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

BT has created a senior role within its business division above

Dominic Owens, the head of marketing communications. Kate Notman has

been recruited as general manager and head of offers and communications.

Notman will report directly to Afshin Mohebbi, the director of the

national business communications unit, effectively creating a new layer

of management between Owens and Mohebbi. - Marketing

The Brazilian football star, Romario, strips in a new ad for Walkers

crisps. In the commercial, by BMP DDB, Romario offers to swap his shirt

and shorts in return for a young supporter’s packet of Walkers crisps.

He then runs naked across a football pitch. The ads will break next

week. - The Mirror

The AA is launching a range of extended services, including tie-ins with

car rental companies and hotel chains. The move is aimed at staving off

the increased competition likely if Cendant buys the RAC, adding it to

its Green Flag service which will then boast a combined 9.2 million

members, compared with the AA’s 9.4 million. - The Mail on Sunday

The Flextech-owned channel ,Trouble, has signed a pounds 350,000 deal

with Attic Futura to create mutual endorsements. Partnerships will

include Attic’s TV Hits magazine sponsoring Trouble’s weekly chart show,

Blast. Trouble will have a heavy presence, involving advertising but

also sponsorship and other strategies, in titles such as Sugar, B and

Inside Soap. - General release

Elida Faberge has come under fire from Keith Hellawell, the Government’s

anti-drugs ’tsar’, for apparently glamorising drugs in its most recent

ad for its teen perfume, Fusion. A free sample ad created by Ogilvy &

Mather and running in music and style magazines, features a picture of a

disc jockey with an outstretched hand. In his palm is a paper wrap

normally used to enclose amphetamines or cocaine. On unfolding the wrap,

the message reads: ’The only thing worth sniffing in a club’. - Daily

Telegraph

ICL, the computer hardware company which this week announced a global

alliance with Microsoft, has appointed Martin Archer as director of

marketing communications. He will spearhead a widespread reorganisation

as the company focuses its marketing on a single brand. Archer has been

with ICL since 1968 in which time the company has become increasingly

involved with IT services and software. - Marketing

The American Express Blue Card has been unveiled in a campaign by Ogilvy

& Mather encompassing TV, posters, press and direct mail. The push is

aimed at the 23- to 35-year-old market, and uses the 80s club hit, Blue

Monday, by New Order. - General release

The US Web design company, Agency.com, has bought the UK online

operation, Online Magic, to run as a subsidiary of its operation in

London. Eamonn Wilmott will remain Online magic’s managing director. -

CampaignLive

Tina Gaudoin has resigned the editorship of Wagadon’s first women’s

magazine, Frank, to concentrate on her family. She will last work on the

August issue. A replacement is still to be announced. - General

release

Goldfish is launching a range of consumer information guides with a TV

campaign by TBWA GGT Simons Palmer. The campaign demonstrates how the

free guides - which cover areas such as cars, home entertainment and

white goods - save you time and hassle while shopping. Media was planned

and bought by Manning Gottlieb Media. - General release

Winston Fletcher, the chairman of the Bozell UK Group, has been

appointed chairman of the Debating Group, the Parliamentary forum for

marketing debate. Six debates are held each year and the next, to be

hosted by the Periodical Publishers Association, is: ’The motion is that

the press has done more for public health than governments.’ - General

release.

This article was first published on Campaign