The Nationwide Building Society has called for a more powerful
Advertising Standards Authority in a plea to the Government to tighten
rules on financial ads. Nationwide says the ASA is impotent as it cannot
punish offenders and allows suspect ads to run while being investigated.
The indications are that the Government is keen to pursue the matter. -
Mail on Sunday
Associated Newspapers is to enter the pounds 127 million contract
publishing business with the launch of its Contract Mail division. It
will be run by Simon Barnes, the ad director of the Mail on Sunday, and
will initially use Associated journalists and the Mail on Sunday’s ad
team. - General release
The pounds 23 billion merger of Grand Metropolitan and Guinness has
cleared its final hurdle after the US authorities gave conditional
approval this week. The merged company, Diageo, must sell its Dewar’s
Scotch whisky and Bombay Sapphire gin brands to conform to market-share
regulations. Diageo shares have begun trading. - Financial Times
The Broadcast Advertising Clearance Centre has banned an ad for
Christian Aid and the Jubilee 2000 coalition on the grounds it is too
political. The ad aimed to raise awareness of the Third World debt
crisis and was the focus of an international campaign urging Western
governments to cancel these debts by the year 2000. - General
release
Ammirati Puris Lintas’s ’elephant’ spot for Rolo has been voted Ad of
the Year by 15- to 24-year-olds in the ROAR survey. Runners-up were
W. H. Smith’s Nicholas Lyndhurst spots and Boddingtons ads. Best
magazine was FHM, with More! and Loaded in second and third place. Best
product launch was Teletubbies. - General release
Arc Advertising has secured a place on the Prince’s Trust roster with a
brief to help one of its charitable organisations, the Prince’s Trust -
Action, raise its profile and accessibility to young people. The target
is to reach 1.5 million disadvantaged young people by the year 2000. -
General release
The Carat Group has relaunched its corporate Website which features the
quarterly interactive newsletter, i-TV News, produced in conjunction
with Edinburgh University. The site tracks information on digital and
interactive TV and details how this can be used to improve marketing
programmes. The site also contains information about the Carat
Group.
The address is http://www.carat.com. - General release
The Leith Agency has pulled out of talks with McCann-Erickson, leaving
the Interpublic giant with no option but to go it alone in Scotland.
McCanns has declared its determination to retain its presence north of
the border and has introduced a new management structure there,
spearheaded by Paul Morley, who at present runs the Birmingham office. -
General release
Standard Life has appointed the Leith Agency to its pounds 3 million
corporate advertising account, which will cover branding work for its
forthcoming banking and telesales operations. The Leith won the two-way
pitch against WCRS, shortly after Feathers Brooksbank picked up the
centralised media task. - General release
Fuji, the film manufacturer, has lost its marketing chief, Christopher
Hobbs. Hobbs was the divisional manager for consumer photography and was
in charge of sales and marketing. Fuji’s national sales manager, Roger
Moore, has stepped in to replace him. - Marketing Week
Hubble Productions, a virtual company set up by MGA Broadcasting, the
programme marketing and sponsorship company, has won the brief to create
sequences for Vaseline Intensive Care’s sponsorship of GMTV’s weather.
Hubble won the pounds 1 million task in a three-way pitch against
McCann-Erickson and Labi Harper. - General release.
