The Media Centre has won the 7m media buying and planning account for Quaker Oats. The business moves from Young & Rubicam, following pitches between BBJ Media Services, CIA Medianetwork, BMP DDB Needham and Pattison Horswell Durden. CIA is believed to have been shortlisted for a second pitch against The Media Centre. Outgoing commercial director […]

Publishing giant Random House is appointing its first international marketing director to co-ordinate marketing overseas. The company has hired Dorling Kindersley’s head of marketing, Rosamund Wesson, as international marketing director. Wesson’s role will be to work with marketing departments in associated Random House companies in the US, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand and link […]

I am writing in response to your recent article “Safeway risks legal row over sales of baby milk” (MW September 8) in order to correct some inaccuracies. First, your caption under the Step-up ad claims that Baby Milk Action are seeking to ban follow-on milk products. They are, in fact, attempting to further restrict the […]

Hello! magazine this month launches a standalone fashion magazine to compete with Vogue and Elle’s coverage of the spring and autumn collections. The title, Hello! Haute Couture Fashion Special, follows the format of Spanish parent Hola!, which publishes four fashion specials a year. It will consist of in-depth coverage of the seasonal catwalk collections from […]

Discount retailing is about to hit our book stores but will it lead to a better deal for the literate layman?

British marketers can successfully innovate but too often their company culture means “they’ve never bloody well been asked”, according to Andrew Seth, former chief executive of Lever Brothers speaking at the Marketing Forum aboard the Canberra last week. Seth said consumer marketing and long-term brand viability are accorded a low priority. He claimed brand strategy […]

Simons Palmer Denton Clemmow & Johnson has confirmed that differences between the agency and two of its founders – creative directors Chris Palmer and Mark Denton – have been resolved.

The Diary is often asked how he manages his glamorous lifestyle: the six-hour lunches; the Bolly; the exotic cruises. The answer is simple. He supplements his Marketing Week income with a little blackmail cash. Take this as a purely hypothetical scenario. Say The Diary had been on a cruise – aboard the Canberra, for example. […]

Allied Domecq Inns is launching an interactive entertainment network involving a fantasy football game sponsored by Carlsberg lager. The game, Fantasy Park, has been developed by interactive media agency CHBi. It enables customers to play fantasy football using a touchscreen linked to an interactive network, initially involving ten pubs connected via ISDN lines. Players use […]

The Diary allowed itself a little chuckle at the choice of Julia Carling to front the launch of Alan Sugar’s range of face creams and do-it-yourself facelift kits. Julia is the wife of English rugby captain, Will Carling, and has recently found herself to be the subject of much tabloid coverage following her husband’s alleged […]

I was very interested to read your article “Lessons to earn” (MWSeptember 8).Industry for Education Association (INDEA) has been established to provide a vital link between educators and commercial companies to help evaluate, monitor and balance the needs of education and the objectives of sponsors. The resources these companies provide are, in most cases, invaluable […]

Wrigley’s has taken its 3m Doublemint chewing gum account out of Abbott Mead Vickers.BBDO and into Devon-based through-the-line agency Bray Leino, the Bozell subsidiary that won its place on the roster in March. AMV.BBDO will continue to handle the flagship Spearmint business and has been briefed to prepare advertising for a secret project due to […]

D’Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles North America, hit by Kraft Food’s decision last month to dispose of its bakery interests, has this week left the company’s creative roster after 66 years.

Sony launches its 35m campaign for the PlayStation games machine this week, fighting for the ‘do or die’ Christmas market. Sharon Marshall gains exclusive access to the shoot, and assesses the company’s secret weapon

I was surprised at the gloomy picture that was painted about obtaining effective business-to-business records in the article on databases (MW September 29). Magazine publishers are one group who are responding to the market’s need for quality data. In addition, the problems raised in the article about identifying decision-makers and accessing up-to-date to satisfy the […]