By Paul Simons on May 3, 2012
I’ve just been to vote for the next Mayor of London and, walking down the street, I was thinking about the ‘headline’ views most people will have about the candidates. That turned in to wondering to what extent people in marketing and advertising understand the deeper policy issues of the candidates or to what extent [...]
Posted in Agencies, Clients, News, Politics, PR | Tagged Boris Johnson, brand values, ddb london, elelctions, golf ads, iceland, Ken Livingstone, london mayor, Paul Simons, personal preference, policies, volkswagen, Waitrose
By Stephen Foster on May 2, 2012
Why should we, you ask, when it’s so much fun? It is indeed fun to observe the over-mighty Murdochs, paterfamilias Rupert and once super-cocky son James suffering the slings and arrows of the commentariat, various MPs and, rather more worryingly from their point of view, legislators on either side of the Atlantic and, possibly, Australia [...]
Posted in Media, News, Politics | Tagged bskyb, fit person, fox, James Murdoch, leveson inquiry, news corporation, news of the world, ofcom, one-eyed monster, over-mighty legislators, parliamentary committee, phone hacking, Robert Peston, Rupert Murdoch, Silvio Berlusconi, Sky Italia, star tv, the sun, the times
By Stephen Foster on April 25, 2012
I suppose when you’re 81 you can do weary in an extended grilling about your company, your ethics and, most of all, yourself and Rupert Murdoch did just that today, masterfully, when he testified before the UK’s Leveson Inquiry into media ethics. For some reason counsel to the inquiry Robert Jay spent the morning session [...]
Posted in Media, News, Politics | Tagged Bill Lawrie, Bobby Simpson, David Cameron, Justin Langer, leveson inquiry, Matthew Hayden, Mrs Thatcher, political favours, Robert Jay, Robert Maxwell, Rupert Murdoch, Sunday Times, the times, thomson family, Times Newspapers, £400m losses
By Staff on April 25, 2012
Artfully disguised social engineering seems to be the theme of much US advertising recently – Chrysler reviving Detroit, P&G sponsoring mothers, Coke appropriating ‘Happiness’ – and now Mother New York has entered the fray with this opus for Book People Unite, a joint venture between not-for-profit Reading is Fundamental, the Library of Congress and the [...]
Posted in Agencies, Clients, Creative, News, Politics | Tagged ad campaign, ad council, book people unite, ebooks, library of congress, mother campaign, mother new york, reading, reading is fundamental, red riding hood, social engineering
By Staff on April 25, 2012
This is JWT’s debut campaign for Brand USA, the new government-funded entity aimed at attracting more tourists to America. It features Johnny’s daughter Rosanne Cash in a Brooklyn Bridge singalong (her own song) and other images you’d expect, like New Orleans’ French Quarter. But, as we fearlessly ask, is it any good? And will it [...]
Posted in Agencies, Clients, Creative, News, Politics | Tagged $12.3m budget, america, brand usa, brooklyn bridge singalong, new orleans french quarter, Rosanne Cash, usa tourism
By Stephen Foster on April 25, 2012
Apple has just produced another series of record numbers with soaring sales of iPhones and iPads adding more than $35bn to its value (which had fallen recently due to misplaced fears that its growth was slowing), adding $12.6bn to its cash pile which now stands at about $110bn. Pity it doesn’t pay tax on much [...]
Posted in Clients, Finance, News, Politics | Tagged $110bn cash pile, apple, caribbean tax havens, exxon mobil, hewlett-packard, iPad, iPhone, iPod, ireland, iTunes, John D. Rockefeller, mac computers, market dominance, Microsoft, record profits, samsung, standard oil, tax avoidance, Tim Cook
By Stephen Foster on April 24, 2012
Former News International boss James Murdoch was up before the Leveson Inquiry into media ethics today and, while James escaped pretty well unscathed (in part due to his professed reluctance to read evening emails revealing phone hacking on a grand scale at the News of the World) he’s left the coalition government reeling. Culture, media [...]
Posted in Finance, Media, News, Politics | Tagged bskyb, coalition government, David Cameron, James Murdoch, Jeremy Hunt, leveson inquiry, media ethics, news corporation, News International, phone hacking scandal, Rebekah Brooks, thwarted bid, Vince Cable
By Staff on April 23, 2012
McCann London has just produced its latest ‘Moody Britain’ survey (the last was in 2010) and it reveals a rather surprising degree of stoicism among Brits who are still being battered by economic headwinds although we’re still not very keen on over-paid executives, benefit cheats, Americans and politicians. Asked “what’s making you angry about Britain [...]
Posted in Agencies, Media, News, Politics, Research | Tagged america, Australia, BBC, benefit cheats, coalition government, fat cats, financial crisis, immigration, mccann london, moddy vritain, nhs, Nikki Crumpton, royal family, survey, targeted anger, turning point, voters
By Stuart Smith on April 20, 2012
It may of course be a coincidence. But I suspect not, given the close timing. No sooner has Professor Terence Stephenson, speaking on behalf of 200,000 doctors, called for a ban on ‘junk food’ brands sponsoring sports events than up pops another prominent medic, advocating blanket ‘fat taxes’ on soft drinks and chocolates. Next step, [...]
Posted in Clients, News, Politics, Research | Tagged bannist tendency, bird flu, british journal of nutrition, coca-cola, coi, Dr Mike Rayner, fat taxes, national health service, obesity, obesity epidemic, pasty tax, Professor Susan Jebb, Professor Terence Stephenson, Stuart Smith
By Staff on April 18, 2012
WPP’s Penn Schoen Berland has bought film research firm First Movies for an undisclosed sum. First Movies carries out test screenings for major film studios including Disney, Paramount, Sony Pictures and 20th Century Fox. These sometimes lead to changes in the entire film including forlorn ‘stars’ being dumped on the cutting room floor. Penn Schoen [...]
Posted in Agencies, Clients, Finance, News, Politics, Research | Tagged cutting room floor, Disney, film, first movies, Hollywood, paramount, penn schoen berland, research, sony pictures, test screenings, us politics, WPP
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