Marketing articles from December 1999

Marketing archives from December 1999

Euro RSCG picks up Abbey [pounds]10m net bank launch.(Brief Article)
December 16, 1999... Abbey National has awarded the [pounds]10m advertising account for its forthcoming internet bank, codenamed Aquarius, to Euro RSCG Wnek Gosper. Strategic planning has been handed to Carat, which pitched with Euro against combined...

ET helps BT to top Adwatch league.(Brief Article)
December 16, 1999... Beattie, Bob Hoskins, and now ET, have helped BT come up with the best remembered ads of the past ten years, according to our Adwatch of the Decade. The telecoms giant is the only advertiser to feature in every Adwatch of the Year league...

Abbey chief quits to join Sainsbury.(Brief Article)
December 16, 1999... Abbey National's marketing director, Sara Weller, has quit and is set to take a senior marketing role at beleaguered retailer Sainsbury's. The supermarket chain has discussed recruiting a senior marketer to run its supermarket operation,...

Branson names JWT boss to lead People's Lottery.(Brief Article)
December 16, 1999... Richard Branson has named Simon Burridge, managing partner at J Walter Thompson, as chief executive of The People's Lottery, if it succeeds in beating Camelot to the licence in June 2000. JWT is part of a consortium backing Branson's bid,...

Apple's European shake-up means axe for UK roles.(Brief Article)
December 16, 1999... Apple Computer is axing its UK marketing department in the first stage of a radical restructuring of its European operations. Four of the eight staff are losing their jobs. Apple's chief UK marketer, marketing manager Martin Capel-Smith, is...

Guinness TV ad to call millennium last orders.(Brief Article)
December 16, 1999... Guinness will be the last brand to advertise on ITY this millennium and Bell's Whisky the first in the next, following a deal between Diageo and Granada. Diageo beat off rivals, such as IBM, Abbey National and BT, to buy the entire last...

Carlton Communications.(Brief Article)
December 16, 1999... Carlton Communications chief executive Steven Cain has confirmed he is to leave at the end of January as the company's merger with United News & Media progresses. Lord Hollick, United's chief executive, will take the role of chief executive...

Pearson.(Brief Article)
December 16, 1999... Pearson has confirmed plans for a new personal finance web site as originally reported in Marketing (July 15,1999). The site, branded separately from the company's main FT.com offering, will challenge the increasing number of online personal...

Bulmers.(Brief Article)
December 16, 1999... Bulmers, Britain's largest cider maker, plans to triple group turnover and create a [pounds]1bn company over a five-year period. The company, driven by recent deals in the US and China, aims to expand in the US, Australia and Western Europe.

Walt Disney.(Brief Article)
December 16, 1999... Walt Disney has replaced its worldwide head of consumer products division, Anne Osberg, with Nike's former chief marketing officer, Andrew Mooney. As president of Disney Consumer Products Worldwide, Mooney will report to division chairman...

The IPA.(Brief Article)
December 16, 1999... The IPA has elected i-level as its first new media agency member. Launched in April, i-level is now the largest buyer of online media in the UK, billing [pounds]1m a month in web advertising alone.

Abbey National.(Brief Article)
December 16, 1999... Abbey National has signed as a provider for NTL's interactive TV service. The move gives Abbey a presence on all the UK's interactive television services, having previously signed deals with Open and Telewest. NTL's interactive television...

First Choice Holidays.(Brief Article)
December 16, 1999... First Choice Holidays, the UK's fourth biggest holiday operator, has laid out plans for expansion into continental Europe, after two failed mergers and the completion of its three-year profit recovery plan. It is now looking for alliances and...

Hamleys.(Brief Article)
December 16, 1999... Hamleys toy store has hired creative communications agency Clinic to a [pounds]2m revamp of its London store. Specialist interior designers Watson Designs will work alongside Clinic to transform the London shop for August 2000. Clinic has...

AOLUK.(Brief Article)
December 16, 1999... AOLUK is to sponsor Sunday nights on Sky Premier, in its first move into broadcast sponsorship. Put together with BBJ Media Services, it consists of 15-second opening and closing strings around each movie, and will run until September 2000.

The BBC.(Brief Article)
December 16, 1999... The BBC is to rename BBC GLR 94.9 'BBC London Live' as part of a plan to create a single identity for its television, radio and online services for London. The decision follows plans announced in August to invest [pounds]5.5m in strengthening...

Direct marketing agency WWAV Rapp Collins.(Brief Article)
December 16, 1999... Direct marketing agency WWAV Rapp Collins is to fund a Millennium TV campaign for five of its charity clients. The DRTV activity will ask consumers to donate [pounds]15 to Oxfam, NSPCC, Shelter, Imperial Cancer Research Fund and Age Concern....

Sony PlayStation.(Brief Article)
December 16, 1999... Sony PlayStation is to launch a Christmas direct mail burst to build relationships with its existing customers following Sega's launch of the Dreamcast. PlayStation will target 350,000 customers through Clay-don Heeley International....

Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst's.(Brief Article)
December 16, 1999... Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst's $1.9bn offer for United Biscuits could be in jeopardy after a French group said it may exceed the sum. The rival bid would come from Finalrealm, a company formed by Banque Nationale de Paris SA's Paribas Affaires...

Marketing will not appear next week.(Brief Article)
December 16, 1999... Marketing will not appear next week and will publish next on Thursday, January 6. We would like to take this opportunity to wish all our readers a Merry Christmas and Happy New Millennium.

eVentures hires team for E-Loan launch.(Brief Article)
December 16, 1999... eVentures, the internet investment initiative jointly owned by News Corporation and Japan's Softbank, has appointed an agency team to handle the launch of E-Loan, its online home mortgage site. Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe/Y&R has scooped...

Watchdog Loses Marketing Chief
December 16, 1999... David Sneesby, the Consumers' Association's marketing director, has left the organisation after almost three years. Sneesby was responsible for the marketing of Which? magazine and its spin-off products. He led the marketing effort for Which?...

Jacob's sticks to ITV's Millionaire after sales rise.(Brief Article)
December 16, 1999... Jacob's Bakery is to continue its sponsorship of ITV's Who Wants to be a Millionaire into the new year, on the back of rising sales of its Crackers and Twiglets brands. The company will also sponsor four Millionaire shows and a...

Somerfield centralises in reversal of strategy.(Brief Article)
December 16, 1999... Somerfield has restructured its marketing department once again, marking a U-turn in the business strategy it announced in July. It is now seeking a board-level marketing director to oversee a new centralised department. The ailing...

Flextech selects BANC in [pounds]3m push for cable channels.(Brief Article)
December 16, 1999... Flextech has hired BANG to handle a [pounds]3m ad task for its satellite and cable TV channels, Bravo and Trouble. A campaign taking in TV, poster and press activity is expected to kick off early in 2000. Ads will target the channels'...

Burton ads go to WARL as it moves away from Grey.(Brief Article)
December 16, 1999... Burton, the Arcadia Group-owned menswear retailer, has handed its only TV ad campaign for this year to Willox Ambler Rodford Law, in a move which puts a question mark over its relationship with Grey Advertising. WARL is thought to be in...

Lever to Axe Radion as It Raises Surf Adspend
December 16, 1999... Radion, the UK's seventh-biggest laundry detergent brand, has been culled by Lever Brothers following a review that sees sister brand Surf promoted to power brand status. The move will result in a significant increase in marketing for the...

McDonald's in web venture.(Brief Article)
December 16, 1999... McDonald's this week unveiled its first UK web initiative. The site ties into its sponsorship of the millennium celebrations and positions the brand as caring and community-focused. The site supports McDonald's 'Our Town Story' project,...

Walker gives up Lastminute work after five months.(Brief Article)
December 16, 1999... Lastminute.com's media agency, Walker Media, has resigned the account just five months after it was hired to handle the business. A statement from agency managing partner, Christine Walker, said: "Walker Media today served notice of...

Pontin's appoints Cheetham Bell to winter campaign.(Brief Article)
December 16, 1999... Pontin's, the Scottish & Newcastle-owned holiday firm, has hired Cheetham Bell to screen a winter advertising campaign to promote its revamped holiday resorts. The Manchester-based agency is preparing a o3m TV campaign to break on Boxing...

ATP in worldwide drive to raise the profile of tennis.(Brief Article)
December 16, 1999... Men's tennis body, the ATP, is to run a global advertising campaign through marketing partner ISL Worldwide to raise the profile of the sport. It is expected to hire an ad agency early next year. Daniel Beauvois, managing director of...

ABC to Re-Evaluate Audit Processes
December 16, 1999... The Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) is reviewing its newspaper auditing process following the Trinity Mirror. affair, admitting that it may not be robust enough to prevent similar abuses. The admission comes after a month-long...

Nike Steps in as Reebok Quits after Olympics Row
December 16, 1999... Nike, the sportswear giant, is to replace its rival Reebok as sponsor of the Sydney Olympic Games next year. The move marks a radical departure for Nike in its marketing strategy. It has never before sponsored a major global sporting event,...

Guinness rethinks Kaliber as low-alcohol sales drop.(Brief Article)
December 16, 1999... Guinness is reviewing the future of Kaliber, its alcohol-free lager brand, as the market for low-alcohol beers continues to shrink. Guinness is understood to be taking a strategic look at Kaliber over the next few weeks and aims to make a...

AMV BBDO to fuse Clark & Taylor into Advance offshoot.(Brief Article)
December 16, 1999... Abbott Mead Vickers EBDO, the UK's largest ad agency, has snapped up niche player Clark &Taylor and is to merge it with its offshoot agency, AMV Advance. The acquisition, for an undisclosed sum, comes after AMV Advance stole Clark &...

Vision Express to revise [pounds]11m work after APL merger.(Brief Article)
December 16, 1999... Vision Express, the high street optician, is reviewing its [pounds]11m advertising account, currently held by Ammirati Puris Lintas. The review follows APL's merger with Lowe Howard-Spink, to form Lowe Lintas & Partners. Lowes' holds the...

Thomson to Offer Free Holidays in CRM Drive
December 16, 1999... Thomson is attempting to take the moral high ground in the traditional New Year's rush to sign up holiday-makers, with its first cause-related marketing programme. The struggling holiday company is promising to donate up to 2000 holidays...

CK puts [pounds]6m into colour cosmetics.(Brief Article)
December 16, 1999... Calvin Klein Cosmetics, the Unilever-owned fragrance arm of Calvin Klein, is to launch a colour cosmetics range in March, backed by an estimated $lOm ([pounds] 6.2m) global promotional spend. The UK launch is exclusive to Selfridges for...

G&J set to launch lifestyle title for upmarket women.(Brief Article)
December 16, 1999... A new women's monthly magazine is to emerge from the stable of Gruner & Jahr, Europe's largest publisher, next spring. Preliminarily named Florence, the glossy mag is to be aimed at 30- to 40-year-old ABC1 women who are 'cash-rich and...

Channel 5's The Roseanne Show.(Brief Article)
December 16, 1999... Channel 5's The Roseanne Show has been warned by the Independent Television Commission (ITC) about giving too much prominence to the brand name of its sponsor, Yahoo. The ITC criticised a programme broadcast on September 8 in which viewers...

Barclays.(Brief Article)
December 16, 1999... Barclays has been forced to turn down new clients to its telephone share-dealing service following a massive increase in the number of people trading over the phone. Barclays share-dealing division's business development director, Justin...

Royal Mail.(Brief Article)
December 16, 1999... Royal Mail has awarded its [pounds]6m direct marketing account to Joshua, OgilvyOne and Barraclough Hall Woolston Gray (BHWG).Joshua and OgilvyOne were already roster agencies; BHWG is new to the roster. OgilvyOne has the greatest overall...

Carlson Restaurants Worldwide.(Brief Article)
December 16, 1999... Carlson Restaurants Worldwide, which owns TGI Friday's, is to launch an Italian franchise restaurant in the UK next year called Italianni's. The franchise already operates in 18 countries.

CMB.(Brief Article)
December 16, 1999... CMB, the direct marketing agency, scooped the Gold Award at last week's DMA/Royal Mail awards for its work for Hyundai. CMB was one of eight agencies to win two category awards. Rapier picked up first place in the categories of DRTV and...

BT Together.(Brief Article)
December 16, 1999... BT Together, BT's package which offers free local calls, low international call rates and internet access, has signed up two million customers in the five weeks since its launch. BT will continue to promote the package with advertising into...

Breathe.(Brief Article)
December 16, 1999... Breathe, the BT Cellnet-owned ISP, has appointed Claydon Heeley International to create a direct marketing campaign to boost subscriber numbers. The business is understood to be worth around [pounds]500,000.

The European Monitoring Centre.(Brief Article)
December 16, 1999... The European Monitoring Centre for Racism and Xenophobia has appointed Bates UK to create a logo and corporate identity. The Vienna-based EU agency, which was set up in 1997, is understood to have awarded the work to Bates following a six-way...

Regal Hotel Group.(Brief Article)
December 16, 1999... Regal Hotel Group has been awarded best ad campaign of the year by the Hotel Marketing Association for its launch campaign for the Corus brand. The press and poster drive was created by Zest.

Agency.com.(Brief Article)
December 16, 1999... Agency.com, the internet services giant which is 47% owned by Omnicom, this week announced details of its flotation, pricing shares at $26 - higher than the expected price of between $22 and $24. The agency is expected to be floated on Nasdaq...

Cramm Francis Woolf.(Brief Article)
December 16, 1999... Cramm Francis Woolf has appointed Terry Trower as its head of creative. Trower has worked freelance at the strategic communications consultancy for the past six months. He reports to marketing director Paul Woolf.

MindShare.(Brief Article)
December 16, 1999... MindShare has launched a research tool in an effort to improve the targeting and effect of communication campaigns. 3D brings together brand loyalty, media consumption and consumer trends. At the heart of 3D is BRANDZ, the international WPP...

The government.(Brief Article)
December 16, 1999... The government has reversed its plans to restrict the Post Office's monopoly on delivering mail. It was planning to downgrade its monopoly from items costing less than [pound]1 to 50p. However, the issue is still to be debated by the industry...

Cordiant Communications.(Brief Article)
December 16, 1999... Cordiant Communications has acquired an 80%, [pound]15m, stake in Diamond, the third-largest agency in Korea. The agency will form the Asian Pacific hub of a new network to service Hyundai, one of Cordiant's most important international...

BSkyB.(Brief Article)
December 16, 1999... BSkyB has taken a 10% stake in computer games group Gameplay.com, in a deal worth about [pounds]10.6m. Gameplay will develop a 13-episode television series on computer and video games, which will be shown on BSkyB's Sky One next year. The two...

Reed Elsevier.(Brief Article)
December 16, 1999... Reed Elsevier, the Anglo-Dutch publishing group, has restructured and is axing hundreds of jobs to fund a [pounds]200m investment in developing and marketing its internet-based services next year. The restructuring will result in the group...

The Times.(Brief Article)
December 16, 1999... The Times has dedicated a web site to Lara Croft, star of the computer game Tomb Raider. On December21, it is planning to launch an exclusive extra level of the game. The new level is set in and around the newspaper and sees The Times'...

Skybusiness.(Brief Article)
December 16, 1999... Skybusiness is running Bar Zone 2000, a 42-hour millennium broadcast for pubs and clubs, that is free to Skybusiness digital subscribers. Bar Zone 2000 combines specially chosen music videos with live links to big millennium events around the...

ONdigital.(Brief Article)
December 16, 1999... ONdigital has won the contract to make 65,000 of Glasgow City Council's multi-occupancy residential properties digital ready. The contract for the UK's largest landlord was won against competition from BSkyB,NTL and Blick.

NTL.(Brief Article)
December 16, 1999... NTL, the cable company, has agreed to carry Flextech-provided television channels such as Living and Bravo, for an estimated three-year period. The deal comes in spite of Flextech's merger talks with Telewest, NTL's biggest rival in the UK...

Emap Digital.(Brief Article)
December 16, 1999... Emap Digital, the newly formed new media division of the Emap group, has launched a web portal - produxion.com - for the UK television production sector. The portal is a joint venture with Channel5 and web development company, netdecisions,...

Simply Money.(Brief Article)
December 16, 1999... Simply Money, the UK's first consumer finance channel, will start live broadcasting on January 24 on Sky Digital. The channel will cover topical consumer stories, and will also provide information on a range of subjects, from investments and...

ITV and G-Wizz.(Brief Article)
December 16, 1999... ITV and G-Wizz, the Granada Media Group's internet entertainment service provider, are to sponsor a digital millennium clock which is being erected on top of the 22-storey London Television Centre in Waterloo.

The Independent Television Commission.(Brief Article)
December 16, 1999... The Independent Television Commission has published its annual report on Channel 3 networking arrangements for 1998, with details of programmes commissioned by Network Centre for all regional licensees and details of the commissioning...

Maiden Outdoor.(Brief Article)
December 16, 1999... Maiden Outdoor, in association with Taylor Nelson Sofres, is launching the first research into the effects of point-of-sale six-sheet posters outside supermarkets. The service, Maiden POS Posterspan, will assess how POS posters affect brand...

Paul Kearney.
December 16, 1999... Paul Kearney, managing director of Bristol Evening Post and Press, is to chair the Newspaper Society's marketing strategy group from January. He succeeds Tom Stevenson, from Eastern Counties Newspapers, who has been chairman for the past two...

BBC Promotes Comedy in 'Perfect Day' Sequel
December 16, 1999... The BBC is poised to unveil its biggest corporate push since the high-profile 'Perfect Day' film was unveiled two years ago. The drive, which aims to showcase the BBC's comedy credentials, consists of two films which will air on Christmas...

A&L hunts agency for strategic planning.(Brief Article)
December 16, 1999... The Alliance & Leicester is trawling for a media agency to help it develop a more effective communications process. The bank wants to find a partner to help it get the best from its communications mix and develop a more co-ordinated...

Online loyalty site Ipoints hands [pounds]1m job to MediaVest.(Brief Article)
December 16, 1999... Media Vest has picked up media planning and buying for the launch of Ipoints, a new rewards programme for the internet. MediaVest will be in charge of a budget of [pounds]1m in the first year, to be spent both on- and offline, targeting...

MEDIA CHOICE / CHRISTMAS DAY SCHEDULES.
December 16, 1999... Ivan Clark director, TV strategy, MediaCom Festive predictions: wake up at 5.3Oam to voice of over-excited six-year-old telling me Santa's been; peel tongue from roof of mouth and drink bottle of water; return to bed and set alarm for...

ISBA rails against electoral roll bill.(Brief Article)
December 16, 1999... The Incorporated Society of British Advertisers (ISBA) has joined the fight against government plans to limit commercial use of the electoral roll. Ian Twinn, director of public affairs at ISBA, said the society had decided to lobby MPs...

C&W in Christmas discount calls mailer.(Brief Article)
December 16, 1999... Cable & Wireless (C&W) is stepping up its assault on BT with a massive Christmas mailing, offering customers cheaper international calls. C&W will offer specially reduced rates on calls to 25 international destinations on Christmas Day....

DESIGN CHOICE / FATHER CHRISTMAS.(Brief Article)
December 16, 1999... There's a myth in circulation, one of those urban legends -- you've probably heard it -- that Father Christmas, as we know him, was created by Coca-Cola advertising earlier this century. Completely untrue, of course. Like most great...

IPG Consolidates with Single New Media Unit
December 16, 1999... Interpublic Group (IPG) is to pull together seven of its core new media operations under the umbrella brand, Zentropy Partners. The move follows the merger of Lowe Howard-Spink and Ammirati Puris Lintas in October. It aims to create a new...

Top Shop site set to offer CDs in link with Universal.(Brief Article)
December 16, 1999... Top Shop/Top Man, the Arcadia-owned fashion store chain, is revamping its web site to support a tie-up with Universal Music. Customers will be able to visit the site to create a customised CD of dance music from Universal artists....

Home site hires new marketing boss.(Brief Article)
December 16, 1999... Underoneroof.co.uk, the online property service launched last week, has appointed Michael Robinson as its marketing director ahead of a [pounds]1.25m marketing drive early next year. The site features properties to buy and rent from more...

Butlins in E-Push to Rebuild Image
December 16, 1999... Butlins this week goes live with a new web site as part of a drive to shake off its unfashionable 'Hide Hi' image. The Rank-owned family holiday brand is offering an exclusive free day-pass via the web site to encourage a new audience to...

Euro RSCG interactive arm names chief.(Brief Article)
December 16, 1999... Euro RSCG Wnek Gosper Interactive has named Shane Jensen, formerly chief operations officer at interactive marketing company Sumus Interactive, as its managing director ahead of a major expansion planned for the New Year. Ben Rosier ...

NEW MEDIA CHOICE / WWW.JAMES.BOND.COM.(Brief Article)
December 16, 1999... Neil Morgan, managing director, e-space Am I a James Bond fan? Does Moneypenny take dictation? Not only do I have the James Bond credit card, I even managed to wangle an interview at M16. But this site doesn't quite do it for me....

How We Sold the Dome to UK Brands
December 16, 1999... Kevin Johnson, former commercial director at NMEC, explains how he and his team set out to raise [pounds]150m in sponsorship deals for the Dome Friends thought I was bordering on the suicidal when I told them, in June 1997, I was taking the...

Will Boozers Go Blue?
December 16, 1999... Bass is trialling a low-alcohol lager, Carling Blue, but the sector is tiny and still shrinking. How can it buck the trend with pub-goers? Alexandra Jardine reports Bass Brewers' trial of a new low-alcohol lager, Caning Blue, revealed in...

Santa Delivered Early for Canny Kingfisher Chief
December 16, 1999... Don't be surprised if you spy a few UK retailers lining up to see what Santa Claus has got for them in his sack. They could certainly do with some seasonal cheer. The century is not ending on a very happy note for many of them. Battered and...

Branson Lottery Bid Heralds First Marketing Fight of Next Century
December 16, 1999... The confirmation that Richard Branson really is going to bid again against Camelot for the National Lottery licence will tee up one of the first great marketing and PR battles of the next century. The contest to see if something different is...

New Millennium, New Marketing Attitudes ... for at Least a Month
December 16, 1999... I'm trying to resist it, but I feel a New Year's resolution or two coming on. This is folly, of course, because there is nothing that mocks like an old, invariably broken, New Year's resolution. Grown-ups should know better than to make them. My...

Letters
December 16, 1999... Airtime selling needs overhaul. Phil Atkinson, managing director, The Plough Consultancy, Edinburgh The prospective merger of Canton with United News & Media will give the combined company unprecedented clout in the airtime market. ...