Marketing articles from March 1997

Marketing archives from March 1997

Biggest ever BA ad campaign is set for take-off. (British Airways)
March 20, 1997... British Airways is to launch the biggest advertising campaign in its 25-year history as it seeks to stress its personal service while becoming one of the world's largest airline networks. The new campaign, which will replace the 'Dreams'...

Penguin Forces Asda Redesign
March 20, 1997... United Biscuits has won its landmark 'passing off' case against Asda over the similarity of its McVitie's Penguin biscuits to the retailer's Puffin bars - the first time that a manufacturer has taken a retailer to court over a lookalike product....

Ads must show profit, IPA urged. (Bozell UK Group Chmn. Winston Fletcher's speech at an IPA conference)
March 20, 1997... Profits generated by advertising should be taken into account in the IPA Advertising Effectiveness Awards, Winston Fletcher, chairman of the Bozell UK Group, demanded this week. Speaking at the opening of the IPA's 'It Pays to Advertise'...

Tories Promise More Shock Ads
March 20, 1997... The Tory advertising team will be hitting Labour hard and low in the six weeks up to the election and is prepared to risk mute controversy, with ads intended to make a similar impact to the 'Demon Eyes' poster of last year. The strategy is...

Heinz to boost spend to 23m pounds sterling. (planned marketing budget increase)
March 20, 1997... Heinz is to cut trade discounts to supermarkets as part of a major strategy review. The decision, which parallels similar moves by Procter & Gamble, means the company can close 25 factories worldwide and increase its marketing budget by 30%....

Why 'No Problem' Can Often Be the Biggest Problem
March 20, 1997... Napoleon, it is said, insisted his subordinates only ever brought him the bad news. The good news, he knew, would always get through: loads of toadies are ready, willing and able to tell the boss what he wants to hear. Hitler, in contrast, only...

BBC Signs Cable Deal
March 20, 1997... For the first time in its history the BBC is to run an advertising campaign which will seek to explain to viewers the difference between its licence fee-funded broadcasts and its growing involvement in commercial activities. The move is designed...

Woman's Hour
March 20, 1997... As someone who needs a very loud blast of Kiss FM early in the morning to rouse me from my bed, many people would not guess my secret love is Woman's Hour, but it is a programme I (along with over two-and-a-half million other listeners) am truly...

Why Measuring Small Channels Is Still a Lottery
March 20, 1997... The time has really come to develop an entirely new scale for measuring the impact of new media on viewing habits, and it should be a thoroughly commercial one. Share of viewing clearly doesn't work and will possibly never work. Such a system will...

ASA Disciplines Laddish Ads
March 20, 1997... The birth of the 'new lad' and inexorable rise of titles such as Loaded and FHM, has presented advertisers with the media environment for the kind of risky and risque campaigns they probably wouldn't have been able to run five years ago. But...

Formula 1
March 20, 1997... Although you may struggle to sight a UK sponsor during Formula 1, it is the huge global reach of the race which places it alongside the World Cup and Olympics, with 450 million viewers. According to Barrie Gill, chairman and chief executive of...

Laura Axes Floral Tag
March 20, 1997... Laura Ashley, the brand that launched a league of floral-print dresses, has appointed its first global advertising agency, and its first campaign seeks to distance it from its floral heritage. Bean Andrews Norways Cramphorn has picked up the...

Prudential
March 20, 1997... Over the years, I have seen many campaigns from Prudential, ranging from 'Prudence' to the 'Wish' campaign. Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO's latest effort is beautifully shot, obviously has high production values (and costs), and stars a 'real lifer' in...

Ads Contract Election Fever
March 20, 1997... Election fever is upon us and some companies are determined to inject some of the fervour into their marketing messages. This week, Tesco broke a national poster campaign through Lowe Howard-Spink which mimicked the style of current political ads...

Snowboards
March 20, 1997... Just mention the word 'snowboard' in the presence of a Henry or a Tara who frequents the slopes of Klosters or Gstaad and you're likely to witness a puce face with accompanying diatribe on bad winter sport types, poor etiquette and an even worse...

Image-Conscious Car Makers Take Eyes off the Road
March 20, 1997... As a US senator once said of a more than usually insane financial initiative by the administration: "A billion here, a billion there - pretty soon we're talking real money." This is indicative of a truth which is almost universal - that any group...

Lowe Howard-Spink
March 20, 1997... Lowe Howard-Spink Projected billings [pounds]260m Wins (in the past 12 months) Avis, Whitbread Fuggles, Boston Beer, Hoegaarden Beer, Pillsbury Toaster Pockets, Labatts, Baileys International, Saab, Dollond & Aitchison, The Express Losses...

Is Extra Time the Answer?
March 20, 1997... Demands by advertisers for extra time won't necessarily relieve all the pressures of TV inflation. Yet again there are calls for commercial TV to extend its advertising airtime. Advertisers have pressed and pestered for years for more minutage....

Don't Judge a Book Ad by Its Coverage
March 20, 1997... High-profile ads with an unusual twist can turn heads, but do they convince the consumer or con them? Claire Murphy reports on the pitfalls of camouflaging ads to a media literate public When is an ad not an ad? The definition is becoming muddled...

Should Brands Fly the Flag?
March 20, 1997... Global marketing can conflict with a brand's strong national identity. However, concepts of 'Britishness' can also provide wide benefits if they are used correctly. Why is it the Spice Girls can use their 'Britishness' as a catalyst for...

Beeps That May Make You Mad for Technology
March 20, 1997... Last week, after some more than usually ridiculous goings-on in Parliament, the Speaker of the House of Commons banned the use of beeping pagers. Perfectly sensible decision: they must be at least as annoying and discourteous as mobile phones on...

Flying High
March 20, 1997... British Airways' new marketing director, Martin George, is not yet entirely comfortable with his new public profile. Arriving at his large office on the fourth floor of BA's rather grim corporate headquarters, near Heathrow, I am greeted by a...

The Making of Marketers
March 20, 1997... Unilever and P&G are known as the 'Oxbridge' of marketing. Do they still deserve this reputation? You come across them everywhere. Captains of industry here, top marketing strategists there - graduates of Unilever and Procter & Gamble...

Sick Brands Need to Be Reborn Not Just Deep Frozen
March 20, 1997... Forget Dolly the sheep and Puffin the Penguin - we've exhausted all the whys and wherefores of cloning over the past few weeks. Instead, I want to turn your attention to an equally insidious ethical marketing issue: brand cryogenics. This is...

Poster Industry Sticks Together
March 20, 1997... Media owners, in all sections of the media, are frequently encouraged to 'get their act together' and improve the marketing of their medium. The poster industry has been doing just that over the past year or two - jointly (POSTAR) and separately...

Learning from Experience
March 20, 1997... Event marketing is becoming a powerful tool for forging customer relationships. Marshall McLuhan, the Canadian communications guru, once said: "Everybody experiences far more than he understands. Yet it is experience, rather than understanding,...

Dealing from the Top
March 20, 1997... Sue Bryant reports on Hotpoint's move to launch new products through a conference and exhibition Instead of taking its new product range to its dealers, Hotpoint decided this year to bring some 600 independent dealers to the products, for what...

Crest of the Airwaves
March 20, 1997... After just five years in existence, the Radio Advertising Bureau has played a major role in transforming radio's perception as an ad medium. Not many five-year-olds can claim to have established an identifiable brand, achieved a turnaround in...

Home Is Where the Readers Are
March 20, 1997... Home-interest titles are flourishing as the housing market undergoes a revival, and other media have picked up the vibes. British home owners appear to have recovered from the havoc wreaked by the recession. The housing market is on the upturn...

Would BA Lose out by Staying British?
March 13, 1997... In the bad old days when British Airways was an embarrassing mess, its advertising proudly exhorted would-be passengers to 'Fly the Flag'. In 1997, the company is renowned worldwide for the excellence of its service and its operations. How ironic,...

One of Many Daft Old Observations about Marketing
March 13, 1997... This is the first in an occasional series about batty sayings which have gone too long unchallenged, thus denying marketing persons zillions of units of currency and inflicting upon them almost as many tiresome dinner-party conversations. This is...

Interpreting the Silences around Media Intrigues
March 13, 1997... Sometimes the really important phenomena to watch in the media market are the ones that aren't happening - the announcements that are not being made and the penetration figures that are only being spoken of in hushed tones. Last year's deal...

Why a Quick-Fix Policy Can Give Firms the Blues
March 13, 1997... A friend just wrote suggesting these pages are "preoccupied with half-wits blowing lots of other people's money, getting fired and turning up to do it all over again somewhere else. I've now concluded, with some sadness, that marketing has ousted...

Littlewood's Double Trouble
March 13, 1997... Littlewoods' new strategy of shifting its focus away from retail to mail order is already in trouble. Littlewoods chairman James Ross must be wondering what he did in a former life to deserve it. Only days after Ross set out his strategy to turn...

Hindsight Shows Missed Chances for Littlewoods
March 13, 1997... Nothing seems to be going right for poor beleaguered Littlewoods these days. Last month, it had gone to all the trouble of setting up one plank of a long-term strategy by putting its less-than-glamorous high-street shops up for sale. Now the other...

The Man from the Pru
March 13, 1997... Peter Davis, the Prudential's top dog, recently signed off a [pounds]30m advertising campaign - with himself in the starring role. You've probably seen the television ads, which feature Davis, 56, wandering in the rain and eating lunch in a...

Commercial Breakdown
March 13, 1997... TV's airtime trading is seen by many as arcane. But do UK advertisers what they deserve? Television buying is a grubby old game. Always has been; probably always will be. Now that the notorious rumpus between ITV sales house Laser and CIA...

Key to Research Is for Clarity in the Commission
March 13, 1997... 'Dear Mr/Ms Researcher, I am writing to confirm your commission to carry out eight group discussions on the proposed ad concept for the autumn campaign. I very much trust and hope that the research will kill this idea off once and for all. I...

Armed to Present
March 13, 1997... New technology has put the power of presentations in our amateur hands. It is 9am on the second morning of the sales conference. In front of you are 200 people, every one of them nursing disgusting hangovers from last night's session in the hotel...

Breaking from Conventions
March 13, 1997... DRTV advertising is proving to be an artistic challenge for small charities, which are having to overcome growing donor fatigue and many differing demands on the public conscience. Cathy Bond reports on how the sector is utilising DRTV...

On the Inside Looking Out
March 13, 1997... Cathy Bond previews next week's MRS conference and looks at the issues lacing market researchers, with the shift toward global branding and a fragmenting media The best marketing strategies are proactive. And the most secure safety net is market...

In Search of a Better Way
March 13, 1997... New technology is enabling companies to measure the efficiency of their sales techniques. When you're marketing a complex product or service, how do you determine accurately what aspects to change, to increase the likelihood that consumers will...

Rooms with a Single View
March 13, 1997... Ken Gofton looks at how a hotels consortium used research to find its true identity Writing a mission statement is much easier than writing a positioning, says David Sankey. True, a mission statement is aspirational but a positioning is about...

It's All in the Interpretation
March 13, 1997... In advertising research, the throw-away comment and the apparently superficial response can be vitally important in gauging consumer views, writes Lucy Banister Odd, isn't it, that when people are considering qualitative research for advertising,...

Back to the Good Old Days
March 6, 1997... Ken Gofton reports on a year for DM agencies that saw an average 16% increase in turnover, 15% more staff employed and business about as buoyant as many can remember The year in direct marketing is best summed up in the words of John Watson,...

Welcome to the Masterclass
March 6, 1997... Robin Cobb previews the DM Fair conference which promises to offer an essential guide to the latest theories and techniques affecting the direct marketing industry The changing world of direct marketing is due to be mapped afresh next week. The...

Mangetout Tale Served Up Much Food for Thought
March 6, 1997... Living as I do in the mangetout belt of south-west London, last Wednesday's Modern Times on BBC2 provided plenty of food for thought. Enough, in fact, to put the more liberal dinner party-goer off his food. The programme travelled to Zimbabwe to...

Why Local Media Tie-Ups for Celts May Be Inspired
March 6, 1997... Usually when you hear someone extolling the virtues of cross-media ownership the rational reaction is to reach for a revolver or have a snooze. The term has a humbug factor as high as 'synergy',"level playing fields', and even good old...

Talent Can Often Lurk in the Last Place You'd Look
March 6, 1997... Remarkable people see things more clearly than us second-raters. Nine years ago, David Ogilvy made a speech on recruitment to the panjandrums of his group, of whom I was then one. A friend had asked how his daughter might get into advertising....

Can Asda Afford Real Cost of Cuts?
March 6, 1997... Asda's move to axe 1000 lines from its grocery range is a risk, but one the retailer feels it has to am. Asda's decision to slash grocery brands last week provided further evidence that the Leeds-based retailer is prepared to take drastic steps...

NPD: Gone to the Head
March 6, 1997... Allied Domecq's effort to jump on the new product bandwagon could backfire. Allied Domecq's wine and spirits division last week declared it planned to put new product development (NPD) at the very heart of its marketing strategy. NPD has become...

Politicians Could Do with Lessons in Customer Care
March 6, 1997... In case you hadn't noticed, there's a general election looming. So if the knock on your door isn't a Channel 5 retuner in the next few weeks, it may be a Labour/Tory/Lib Dem representative trying to convince you their party has all the answers....

Cheers!
March 6, 1997... Beer, rugby, cricket, red wine. Andy Walder, marketing director at Allied Domecq Inns and the man who may well decide the future of your local pub, knows what he likes and his vices fit perfectly with the job. Sitting in a conference room at...

Professionals? Maybe. Unique? I Don't Think So
March 6, 1997... The news that the 'Man from the Pru' was coming back sent me scurrying to the television listings pages. No, I wasn't dreaming - it's non-stop 70s nostalgia there too: "Eric and Ernie put on their own theatrical production with guest star Arthur...

The Will to Spin
March 6, 1997... Behind-the-scenes media heavyweights will determine the election's outcome. This year's election battle is remarkable in that marketing has already played its biggest role yet in the fight to govern the country. In the last election, the three...

Marketing in the Driving Seat
March 6, 1997... At 15, racing talent Tom Ferrier is already a marketing winner When a Grand Prix team uses The Spice Girls to add sparkle to the unveiling of their new-look racing car, it provides all the proof one could ever need that Formula 1 is no longer...