STOP PRESS

Calvin Klein has consolidated its pounds 60m European media buying

account into Initiative Media, after a pitch between the two incumbents.

Initiative previously handled all TV buying while CIA Medianetwork

handled the rest. Calvin Klein said it would achieve a cohesive

approach.

Paul Robinson, the former managing director of Talk Radio, has been

appointed by the Disney Channel UK as vice-president and managing

director.

Crisp manufacturer Walkers and News International have teamed up to

supply free books to schools in support of the National Year of Reading.

From January, over a billion tokens will appear on Walkers products and

in newspapers including the Sun and The Times.

Michael Quilty, managing director of MindShare Europe, has left the

company. Quilty joined in 1996 when it was still The Network. He was

formerly international media director at Coca-Cola.

Barclaycard has appointed Barraclough Hall Woolston Gray to handle its

below-the-line account. The agency has been charged with producing a

campaign to relaunch Barclaycard’s Profile Points reward scheme next

April.

The Institute for Practitioners in Advertising has called for a single

economic regulator for television, responsible for commercial services

and the BBC. It has also recommended that there be no decision on an

analogue switch-off date until 50% digital terrestrial television

penetration is achieved, and no actual switch-off until 90% penetration

is achieved.

UK mail order giant JD Williams has split its pounds 10m media planning

and buying account between two Manchester agencies: Media Vision and

Media Business North. The account was previously held by Carat Direct,

also in Manchester.

Heineken says it will withdraw a new poster campaign which pokes fun at

the Nativity story if it continues to cause offence. The ad has been

criticised by senior church figures. The brewer insists the campaign,

through Lowe Howard-Spink, was not deliberately controversial.

Imperial Tobacco has handed the pounds 2m account for Golden Virginia

Tobacco to Mustoe Merriman Herring Levy, which already handles Lambert &

Butler cigarettes. It was previously held by Lowe Howard-Spink.

Court Burkitt & Company is launching a sales promotion arm in the new

year. It is recruiting Jos Marcon, currently director of Bates 141, to

head up the division.

Bass has appointed Interfocus to its below-the-line roster. The agency

will begin working immediately on campaigns for its Worthington and

Grolsch brands.

McDonald’s US advertising chief, Roy Bergold, is to retire next year

after 30 years with the company. Bergold, vice-president of advertising,

is responsible for approving all McDonald’s advertising in the US.

This article was first published on Marketing