The recent credit crunch has forced Marks & Spencer’s to review their marketing budget for next year as they are taking a plunge in their profit levels. It has been said that their £144 million marketing budget will be slashed by up to 20% in the year 2009 to account for the loss of profits. This budget reduction could mean that the top models currently in their campaigns such as Erin O’Connor and Twiggy could be dropped.
The Daily Telegraph reported that the profits levels have fallen by a huge 44% taking them to £307.8 million per year for the high street chain. It has not been finalised that the drop in marketing costs will result in high profile models being dropped first, Steven Sharp, the executive director of marketing stated that they have a lot of options which need consideration.
Over the last 6 month period the overall local sales actually rose by 0.8% and rose 23.9% for international sales although other areas of their trade took a massive plummet. On a like for like basis general merchandise and food sales fell 6.2% and 5.3% respectively.
Marks & Spencer’s chief executive, Stuart Rose said that the current economic situation is making retailer’s face the hardest time they’ve seen since the early 1990’s. He also stated that he has no concerns for the long term growth of M&S as they have a number of ideas in development, including the improvement of international sales.
In related news is what reported that the retailer Primark has been on a constant rise since the credit crunch and have stated a profit rise of 17% taking it to £223 million per year. This is probably due to the fact people are beginning to be weary of their spend and are choosing the cheaper brands to save money.
Posted by admin on November 5th, 2008 :: Filed under
Marketing,
Media,
Power BrandsTags ::
Profit Loss
After Sunday’s episode of Top Gear was aired, Jeremy Clarkson has received just under 200 complaints, 188 to be exact about his comment on HGV drivers. He said to the camera jokingly “What matters to lorry drivers? Murdering prostitutes? Fuel economy?”
This is when Jeremy Clarkson and co-presenters had to complete a set of tasks in HGVs and he also added to the statement that he found being a lorry driver is hard work, “You’ve got to change gear, change gear, check mirrors, murder a prostitute, change gear…” in his defence he claimed he was making a reference to the Yorkshire ripper who was a lorry driver and the Suffolk Strangler who was a forklift driver.
“These references were to exaggerate an urban myth about lorry drivers that’s not true and was not said to offend anyone” a BBC spokesperson said after the show. This joke did offend many lorry drivers which forced them to complain, including the chief of the Road Haulage Association, Roger King.
His complaint basically said although this joke may have been funny to a lot of people, it did not go down well to the half a million lorry drivers that saw it.
Ofcom have stated they there hasn’t been an official investigation launched as of yet but they are looking into the case to find out more information and the consequences.
These complaints follow the recent incident of Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand performing a prank call on the former actor Andrew Sachs which led Russell Brand to resigning from his weekly radio show and Jonathan Ross being suspending for 12 weeks without pay which is costing him £1.2 million out of his £18 million 3 year contract.
Has the BBC going too far or are people beginning to complain about anything they find mildly offensive?
Posted by admin on November 4th, 2008 :: Filed under
TelevisionTags ::
BBC
It has been said that the current Doctor Who star, David Tennant will be resigned as of the end of the year, David has been playing the lead role in Doctor Who for a total of 4 years so many of the fans will miss him.
This role has landed the actor numerous awards throughout the years ranging from best TV series and best male actor.
He has agreed to play in the Christmas special this year and the series will end in a special episode where Doctor Who will be regenerated into a new person.
This story is huge at the moment as bookies are actually taking bets on who people think will become the next Doctor Who, at this moment in time the most favoured person is Paterson Joseph who star in the Green Wing and the Peep Show. Some other people that were mentioned are James Nesbitt, David Morrisey and John Simm.
Since this series became shown on TV, David Tennant is the 10th person to act as the doctor. He is also in the top few that have been known as the most popular person that plays him.
The main reason he stated for making this move is that although he has loved every day and playing this role has changed his life, he could get too attached to the Tardis console for too long so if he leaves it any longer – he will never make the change.
Who do you think the next Doctor Who will be? Have your say and get involved…
Posted by admin on October 31st, 2008 :: Filed under
TelevisionTags ::
Doctor Who
In the recent post about Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand performing prank calls to Andrew Sachs, Russell Brand has now quit his radio show last night. There has not been any news on what will happen to Jonathan Ross as there will be a meeting between senior executives and the BBC trust today to arrange the outcome.
The complaints, which have now reached a staggering 27,000 forced the BBC to suspend the pair and wait for further information. Jonathan Ross published an apology to everyone about his immature behaviour about what he shouted about Andrew Sachs granddaughter. He said he didn’t do it earlier because he didn’t intend to apologise to all of the people that complained until he realised the amount that were offended.
The reason why Russell has quit doing his radio show was because the main purpose of it was to make people laugh, with everything that has happened has gave him the only option to stop the show from being broadcasted and move onto something else.
He also accepted full responsibility for his actions and stated he got caught up in the moment when he was singing songs about his granddaughter and never meant to offend the former actor Andrew Sachs or any member of his family.
Booking agencies have began opening bets to where Russell Brand will appear next, the most favoured is XFM followed by returning to MTV with bets of 7/4 and 5/2 respectively.
A recent online survey of 193 people revealed that 38.30% believed Russell Brand should be sacked, 33.70% said that it was a harmless joke that should be ignored while 28% said that it should be the BBC taking reasonability for allowing it to be broadcasted.
What do you think the outcome should be for this pair, did they really go too far?
Posted by admin on October 30th, 2008 :: Filed under
Latest News,
RadioTags ::
Radio
A recent prank call involving Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand leaving a number of messages on the actor Andrew Sachs (former Faulty Towers Manuel) answer machine has been described as offensive and inappropriate by the Prime Minister after having over 18,000 complaints being made by listeners.
Ofcom are currently investigating the situation which could involve a fine and an on-air apology by the two. Ofcom has fined Kiss FM £175,000 in the past for similar actions involving releasing prank calls without having the victim’s permission.
The messages revolved around the idea that Russell Brand had slept with the actor’s granddaughter and gave suggestion that Andrew Sachs would want to commit suicide after finding out. These were then aired on national radio without his permission which has escalated the seriousness as they were approved by BBC’s senior producers.
Andrew Sachs granddaughter, Georgina Baillie has been interviewed by the Sun newspaper where she stated they are considering a formal complaint to the police. She then goes onto stating back in 2006 she was introduced to Russell Brand via a mutual friend and she did actually sleep with Russell Brand three times.
Georgina said that the two responsible should be fired immediately for trying to humiliate an old man that would never hurt anyone.
The BBC are doing an internal investigation to find out what will happen to Brand and Ross, Jonathan Ross has actually received the highest three year contract with the BBC being £18 million. Russell Brand gets paid £200,000 a year for his weekly radio show so they both have a great deal to lose.
Along with the complaints there has been a lot of controversy about whether these two should get fired or not, you can be sure that a great deal of people are awaiting the outcome to be stated.
Posted by admin on October 29th, 2008 :: Filed under
Latest News,
New Media,
RadioTags ::
Radio
New research has shown that companies are ignoring the hidden costs when it comes to email marketing, it’s been said that the constant growth of the email marketing industry is expecting to reach £274 million by the end of this year.
An average in house marketing team will spend around 19 hours on each campaign they do, this costs a total of £800. If the company was to release a weekly newsletter of some sort that amount comes up to just under £42,000 per year.
You have to be cautious about marketing because you need to ensure it will bring a good return on investment, Adestra stated that companies are spending far too much time on the initial tasks and not enough on the monitoring and improvements which is costing them tens of thousands each year.
Experts have claimed that it’s the hidden costs, such as spending the time creating campaigns when it can be used elsewhere which will provide a better ROI that is severely affecting the outcome and the benefits from email marketing.
When it comes to email marketing it’s hard to keep up to date with the latest technologies that are out there to help you, you can spend forever researching the best tools to use and how to get the best from them. The basic concept remains the same and by spending too much time on each campaign is reducing the amount of profit you are making from it.
Research have proven for the best results you have to have a process that will allow you to get the required tasks complete in a timely manner, if you are struggling with any section then you would often get a better ROI outsourcing the work to other companies/people.
For the best results you have to focus on the optimisation, targeting and personalisation of your campaign.
Posted by admin on October 28th, 2008 :: Filed under
Marketing,
MediaTags ::
Email Marketing
A recent competition by the 118 118 service was claimed to be the hardest time to actually give money away completely free of charge – without any strings attached.
Everybody that used the 118 118 service from October 1st-12th was automatically entered into the competition and the chance to win £118. In total there were 288 winners and after contacting them individually it turned out that 89 people refused to claim their prize as they didn’t believe it was a genuine offer.
William Ostrom, the company’s spokesman said that he was surprised how hard it was to give the money away, especially with the UK’s economy as it is. It just goes to show you how people have become weary about unsolicited phone calls claiming they have won a prize. Perhaps in the past they have been a victim of fraud in the form of these ‘too good to be true’ offers.
They have the right to be weary, earlier this year ITV actually received a fine for over £5 million in result of a fraudulent scandal involving a phone in competition held by a number of broadcasters across the UK.
118 118 has taken all of the 89 names that refused to claim their prize and uploaded them to their website, this is to try and convince them that they did actually win a genuine competition and £118 is waiting just a phone call away. If you have used the service between October 1st-12th then be sure to take a look, you may have been a winner and refused your prize!
Posted by admin on October 24th, 2008 :: Filed under
Business & Finance,
MediaTags ::
Media
A recent incident involving Kerry Katona appearing live on the ‘This Morning’ for an interview with Phillip Schofield and Fern Britton has led to believe Iceland maybe reliving Kerry of her £250,000 contract.
During the interview Kerry was slurring her words which led the 2 presenters to ask about her health, she stated it was due to her medication for her bipolar disorder. She also accused Phillip Schofield of purposely ambushing her live on TV, however he claimed that no one had the chance to asses her prior to the interview as she arrived late. If they knew that she was on any type of medication that affected her incoherence they would of not allowed her to be live on TV.
Iceland have defended Kerry saying that it’s just a case of her medication kicking in at the wrong time, shortly after, the effect had wore off she would of been fit to carry on with the interview. They have been loyal and supported her through various periods of her life, for example when she got caught taking cocaine or smoking whilst pregnant.
Iceland refused to reveal any more information regarding this case but have recently renewed her contract in April for 12 months which contradicts any statement about dropping her by the tabloids.
The company actually received complaint letters from customers who saw the interview promoting her new documentary about how she spent £15,000 to recover her figure after 4 children. They basically revolved around the idea how asking how they can use her for a campaign targeting mums and why they should shop at Iceland.
One person actually stated that they will be no longer shopping at Iceland while Kerry remains working in their advertisement campaigns.
Posted by admin on October 24th, 2008 :: Filed under
Marketing,
TelevisionTags ::
TV
Bauer Media has been trusted to promote the Department for Transport’s new road safety campaign.
Negotiated by Carat Sponsorship, the campaign will run under it’s celebrity title Closer. The campaign aims to reduce child death and injuries through four advertorials and an insert game and poster supplement in the magazine. The Government’s THINK! Road Safety campaign also targets parents, equipping them with knowledge and support for pedestrian, cycle, driver and passenger safety.
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Posted by admin on September 23rd, 2008 :: Filed under
Marketing,
PressTags ::
Bauer Media
BBC Worldwide has successfully secured a majority acquisition of Jeremy Clarkson’s Bedder 6 company. This controlling share gives BBC Worldwide a stake in the commercial development of the Top Gear brand. Bedder 6 was set up by Clarkson and Top Gear executive producer Andy Wilman in 2006.
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Posted by admin on September 18th, 2008 :: Filed under
TelevisionTags ::
BBC,
Bedder6,
Jeremy Clarkson,
Top Gear