DIRECT: Briefs

Government decisions both on the future of the Post Office and on

the electoral roll have been delayed.

The White Paper on the future structure and regulation of the Post

Office, originally due in March, has been put back to after May’s local

elections because of its sensitivities. The Home Office review of the

electoral roll, which may prevent its use by direct marketers, has been

rescheduled for late summer instead of early summer.

David Brosse has been appointed head of marketing for Experian’s

marketing services division, following the integration of Experian with

rival data provider ICD. Brosse is charged with building Experian’s

reputation as a supplier of consumer marketing information. Brosse was

previously head of new media at Experian.

Independent brewery Freedom has appointed Spirit Direct and Promotional

marketing to handle a direct marketing programme. Spirit’s first project

is to promote the Soho Brewery company, a London bar and micro-brewery

acquired by Freedom last year. The agency will develop posters, direct

mail, a loyalty scheme and promotional activity.

Bacon brand Danepak is running an on-pack promotion in conjunction with

Airtours, offering free holiday vouchers on 3.7 million packs of

bacon.

The move is designed to reward loyal purchasers of Danepak bacon. The

promotion is supported by below-the-line activity including competitions

in women’s and TV listings magazines.

The Field Marketing Association is joining the Direct Marketing

Association from May, after a vote among its 12 members. The FMA, which

was set up five years ago, is the trade body for companies which

specialise in field marketing and sampling, techniques used in direct

marketing and sales promotion. Alison Wilson, chairman of the FMA, says:

’There is a real synergy between the FMA and other member councils, and

field marketing sits well within the DMA.’

OgilvyOne has poached Craik Jones group account director Sam

Williams-Thomas to lead the client team for its Envision BBC licence fee

contract. The Envision consortium, comprising OgilvyOne owner WPP, Bull

Information Systems and the Post Office subsidiary SSL, has been awarded

the business until 2006. The first work, using a data-driven

’customer-centric’ approach to licence-fee collection, rolls out this

month. At Craik Jones, Williams-Thomas headed the Land Rover, BT and

First Direct accounts.

United Distillers and Vintners (UDV) is to build closer relationships

with trade customers through telemarketing and field sales, after

appointing Siebel Systems to build a customer relationship management

solution. UDV, which owns brands including Johnnie Walker, Smirnoff and

Baileys, has appointed Siebel to supply up-to-date customer information

to its sales force on a global basis.

UDV has operating profits of pounds 1.3bn and is part of consumer goods

company Diageo.

The Guardian is launching a national postcard campaign in bars to

promote changes to the title. The cards were created by Partners BDDH

and distributed by Boomerang. They emphasise changes to The Guardian’s

weekly listings and entertainment section, and its new Guide Daily.

This article was first published on Marketing