I see that Paddington Bear is to be the star of Grey’s forthcoming Christmas ad for Marks & Spencer. A new PB film is on the way. This presumably means that M&S is dumping Mrs Claus, the star of Y&R’s ...
Read More »M&S hails “radical” new campaign from Grey – but same old reality problems remain
In what it’s hailing as a “radical” new departure Marks & Spencer is launching a new campaign, ‘Spend It Well’ through new agency Grey which won the business in a closed WPP pitch from long-time incumbent Y&R. The strategy, or ...
Read More »Paul Simons: was M&S’ decision to dump Y&R unfair?
M&S finally completes its creative review and no surprise it has left RKCR/Y&R. (When will WPP drop the RKCR from Y&R’s brand name?) This isn’t because Y&R have done a bad job; just the reverse as they’ve pulled out of ...
Read More »Waitrose and M&S fight over food in jaded January
Waitrose and Marks & Spencer are the two companies contesting the top end of the grocery market and they’re both back in the lists in jaded January, with new campaigns from adam&eveDDB and RKCR/Y&R respectively. Waitrose, which didn’t seem to ...
Read More »Paul Simons: are top managers and the City finally waking up to the reality of ‘brand damage?’
Is ‘Brand Damage’ a consideration for the City? A financial journalist in the business press last weekend referred to ‘brand damage’ in a piece about M&S (which reported its annual profits today). It is the first time I’ve read this ...
Read More »Will Christmas update show that Marks & Spencer’s brand management problems haven’t gone away?
A number of commentators in the broadsheet business press are predicting dire news from Marks & spencer when it releases its Christmas trading results on Thursday (January 9). It looks like M&S attempted to drive sales via flash promotions, the ...
Read More »What real people think about the M&S brand
Hot on the heels of the various comments on the Christmas advertising barrage, I experienced a real life large focus group yesterday. I was giving a guest lecture at the Business School of Westminster University for their post-graduate students pursuing ...
Read More »Is this year’s Christmas campaign the last chance saloon for Marks & Spencer boss Marc Bolland?
M&S issued a press release on October 30 announcing its ‘widely anticipated’ Christmas TV campaign; today it gets its ‘consumer premier’ on the M&S website and social media channels ahead of the big reveal in the centre break of Coronation ...
Read More »Steve Sharp’s exit from M&S fires the starting gun on UK adland’s next big pitch
Before Steve Sharp (left) joined Marks & Spencer as marketing director in 2004 – as part of Stuart Rose’s management team hired to fend off a takeover bid from Philip Green – M&S barely used to advertise. It had hired, ...
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