UK Marketing News

i newspaper advert labelled misleading

Joe Elvin — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 10:22:30 +0000

An advert for the Independent’s sister newspaper, i, has been labelled as misleading and banned.

The Advertising Standards Agency were unhappy at the newspaper’s claims that it contained no celebrity gossip stories.

They declared that the newspaper’s ’Caught and Social’ column could be interpreted as celebrity news by readers and that the advert could no longer be aired in its current form.

According to The Guardian, the marketing news centres around a television advert which claims that i “squeezes the content of a quality paper into one that’s small and beautifully informed.”

It goes on to say that no tabloid-style stories are covered and that it has “no celeb gossip nonsense, just intelligent stuff.”

It was also ruled that the newspaper would no longer be able to make their “no celeb gossip nonsense” claims again.

Independent News and Media responded to the ruling by stating that their celebrity stories are unlike other newspapers because they are based solely on facts rather than hearsay.

Journalism.co.uk report that although a multi-million pound advertising campaign allowed good sales of i when it launched in October last year, its circulation dropped by over 6 per cent between March and April.

This figure represents the biggest drop of any daily national newspaper in England.

Zara Phillips agrees brand ambassador role with Samsung

Joe Elvin — Fri, 27 May 2011 10:48:38 +0000

Zara Phillips has become the latest addition to the team of Samsung brand ambassadors ahead of next year’s Olympic Games.

Her role will involve promoting the Olympic Games in marketing news and PR campaigns for the telecommunications provider.

The champion horse rider is hoping to compete again in London next year and spoke of her excitement at joining David Beckham in helping promote Samsung products during the buildup to the Games.

In an interview with marketingmagazine.co.uk, she said: “Samsung is using its sponsorship to encourage everyone to get involved in the Olympic Games and I’m looking forward to to helping more people actively participate and be part of London 2012.

“Technology plays such a huge part in helping deliver the games to the fans and taking the spectacle through smartphone technology to those that aren’t able to see the events in person.”

The Queen’s granddaughter added that competing at the Olympics in London would be the pinnacle of her equestrian career.

A source from Samsung told utalkmarketing.com that Phillips had been selected for the role because of her patriotism and dedication to being selected for next year’s Olympics.

Phillips has previously missed out on both the 2008 and 2004 Olympic Games because of injuries to her horse, Toytown.

Travel industry surviving ash cloud furore

Chris Taylor — Tue, 24 May 2011 15:44:32 +0000

The travel industry insist that they will continue their marketing campaigns as normal following a volcanic eruption that threatens to disrupt European travel.

The eruption of the Grimsvotn volcano in Iceland began on Saturday, and it is only now that the heavy ash is beginning to take its toll on flight operations.

Major carriers have been assuring marketing news agencies that they have no plans to change their advertising campaigns despite planes currently being grounded at airports in Scotland, Ireland and northern England.

A spokesman for British Airways told Marketing Week that the latest Icelandic eruption will have “no impact on advertising”.

This notion was repeated by Virgin Atlantic, whose spokesperson said: “We haven’t made any changes to our ongoing media plan or messaging and our flights continue to operate as normal.”

A number of big players in the industry have already withdrawn flights following safety advice issued by the Civil Aviation Authority, the National Air Traffic Centre and the Met Office.

British Airways, KLM, Easyjet, Aer Lingus, Flybe, Eastern Airways and Loganair have all cancelled some services in and out of Scottish airports.

In April last year, the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajokull gave passengers and flight operators a headache when plane travel was intermittently grounded for around 10 days throughout Europe.

Back then, The International Air Transport Association (IATA) estimated that the event cost the industry £130m a day, according to The Guardian. Last year’s eruption also caused the largest closure of European airspace since World War II.

MPs express further concern over Kraft’s plans for Cadbury

David Howells — Mon, 23 May 2011 12:19:34 +0000

Kraft, the American multi-national which bought Cadbury in February 2010, has come under more fire from MPs for moving the brand’s marketing function to Zurich.

The latest marketing news has reported the publication of a report by the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee which questions Kraft’s previous pledges to manage Cadbury brands from within the UK.

Titled ‘Is Kraft Working For Cadbury?’, the report contains MPs “significant concerns” that Kraft is working in a manner that is dismissive to the UK and in breach of the terms of the takeover, even suggesting that Kraft’s attitude had “steered close to a contempt of the house.”

Relationships between the Kraft and the UK have been fractious at best, following the immediate closure of a manufacturing site in Somerdale after the takeover, despite promises to the contrary, and Kraft Chairman and CEO Irene Rosenfeld’s ongoing refusal to appear for questioning in front of the committee.

The report’s conclusion, as reprinted in Marketing Week, reads: “So far, Kraft appears to have honoured most of the spirit and letters of the undertakings that it gave to the previous Business, Innovation and Skills Committee, although we are concerned about the upcoming pay harmonisation and the shift of marketing management to Zurich.”

“However understandable th latter might be, it does not sit entirely comfortably with the commitments to manage brands out of the UK.”

In a brief response to the claims, a Kraft spokesperson told BBC News, “The facts show that we have been a good steward of Cadbury.”

McDonalds urged to stop directly marketing to children

Joe Elvin — Fri, 20 May 2011 10:06:05 +0000

McDonald’s have been urged by health officials to retire their mascot Ronald McDonald in a bid to halt child obesity.

The fast food chain have been accused of being unethical for marketing junk food directly to children and were asked to stop doing so in a public letter published in many U.S newspapers yesterday.

The letter, featured in full on lettertomcdonalds.org, was addressed to McDonalds CEO Jim Skinner on behalf of doctors throughout the United States.

It read: “The rates of sick children are staggering. Ballooning health care costs and an overburdened health care system make treatment more difficult than ever and we know that reducing junk food marketing can significantly improve the health of kids.

“Our community is devoted to caring for sick children and preventing illness through public education but our efforts cannot compete with the hundreds of millions of dollars you spend each year directly marketing to kids.”

It added that if the fast good giant stopped marketing to children, the marketing news would spread and encourage other fast food outlets to do the same.

Jim Skinner responded to the outcries by denying that McDonalds has ever pushed junk food on children.

In an interview with The Financial Times he was defiant in his claims that Ronald McDonald would remain an ambassador for the McDonalds brand for years to come.

Health food drives unveiled in time for summer

David Howells — Thu, 19 May 2011 09:52:19 +0000

Change4Life, the health and wellbeing initiative is launching its first campaign aimed solely at children, marketing news reports.

With recent research showing that children’s interest in the campaign has fallen by 80 per cent, Change4Life has announced its “Really Big Summer Adventure” campaign, which will run throughout the six weeks of the school’s summer holidays.

The scheme revolves around an activity pack that children are encouraged to complete that is designed to make their diets and activities more healthy. It includes recipes for healthy smoothies and snacks, as well as energetic games to play like stuck in the mud or sack races.

The booklets will be delivered to schools in time for distribution before the summer holidays commence.

Department of Health director-general of communications, Sian Jarvis told Marketing Week of the ongoing campaign Change4Life is committed to: “We are working hard to make sure we have evidence and evaluation.”

“Demonstrating the campaign is working is an essential part of health and illness prevention.”

Change4Life is not the only brand encouraging healthy eating, fast food chain Pizza Hut has unveiled its newest promotional drive, offering unlimited free salad to anyone who orders a main meal or children’s meal.

According to the chain, it sells over 48,000 tonnes of salad every year, a figure it anticipated will double with the free offer.

Pizza Hut chief executive Jens Hofma told Marketing Magazine of their most recent health-drive. “Our free unlimited salad offer is a win for everyone,” he said, “not only are we giving our millions of customers the value they want, but we’re also encouraging both adults and children to enjoy a balanced diet.”

Budweiser to sponsor FA Cup

Joe Elvin — Wed, 18 May 2011 10:20:03 +0000

Budweiser are set to be named as the new sponsors of the FA Cup next month.

The American beer firm will begin its sponsorship at the beginning of next season after E.on decided against renewing its deal with the Football Association.

The deal should be worth £8 million a year to the FA but the marketing news is thought to have incensed rival lager firm Carlsberg, who already had a secondary sponsorship deal with the FA Cup.

According to The Daily Mail, the Danish brewers will now be expecting a severance cheque worth around £8 million in order to compensate for the breach in exclusivity clauses.

The FA already had to pay out severance to Fiat after they signed rival car firm Vauxhall as partners of the England national team and will be keen to avoid a similar situation following this new agreement.

E.on enjoyed a five-year sponsorship of the competition, which was this year won by Manchester City in a tense Wembley final last weekend.

It is thought that the FA were relieved to agree a deal worth anywhere near the £9 million a year paid to them by the energy supplier.

Marketingmagazine.co.uk report that electrical firm LG were also in discussions over sponsorship opportunities.

Sony to offer free games due to PSN outage

Ashley Curtis — Tue, 17 May 2011 15:13:47 +0000

Technology giant Sony has revealed a make-good program to compensate users affected by the PlayStation Network downtime.

Marketing news sources confirmed that the campaign will offer users two free games to download 30 days after the PlayStation Store comes back online.

The games can then be kept forever on the hard drive of PlayStation 3s across the globe.

The games available for selection are ‘Dead Nation’, ‘Infamous’, ‘Little Big Planet’, ‘Super Stardust HD’ and ‘Wipeout HD’ with the Fury add-on pack included. Furthermore, PlayStation Portable owners will also be compensated with two free games from ‘Little Big Planet’ (PSP), ‘ModNation Racers’, ‘Pursuit Force’ and ‘Killzone Liberation’.

According to Gamespot, Sony will also be offering a number of free movie rentals as part of its apology marketing campaign.

Currently, the apology package is only available to Playstation users in the US and Canada but it thought that European and Latin America users will receive the same or a very similar package.

Sony has thanked loyal customers on the PlayStation Blog for being patient during the digital attack: “We developed the program as an expression of our gratitude for your patience, support and continued loyalty during the service outage.”

“From all of us at PlayStation, thank you and welcome back!”

Stacey Solomon features in new Iceland campaign

Joe Elvin — Mon, 16 May 2011 09:48:01 +0000

Iceland have launched their latest television advert campaign starring new brand ambassador Stacey Solomon.

The former I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here winner and X Factor contestant will appear in a series of nine adverts in the next four weeks.

Solomon’s agreement with the supermarket chain is thought to be her first major sponsorship deal since her success in the ITV reality shows.

It is largely agreed amongst marketing news sources that the deal is perfect for both parties following the ’Celebrity Mum Of The Year’ award that was presented to Solomon back in March.

Her three-year-old son Zachary also features in some of the ads, which were shot in Esher, Surrey.

Nick Canning, who is executive director of Iceland told Brand Republic that the singer was a natural fit in the campaign, despite her lack of experience in advertising.

He said: “Working with Stacey and Zach was a delight. She’s a real Iceland Mum so the whole shoot was very natural and her warmth really comes across on screen.”

Stacey recently told Metro that she has no fears of being labelled the next Kerry Katona as they were two very different people.

Katona was sacked from her role as Iceland brand ambassador following allegations of drug abuse.

Motorola to employ huge marketing drive

Ashley Curtis — Wed, 11 May 2011 11:30:25 +0000

Motorola Mobility are preparing a massive marketing campaign in the UK to promote its new tablet, Xoom, and its Android smartphone, Atrix.

Marketing news sources suggest that Motorola are playing with a £10m budget for the campaign, which aims to portray Atrix as the world’s most powerful smartphone and telling people how its “more than just a smartphone”.

The firm also plans to release a series of TV adverts promoting the Xoom tablet device. The ads, created by Ogilvy with input from Motorola, will begin airing in May.

The Atrix campaign with begin in June and continue for a month. Demonstrations will be “accompanied by ads in video on-demand platforms and movie streaming platforms,” reports itproportal.

Victoria McManus, marketing director at Motorola Mobility UK, hailed the new marketing campaign: “This is an excited year for Motorola Mobility, we’re launching two innovative devices and supporting them with a robust marketing campaign to help consumers understand the unique offerings Motorola Xoom and Motorola Atrix offer.”

According to Mobile Today, demonstrations of the Atrix will take place across transport hubs in London. Commuters carrying heavy laptop bags “will be tagged by a team of demonstrators” and offered a massage to ease their aching shoulders alongside a demonstration of how the Atrix works.