The Week in marketing: 4 November 2008

Lego marks half-century

Lego is rolling out a range of marketing initiatives to celebrate its 50th birthday, including the relaunch of its classic 1981 ad 'Kipper'.

Last week, several media sources, including the BBC and The Sun, reported the discovery of a giant Lego man washed up on a Brighton beach Friday.

Lego denies any knowledge as to how the six-foot toy ended up on the beach. Its presence was attributed to Dutch artist Ego Leonard.

The toy was discovered by Peter McNiven, an employee of digital marketing agency Kerb, which lists Lego among its clients. Kerb specialises in unconventional PR events and creating media interest.

Baileys in 'lips' push

Baileys is rolling out a £25m global marketing campaign to support a fresh positioning which urges consumers to 'Listen to your lips'. The ads, created by JWT, feature images of women's lips, which are meant to represent the experience of drinking Baileys. Brand owner Diageo is spending £4m in the UK across TV, print, outdoor and digital advertising and below-the-line activity.

EA Games runs free

EA Games promoted the launch of its latest video game, Mirror's Edge, in Trafalgar Square last weekend. The game is based on the urban sport of parkour, or free running. The launch featured the movement's founder. Sebastien Foucan, and sports apparel brand K-Swiss.

Read more about brand interest in free running at marketingmagazine.co.uk

DoH anti-smoking ad

The Department of Health has launched it latest quit-smoking TV ad. The work, which highlights children's fears about their parents dying from smoking, features a young girl's voice saying, 'I'm not scared of the dark', 'I'm not scared of spiders' and 'I am not scared of clowns'. In the final scene, she says, 'I am scared of my mum smoking; I'm scared my mum will die.'

Beatles game launch

The Beatles are set to make a digital music debut with the launch of a video game in which fans will be able to play along to the group's back catalogue. The game, from the makers of the title, Rock Band, is expected to launch in 2009.

Unilever stays strong

Unilever says that it expects to deliver strong underlying revenues this year following an excellent third quarter. The FMCG giant posted a profit increase of 83% on the back of several disposals.

Lloyds TSB to rebrand

Lloyds TSB has announced that it will rebrand to Lloyds Banking Group once its merger with HBOS has been completed. However, the company said it is yet to decide whether it will retain any of the HBOS brands, or even the HBOS brand itself. The announcement follows rumours of a rival bid for HBOS from Scottish businessman Jim Spowart.

Blue Dragon redesign

Blue Dragon, the oriental food brand, has revamped its packaging design. It has also expanded its range with the addition of Sweet Soy with Garlic & Ginger and Thai Basil & Lemongrass variants to it standard line, and Sweet & Sour with Coriander and Sweet Chilli & Kaffir Lime to its premium line, in response to consumer demand. The updated packaging introduces additional GDA information, nutritional breakdowns, cooking tips and key facts.

ISBA says BBC unfair

ISBA has reiterated its concerns that the BBC is 'overly funded and unfairly competitive with commercial media', thereby reducing advertisers' access to television audiences. The Commons Culture Committee has just begun an investigation into the broadcaster's commercial operations.

O2 in priority push

O2 is launching a £6m camp-aign this week to highlight the benefits of priority ticketing. The drive, which will run across TV, cinema, print and online, was created by VCCP; media was handled by Zenith-Optimedia. Since The O2 venue opened last year, more than 1m customers have signed up for priority ticketing alerts.

ASA looks into POM

POM, the pomegranate juice company, is being investigated by the ASA following an ad used on London buses that carried the line 'Cheat death'.

The ASA, which has received complaints from the public about the ad, will deem whether it is misleading consumers. The Food Standards Agency said that it would comment in due course if it were approached by the ASA to clarify claims.

T-Mobile's G1 launch

T-Mobile has launched its G1 handset with Google, the first mobile phone to use the search company's Android operating system. The handset combines full touch-screen functionality and a QWERTY keyboard.

Vanneck goes global

Katie Vanneck, head of sales and marketing at Times Media, is to take on the role of managing director, digital and new business across News International on an interim basis. Vanneck has been appointed to the role as Mike Anderson is taking an immediate leave of absence over the coming months for personal reasons.

DfT car safety

A road-safety campaign by the Department for Transport, showing the damage done to internal organs after a driver crashes without wearing a seatbelt, will have to be shown after 9pm after regulators deemed it too graphic. The ads, by Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO, launched on Monday.

Microsoft signs deal

Microsoft has signed a three-year 'Memorandum of Understanding' with the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) to use technology to help students and improve educational standards and career development through innovative teaching and coaching programmes.

GE Olympic taxi ads

Global Olympic sponsor GE has launched a moving-image campaign on the side of London taxis to build awareness of its association with the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics and London 2012. The campaign, which uses 'motion lenticular technology' to create the effect of moving images, will run until February across more than 300 taxis.

Mo't sets up shop Mo't & Chandon is launching a temporary Champagne store in central London to engage consumers in the run-up to Christmas. The shop, called Atelier Mo't, meaning 'Mo't studio' in English, will allow customers to personalise bottles of Champagne with Swarovski crystals. The store launches on 3 Dec-ember on New Bond Street and will remain open for the festive season.

This article was first published on Marketing