Last week we asked, is Saatchi & Saatchi cracking up? In this week’s switchback instalment of the fairground saga, we might just as well ask the question of Saatchi the brothers as Saatchi plc.

Only weeks after the launch of Mastercard’s TV branding campaign, rival Visa has begun a four-week burst pushing its own debit card. The TV ads, which have been created by Saatchi & Saatchi, use word games to illustrate the voice-over. The picture, above, illustrates `a count’. The ads are the first since last year’s Denis […]

Slimmers can buy the first guilt-free, low-calorie indulgence chocolate bar, Lo Gold, this week, according to manufacturers Leaf UK. Leaf says it is the first confectionery of its type to be aimed at the mainstream chocolate countline market. The caramel and chocolate flavour truffle sweet has only 129 calories in each 35g bar. Leaf says […]

Having lost the opening rounds in the Saatchi versus Saatchi battle there is reason to believe that Saatchi & Saatchi plc is recovering its position. It could be argued that after losing a dozen staff, clients worth about ú85m announcing reviews and experiencing a share price collapse, the situation could only get better for Charles […]

Two Way TV has appointed promotions specialist Curtis Hoy to work on the consumer launch of the interactive TV system now scheduled for June. “Curtis Hoy’s brief is to devise activities including a roadshow and joint promotions with Radio Rentals and Granada to boost sales,” Two Way TV sales and marketing head Peter Cowie says. […]

The article about Penguin’s 60th anniversary (MW January 6) reported accurately on many of the promotion and publicity activities we will be undertaking to celebrate this year, but fared less well in its reporting of Penguin’s financial situation. The implication of the quoted figures is that, to use your reporter’s phrase, “investment in Penguin is […]

Lager sales plummeted by ten per cent in value between 1989 and 1994, according to a new report from Mintel. The Market Intelligence report says there is little hope of lager sales growth returning to the levels of the Eighties. A fall in the number of young drinkers, growing competition from wine and the decline […]

The things they wish they’d never said…

Keith Bantick, chairman and creative director of sales promotion business Promotional Campaigns, has resigned following a difference of opinion over the future of the company with parent group WPP. Bantick says the dispute arose over “philosophical differences” with WPP. He refused to comment further on the reason for his departure. The differences are thought to […]

The Radio Authority has confirmed it will licence one more Greater London station. Previously, it said it would licence only three more local London stations. The rethink follows news of Melody Radio being transferred to a new frequency, from 104.9 to 105.4 MHz, on February 1. The RA has decided to licence Melody’s old FM […]

Lager sales plummeted by ten per cent in value between 1989 and 1994, according to a new report from Mintel. The Market Intelligence report says there is little hope of lager sales growth returning to the levels of the Eighties. A fall in the number of young drinkers, growing competition from wine and the decline […]

A BT employee experimented with a new form of service-led marketing, last week – racist and sexist abuse. The employee sent a letter to a customer who came from New Zealand addressing her “Cheeky Kiwi bitch” on a phone bill. What had the woman done to attract such behaviour? She had complained about a bill […]

Can media exposure to trivia about the thoughts and habits of the rich and famous bring on an attack of celebrity aversion syndrome (CAS), or is it just all in the mind?

A proposed ban on the advertising of manufactured baby milk has been abandoned by the Government. Regulations which were laid before Parliament this week allows the existing code of practice on advertising to continue. The new Infant Formula and Follow-on Formula Reg-ulations will allow the manufacturers of baby milk to continue advertising in baby care […]

The Internet must tighten its security before credit card firms throw their weight in.