REVIEW: Marketing and advertising news in the week’s press

Leading UK charities this week threw their weight behind moves by

Littlewoods to have Camelot’s retail policy investigated by the Office

of Fair Trading. More than 30 charities have sent letters of support to

Littlewoods raising concerns about Camelot’s approach. Littlewoods is

claiming that Camelot is threatening to disconnect its services from

retailers that also stock Littlewoods or other competing scratchcards.

Marketing

KFC has put Initiative, Zenith Media and Optimedia on the shortlist for

its pounds 9 million media account. New PHD and Motive were not invited

to the second round of presentations. A decision is expected before the

end of the month. General release

’Beanz Meanz Heinz’, ’Have a break, have a Kit Kat,’ ’It’s good to talk’

and ’Vorsprung durch Technik’ are some of the classic advertising

slogans to be honoured by being included in the Oxford Dictionary of

20th Century Quotations. Comment, p55. Sunday Express

Procter & Gamble is to rename its Oil of Ulay skincare range Oil of

Olay, in preparation for a global relaunch of the brand, expected next

year. The brand is already called Oil of Olay in the US, P&G’s home

market, but in the rest of the world it is sold under the Ulay names

plus Oil of Olaz in various parts of Europe and Oil of Ulan in Asia and

South Africa. Marketing

Jigsaw, the marketing consortium formed by Unilever, Kimberly-Clark and

Cadbury Schweppes, has produced its first joint initiative - three

customer magazines which are on trial in preparation for mailing to one

million UK homes. The venture is the culmination of more than a year’s

planning by the consortium. Marketing

BSkyB’s pounds 624 million bid for Manchester United has been referred

to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission by the Government following

protests from both the football club’s supporters and politicians. The

MMC inquiry, recommended by the Office of Fair Trading, is likely to set

terms for the acquisition of sports clubs by media companies. At the

moment there are few clear rules to cover the trend towards such deals.

Financial Times

Vodafone, the mobile phone company, yesterday announced it was cutting

the cost of pre-paid calls by 30 per cent and offering cheaper phones

through Tesco, the UK’s largest supermarket group. The link-up follows a

similar alliance between Cellnet and Asda to offer discounts to

consumers on pre-payment phones. Financial Times

Help the Aged is to push ahead with a direct campaign backing its shock

advertising which was this week banned by two national newspapers. The

Daily Telegraph and the Times both refused to run the ads for the

charity’s ’heating or eating’ campaign for fear of upsetting readers.

The Guardian and Independent both carried the ads. Marketing

David Isaacs, the marketing director of Freemans, has been ousted in a

boardroom row at Sears’ troubled catalogue arm. Isaacs’ sudden

departure, believed to have been prompted by a disagreement over

business strategy, will deal a further blow to Freemans after its

abortive attempt to float in December and the Government’s decision last

year to block the pounds 358 million sale of the catalogue business to

Littlewoods. Sunday Telegraph

United News and Media, the publishing company, has hired Don

Cruickshank, the former director-general of telecommunications

regulator, Oftel, as a consultant in an effort to win an operating

licence for the next generation of mobile telephones. The appointment

could cause controversy among mobile phone companies, since Cruickshank

regulated their industry until seven months ago. Financial Times

Alasdair Ritchie, the former chief operating officer of TBWA

International, has been appointed by the Interpublic-owned sports and

events marketing unit, Advantage, to the new post of London-based

president, marketing, for Europe, Africa, Asia and Australasia.

CampaignLive.

This article was first published on Campaign