limit its control of the poster market, according to the Office of Fair Trading (OFT). M&A's previous owner, MAI, agreed in 1987 to...

Lessons in Lager
April 18, 1991... No-one is trying to pretend that Budweiser and Kronenbourg 1664 are targeting identical audiences. But even so there is an interesting diversity in approaching lager-supping males. Last week Kronenbourg puts its weight behind radio's biggest...

The Guardian Guides the weekend way. (The Guardian, London, newspaper to publish Guides, special newspaper section) (Newspapers)
April 18, 1991... The Guardian is beefing up its Weekend tabloid section this month by adding an arts and entertainment pull-out. It is the latest in a series of new product developments that have helped the paper to achieve an unprecedented level of...

Evans Is Seeking the Answer to the Sun's Advertising Problems
April 18, 1991... The Sun's foray into regional classified supplements may lead to similar inserts for other News International (NI) tabloids. "It would be foolish for Today and News of the World not to provide their own versions to readers," says John Evans,...

ISBA chief condemns agency malpractice. (Incorporated Society of British Advertisers' Ken Miles, advertising agencies) (Media Representatives)
April 18, 1991... Incorporated Society of British Advertisers (ISBA) chief Ken Miles has launched a blistering attack on those agencies which he says are ripping off clients. At last week's International Advertising Association conference Miles claimed...

Turning the Page on the Press
April 18, 1991... Brian MacArthur is one of the country's leading experts on the press, and demonstrates his expertise by writing on the subject in a large number of newspapers. On occasions he has even said nice things about me, so he is clearly a man of...

Anchor weighs in with mousse. (Anchor Foods Ltd. markets Light Mousse, dessert) (Food)
April 18, 1991... Anchor Foods is unleashing a 300,000 pounds below-the-line campaign to support its new Light Mousse aerosol dessert, in an effort to boost consumer trial. The programme, through sales promotion agency BLP, kicks off next month with price...

Downturn Creates Huge Losses for Fitch
April 18, 1991... 1990 was "the most difficult year yet" for design giant Fitch RS, according to the company's preliminary results published by last week. The retail design specialist, which ranked alongside the now defunct Michael Peters Group as one of the...

The Answer Begs the Question
April 18, 1991... Recession can do strange things to long-established markets. The Sun's launch of its supplement The Answer is a case in point. The combination of new product development, the struggle to find new markets as old sources of revenu dry up, and...

Consuming a Passion to Protect
April 18, 1991... Has the law of diminishing returns starred to apply itself in the field of consumer protection? There are signs that it has. Like those of us in business, consumer organisations do need to rrethink their role from time to time. And as they...

Diesel: Fuel of the Future
April 18, 1991... Car firms are revving up diesel models to boost flagging overall sales. High petrol prices, recession, Green concerns and the right marketing will make diesel seem like a smart buy, writes Robert Dwek Norman Lamont's Budget didn't do...

Eyes on the Prize
April 18, 1991... Strong branding and product development were the key to success in this year's Chartered Institute of Marketing awards. Paul Meller looks at the winners Independent Insurance -- winner of the 50m pounds-plus turnover category For...

Nissan Unties the Knot
April 4, 1991... Nissan unties the knot Nissan Motor has thrown down the gauntlet by overriding distributor Nissan UK and setting up its own dealership network. Nissan Motor has thrown its British dealership network into chaos by establishing a separate UK...

Warner develops sweet tooth for UK market. (Warner-Lambert, confectionary marketing and distribution)
April 4, 1991... Warner develops sweet tooth for UK market Health care company Warner Lambert is to break into mainstream confectionery for the first time. It plans to distribute and market the Fruit-tella, Mentos and Dummy sugar confectionery brands in...

Shake-Up for Laura Ashley
April 4, 1991... SHAKE-UP FOR LAURA ASHLEY The Laura Ashley brand may move into several new product areas -- including goods sold in other outlets -- in a sweeping overhaul of its market positioning. The move forms part of the international fashion and...

Phillips VCR may 'zap' ads from TV broadcasts. (function offered by Phillips's VCR that ignores commercials while recording)
April 4, 1991... Philips VCR may `zap' ads from TV broadcasts A new Philips video recorder has provoked a storm of controversy after broadcasters discovered it could "ignore" commercials. Ad agencies and broadcasters have been worried for a long time...

Smiths bags a share of the snack market. (marketing and distribution of snack product from Smiths in Great Britain)
April 4, 1991... Smiths bags a share of the snacks market PepsiCo-owned Smiths is to mount a direct challenge to the UK's biggest snack brand Hula Hoops. Smiths' Tuba Loops -- which will be backed by a 1.5m [pounds] advertising campaign -- is a shaped...

Virgin Megastore Has Europe in Its Sights
April 4, 1991... Virgin Megastore has Europe in its sights Music and video retailer Virgin is to mount a major offensive on Europe with plans to open 20 Megastores on the Continent within five years. Virgin Retail Europe, currently scouting for an ad agency,...

Avon rings in the changes with revamp. (Avon Products, corporate image change)
April 4, 1991... Avon rings in the changes with revamp US-based cosmetics company Avon Products is attempting to shake off its frumpy associations with an image revamp and first ever national press ad campaign. The world's largest cosmetics company, best...

Sigma Launch Set to Marque the Card of the Likes of BMW
April 4, 1991... Sigma launch set to marque the card of the likes of BMW Mitsubishi launches its first European executive car in the UK in two weeks -- with a strategy directly attacking the "snob value" of marques like BMW. The launch of the Sigma, backed by...

Lada lures UK dealers in bid to boost sales. (incentives offered to dealers by Russian car maker Lada)
April 4, 1991... Lada lures UK dealers in bid to boost sales Russian car maker Lada has announced a make-or-break marketing strategy to help reverse plummeting sales in the UK. The company, which ended last year some 24% down on its 1989 performance and...

United to axe jobs and titles as profits fall. (United Newspapers)
April 4, 1991... United to axe jobs and titles as profits fall United Newspapers has admitted that job cuts and title closures are still on the agenda following a 14% drop in pre-tax profits. The group, which owns the Daily Express and Daily Star as well...

Riding a Cyclical Market
April 4, 1991... Riding a cyclical market The cycling industry is booming. This is the conclusion reached in the recent spate of television programmes, press features and exhibitions on the subject. The available statistics are more equivocal, with estimates...

Guinness Bitter in the Can Echoes Rival Brands
April 4, 1991... Guinness bitter in the can echoes rival brands Guinness Brewing GB chose the run-up to April Fools' Day to announce a move that had industry pundits wondering if they could believe their ears. For the first time ever, Guinness, the 230...

A Damp Squib of a Meeting for the Red Hot Issue of Saatchis' Future
April 4, 1991... A damp squib of a meeting for the red hot issue of Saatchis' future For an extraordinary general meeting in which the future of the world's most famous ad agency was decided, Saatchi and Saatchi's EGM was rather, well, ordinary. The analysts,...

Mine's a liqueur. (advertising of spirits and liqueurs in Europe)
April 4, 1991... MINE'S A LIQUEUR Italian brands Martini and Campari still dominate press and TV advertising of spirits and liqueurs in Europe, but there are signs that others are taking the European market more seriously. Last time we reported on this...

Lack of Branding Blamed for Demise of Allen Brady & Marsh
April 4, 1991... Lack of branding blamed for demise of Allen Brady & Marsh If there's one thing an ad agency should know about, it's branding. Following the demise of Allen Brady & Marsh (ABM) through its merger with Lowe Howard-Spink & Bell(LH-S)...

Maxwell's Empire Gears Up as MGN Approaches City Flotation
April 4, 1991... Maxwell's empire gears up as MGN approaches City flotation Neither the City nor media buyers are impressed by Robert Maxwell's moves to restore order to his media kingdom just weeks before the flotation of Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN). Last...

Mercury Phones Home
April 4, 1991... MERCURY PHONES HOME British Telecom (BT) spent 30m [pounds] dominating the telecommunications market last year -- ten times its nearest rival Mercury. The difference in market positioning and resources led to inevitable differences in...

Competition for English TV Channels Hots Up
April 4, 1991... Competition for English TV channels hots up Almost every Channel 3 contractor is facing a serious outside threat to its business with only a month to go before TV franchise applications must be in. With the news that publisher EMAP will bid...

History May Still Repeat Itself
April 4, 1991... History may still repeat itself There is a wise saying: "Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it." Unfortunately, there is an equally wise saying: "The only thing we learn from history is that we can learn nothing from...

Radio Authority Pops Too May Questions for INR1 Bidders
April 4, 1991... Radio Authority pops too many questions for INR1 bidders There is a danger that if the Radio Authority (RA) clarifies the meaning of "pop music" any further none of us will understand what it means. So far they have clarified it almost beyond...

London Transport Makes Branding U-Turn
April 4, 1991... London Transport makes branding U-turn London Transport (LT) has unveiled a corporate image about-turn in a bid to regain the authoritative branding it enjoyed in the 20s. Its most striking change is the prominent re-introduction of the red...

Financial Times offers freebies in bid to attract loyal readers. (Financial Times of London, circulation promotion)
April 4, 1991... Financial Times offers freebies in bid to attract loyal readers The Financial Times (FT) is returning to below-the-line promotion after a gap of nearly two years in an effort to transfer its foreign circulation successes to the UK. Sales...

Encyclopaedia Britannica to run direct response television ads.
April 4, 1991... Encyclopaedia Britannica to run direct response television ads Encyclopaedia Britannica is using bargain TV advertising rates to extend its direct response marketing to the small screen. The US-owned company will run direct response ads...

BA's Bold New Relationship
April 4, 1991... BA's bold new relationship Lord King is an unlikely Willy Wonka. Blunt and sharp, it's hard to imagine him taking awestruck children on a tour around his chocolate factory. But that is effectively what King has done in the World's Biggest...

Healthy profits for the food manufacturers. (manufacturers of food products perceived by the public as being good for health)
April 4, 1991... Healthy profits for the food manufacturers Healthy food manufacturers are starting to gloat. Concern over food additives is escalating; vegetarian food is on the up and up; and the dangers of high cholesterol levels has prompted...

Scottish Widow's lady in black earns her keep as she ousts Prudential. (Scottish Widow's Fund and Life Assurance Society, Prudential Life Insurance Company of America, company logo, advertising)
April 4, 1991... Scottish Widows' lady in black earns her keep as she ousts Prudential Scottish Widows celebrates its 176th birthday by knocking Prudential off its high horse. With a comparatively measly 1.8m [pounds] advertising spend it has managed to reap...

TV Franchises: Who Loses Out?
April 4, 1991... TV franchises: who loses out? As the TV franchise battle draws near, broadcasters will not be the only ones to suffer as advertisers find themselves at the butt of a bad joke. The wholesale auction of the ITV network bears a passing resemblance...

Testing New Waters
April 4, 1991... Testing new waters Irish mineral water has come a long way in the past 800 years. Now Ballygowan is launching an assault on the UK market, as Margaret O'Brien reports At the beginning of the last decade the only bottled water the Irish would...

Silent Partner Makes Big Noise
April 4, 1991... Silent partner makes big noise Air UK is jetting up its image with a 2.5m [pounds] campaign, but with the spectre of Air Europe, air terrorism and Stansted's uncertain future, its high-flying ideas could bite the dust. Tanks rolled menacingly...

Worth Its Mettle
April 4, 1991... WORTH ITS METTLE Sturdy and recyclable, tin has much to offer as a marketing tool "Biscuit tins have become almost commodity items -- we are looking beyond the traditional areas into new sectors," confirms Rosalyn Adley marketing manager...

Producing the Goods
April 4, 1991... PRODUCING THE GOODS Who is best qualified to do research on new products? Louella Miles examines the options It will probably take a while to assess whether the latest Cadbury launch -- Strollers -- is a success. But one thing is certain,...

Still a Strong Point
April 4, 1991... STILL A STRONG POINT Despite the recession, big clients like Kodak appear to be staying loyal to the point-of-sale merchandising units sector. Ken Gofton finds some satisfied customers Point-of-sale material, including merchandising units, are...