Analysis

In-depth features, interviews and insights into marketing’s biggest issues.

Is creative drive enough to keep W&K ahead?

Marketing Week

London’s creative community will always toast a great advertising idea that translates into a series of award-winning campaigns, and Wieden & Kennedy has enjoyed its fair share of toasts recently. The agency that made Nike a global household name has been riding high on the back of its critically acclaimed Honda ads, but for all […]

Nothing backward in Krow’s win of Alfa Romeo

Marketing Week

Krow, the communications agency set up last year by a group of former D’Arcy and BMP bosses, has clinched Alfa as a major client (MW last week). It will handle the launch of the Alfa Romeo Brera, on the back of what the shop’s founders claims is a “new attitude to advertising”. Unveiled in October […]

As Smash Hits ink fades away, will the fans hit the digital age?

Marketing Week

Encapsulating the pop culture of the 1980s, Smash Hits magazine has gasped its last column. But it wasn’t just the victim of changing tastes, like the gallant Pink ‘un and Green ‘un of yore Smash Hits got a good send-off last week, with acres of newspaper and broadcast coverage about its demise. Journalists old enough […]

Brands reap benefits in events off the beaten track

Marketing Week

There is a growing feeling in the sponsorship industry that more brands will shun expensive headline deals in favour of creating their own events (MW last week). An increasing number of companies have turned to event creation in recent years because they do not want to “compromise” on an existing tie-up, according to Brian Greenwood, […]

If agencies want to increase profits should they look at salaries?

Marketing Week

Reports last week that Lowe London is putting “platinum handcuffs” on creative chief Ed Morris to stop him leaving came as the advertising industry’s trade bodies called for agencies to almost double the profit margin they charge to clients. One leading marketer says that if agencies want to raise their profit margins, they should cut […]

Will service become the selling point for low-cost airlines?

Marketing Week

Ryanair took the idea of low-cost flying to a new level when it announced last week that passengers will now have to pay to take bags on flights. The introduction of baggage charges for items over 10kg will, for many passengers, add another layer to the cost of flying, but it should enable Ryanair to […]

Why television advertising is set to lead the new media revolution

Marketing Week

Advertising and media experts frequently tell us that the internet will become the dominant communication platform – but not without the advice and knowledge of ‘traditional’ television The internet – not television – is going to be the world’s most important medium. So says Dominic Proctor, chief executive of MindShare Worldwide, one of the world’s […]

i-level needs to keep its cool

Marketing Week

John Bartle must have recognised the smell of success when he agreed to join digital media specialist i-level as non-executive chairman in its early days. The former joint chief executive of Bartle Bogle Hegarty has seen the agency grow to 80 people with a turnover of &£50m in six years, with clients including the Central […]

What can Kelly and Campbell do for United?

Marketing Week

The announcement last week that agency boss Jim Kelly and creative director Robert Campbell, co-founders of WPP-owned agency Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe/Y&R in 1993, have joined forces again to take over WPP Group’s struggling London agency United caused some surprise in advertising circles. The successful executives have taken charge of an agency that has few […]

Murdoch wunderkind picks up the online pieces

Marketing Week

Few had heard of Jeremy Philips, a 33-year-old News Corporation employee, until a week ago. Now, all the company’s eyes are on him after he was handed the keys to a $1bn (&£565.5m) online media by Rupert Murdoch. Philips, a former management consultant, has been promoted to executive vice-president, reporting directly to Murdoch, and becomes […]

Celebrity scandals can be gold dust for brands

Marketing Week

After being pictured allegedly taking cocaine on the front page of a national tabloid newspaper, Kate Moss has seemingly emerged from rehab with added attraction for advertisers. But the Metropolitan Police has now asked the model to help with its enquiries, raising the question of how much negative publicity advertisers associated with her – and […]

Will legislation kill off mobile TV before it gains an audience?

Marketing Week

The online industry is bracing itself for European legislation that threatens to squeeze the life out of the emerging mobile television industry. New media experts are concerned about proposals to extend the Television Without Frontiers Directive to cover content distributed via the Web or to handheld devices, including mobile phones. The European Commission’s amendments to […]

A new year with added resolution

Marketing Week

Last year was hardly a vintage one for television advertising, with Heineken, Heinz and Superdrug abandoning the small screen and few memorable campaigns emerging. However, with a glut of accounts awarded late in 2005, the industry eagerly awaits the next wave of work to emulate the success of Honda’s “The Power of Dreams” (Wieden & […]

Carrying the can

Marketing Week

Carrying the responsibility for a marketing disaster needn’t be the end of a marketer’s career, indeed experience of a crisis can help when looking for another job. All the same, struggling companies are quick to blame marketing when something goes wrong, says David Benady Marketers have an amazing ability to rise phoenix-like from the ashes […]