News – July 06
Posted in News on July 17th, 2006Is there a credibility gap with this sort of advertising?
Thames Water attacked for £1.8m ad
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=394421&in_page_id=1770
Britain’s most wasteful water firm was facing further criticism last week after it emerged it has spent millions of pounds on an advertising campaign trumpeting its success in saving water.
The adverts, created for Thames Water by top advertising firm M&C Saatchi, cost a staggering £1.8million to produce – or the equivalent of replacing around three miles of leaking water mains.
They depict a series of London’s landmarks, including the Tower of London, Battersea power station and the London Assembly, surrounded by water with the slogan "Our new pipes will save this much water every two weeks."
Customers are also furious that bills have risen by 21 per cent when the German-run company announced a 31 per cent surge in profits.
Andrew Marsh, of the Consumer Council for Water, said that, given Thames Water’s track record, saving water was not something they should be "crowing" about.
"There is a credibility gap with this sort of advertising, especially at a time when customers know how poor Thames Water’s leakage is and that they have been hauled over the coals by the regulator Ofwat,2 Mr Marsh said.
"The money could have been better spent on a campaign telling customers how to cope with water shortages, instead of this kind of self-promotion.
The amount is equivalent of every home in the Thames Water area of London and the Thames Valley losing 55 gallons of water per day.
It even agreed to lower their leakage target, meaning the firm will now be allowed to lose an extra 7.7million gallons of water every day – equal to about 440,000 baths – for the next year.
Instead, Ofwat ordered Thames Water to invest an extra £150million by 2010 to replace nearly 230 miles of old water pipes in London.
Peter Ainsworth, Tory environment spokesman, said the money could have been better spent. ’It is risible that Thames Water have seen fit to spend nearly £2 million on this bit of self-promotion,’ he said.
Thames Water would have done far better to spend this money on repairing some of the numerous leaks in their pipes across the city."
Last week Thames Water defended the cost of the advertising campaign, which they said was "not excessive."
PR guru called to account over war reporter’s fortune
Hollingworth was the first to report on the outbreak of World War 2
http://www.thestar.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=3323201
A High Court judge is considering whether to order a businessman accused of mishandling the finances of Hong Kong’s most famous foreign correspondent to give a full account of what he did with her money.
Judge Carlye Chu was considering the matter after hearing how Ted Thomas had charged 94-year-old Clare Hollingworth more than $12 000 just to chat to her about current affairs.
Hollingworth, a former UK Daily Telegraph correspondent who scooped the world with news of Hitler’s invasion of Poland in 1939, was billed up to $2 500 a month by Thomas for keeping her up to date with the news as her sight failed.
Thomas (76) also used money he had withdrawn from her bank account to reinvest to fund restaurant meals washed down with "fine wines" in London and Hong Kong, the High Court civil case heard.
Thomas, who heads a public relations company, Corporate Communications, took control of Hollingworth’s finances in 2003 and withdrew more than $275 000 in cash and cheques over the next two years.
He has since repaid more than $136 000 but Hollingworth, in an action brought by her nephew and executors, is seeking a full accounting for a further $150 000.
Thomas claims he withdrew funds from Hollingworth’s account to try to earn her more money on her savings and acted in her best interests.
Alex Stock, for Hollingworth, told the hearing that Thomas had e-mailed the journalist’s London-based executor Elizabeth Wright last year to tell her Hollingworth had "only 767 000 Hong Kong dollars cash reserves" left.
The e-mail inquired about whether she had other assets and warned: "Assuming there is nothing else in the pot, and leaving out the possibility of any serious illness … she only has 28 months of reserves (remaining)."
In fact, Stock said, Hollingworth had 1,5-million Hong Kong dollars in her account at the time and statements were being sent directly to Thomas. "I say that this is extraordinarily damning," he remarked.
Nigel Bedford, representing Thomas, said Hollingworth had been phoning him up to six times a day. "It was impinging on his time … so they agreed on a nominal charge to cover the service and to try to discourage her from ringing so often."
Explaining why Thomas had transferred Hollingworth’s money into an account in his name when he already had access to her account, Bedford said: "He simply transferred the money to somewhere that was more easily accessible."
Madam Justice Chu is expected to hand down a judgment on the application to make Thomas submit a detailed account under oath this week.
Hollingworth is famed for getting one of the greatest scoops of modern times when she was first to report on the outbreak of World War 2.
An event which has been saved by the Sainsburys bell
Three-year, six-figure sponsorship secured
http://sport.independent.co.uk/general/article1168206.ece
Some of Britain’s 2012 Olympians were displaying their athletics potential in the English Schools Track and Field Championships in Gateshead last weekend. The rescuers are Sainsbury’s, their three-year, six-figure sponsorship secured at the behest of the Sports Minister, Richard Caborn.
Similarly the first UK School Games, to be held in Glasgow in September, now have a long-term future, the Youth Sports Trust having been awarded funding to organise them until 2011, the year before the London Olympics.
In both cases Caborn brought in Fast Track, the promotional organisation run by the former Olympic athlete Alan Pascoe, to help set up the deals. It has involved more than a quarter of a million youngsters in competitive schools sport.
The Olympics minister, Tessa Jowell, says: "These are part of our Olympic dream, building on the rebirth of competitive sport in schools across the country."
Marmite squeezy spread with Jose Maurhino
Some very different advertising for Marmite
http://www.adverbox.com/2006/07/06/marmite-squeezy-spread/
Congrats to this team – they have produced some very different advertising for Marmite.
Advertiser: Unilever Bestfoods, Product : Marmite, Entrant Company: DDB London, Creative Director: Jeremy Craigen Copywriter: Theirry Albert Art Director: Damien Bellon Photographer: Andy Rudak Illustrator: Dermot Flynn @ Dutch Uncle Account Supervisor: Tamsin Northridge/Jonathan Trimble.
’The marble-skinned beanpole look is not necessarily the ideal beauty’
More than one in three women think the way women are portrayed in the media makes them feel overweight
http://cmmnews.blogspot.com/2006/06/1010101010-and-10.html
I’m amazed at the fanfare that announces these surveys. The latest health & beauty blabber from the BBC informs us that "more than one in three women think the way women are portrayed in the media makes them feel overweight".
Under the assumption that firstly, women want to look good to please themselves and secondly, to look good in the eyes of other men and women, then women truly are their own worst enemy. If women consider that those in beauty ads are so perfect, then isn’t their idea of feminine beauty so dreadfully boring?
To the watching male, the marble-skinned beanpole look is not necessarily the ideal beauty. For every man who ogles a Callista Flockhart there’ll be ten who prefer a Liz Hurley. Diana Dors was still a beauty when the scales tipped to the right.
The hetero male psyche is programmed to react to very simple stimuli, making it hard to separate an appreciation of feminine beauty from sexual preference. These preferences vary according to size and whether the male falls into one of the three broad groups (i.e. men whose preference is for legs, boobs or bum).
The average male wouldn’t fret about freckles, doesn’t notice when his female colleague changes her hair (do you have dry, blowaway hair? He doesn’t care – he’s staring at your ladybumps), and would easily forgive the odd zit.
Each of the starlets showcased in beauty ads will have their fair share of male admirers, but pit Keira, Naomi, Kate et al against the Dove girls and I bet there are more men who’d prefer a crack at the jolly ones in white underwear.
