MARKETING MIX - Barry Norman is still hot BBC date ... and why not?

Mix was never the sort of child that could resist opening advent

calenders ahead of the correct day.

Unfortunately, this habit has proved hard to break, as Mix discovered

when festive greetings from Beeb.com arrived in the form of a BBC-themed

advent calender.

The print version, which doubles as a Christmas card, is backed up by a

more sophisticated online version offering the chance to win a

BBC-themed prize.

Click on the window for today’s date and up springs a multiple choice

question. Get the answer right and you are invited to enter a prize draw

to win exciting gifts such as an Antiques Roadshow book or a Man on the

Moon book.

Having, in maturity, made peace with all my distant relations, Mix has

no need for such fascinating tomes to add to the Christmas pressie

stock.

However, on exploring all the windows on the print version, Mix was

surprised to discover the familiar face of Barry Norman under window 20

Surely not the same Bazza who defected to Sky?

Could this be a signal of a new millennium of co-operation between the

Beeb and the Murdoch empire?

A quick call to the BBC press office puts this right. Bazza it seems it

still part of the fold via his column in Radio Times.

This article was first published on Marketing