Newcastle United FC has announced that its stadium will now be known as the Sportsdirect.com @ St James’ Park.

The stadium will bear the name until the end of the season under the deal, which is sure to enrage many of the club’s fans.

Newcastle, currently playing in the Coca-Cola Championship, will aim to get a new sponsor for next season, when the club hopes to return to the Barclays Premier League.

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The latest stage of the Madeleine McCann search campaign has been launched today, with support from adviser Clarence Mitchell.

Madeleine’s parents have been doing a host of media appearances this morning to promote a new video message aimed at reaching a key witness in Madeleine’s disappearance.

The video was produced by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre.

The couple have already done interviews on GMTV, BBC Breakfast and are set to appear on This Morning, BBC World, Radio 5 Live and Sky News. They are also going to do a round of interviews with Portuguese media who have been invited over to the UK to meet the couple.

The national media was briefed yesterday by the CEOP’s press team and the story has appeared on the front page of today’s Daily Mirror and The Sun.

Speaking to PRWeek, Mitchell, who has been working with the family since 2007, said the media blitz was vital to get awareness and promote the new video.

‘We need to get the video out as widely as possible,’ said Mitchell. ‘We need the mainstream media to push people online to view the video.’

The video, produced by police, has new images of how the girl might look now, which they hope will prick the conscience of someone close to Madeleine’s abductor. Psychologists have been used to help persuade them to ‘do the right thing’.

Police hope people will spread the new film via blogs, e-mail and social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

Madeleine, of Rothley, Leicestershire, was three when she vanished from an Algarve holiday flat on 3 May 2007.

Watch the new viral video from Madeleine McCann’s family

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Coca-Cola-owned Appletiser is launching a Christmas-themed on-pack promotion offering the chance to win spending money.

The ‘Break out the Bubbly’ promotion puts £250-worth of new year spending money up for grabs. Consumers are required to purchase two different variants of the drink to enter the competition. The prize draw will be made in January.

A prize draw mechanic for a cash prize is commonplace among promotional marketing. However the Appletiser campaign is notable in that it appears to eschew the current trend for using unique pack codes and online redemption.

Instead Appletiser has gone distinctly offline with its redemption mechanism. It is requiring consumers to post their applications, using till receipts as proof of purchase.

Another potential drawback for the promotion could be the lack of prizes on offer. Despite requiring the consumer to go to significant trouble to enter the competition only 20 prizes of £250 are on offer, making a total fund of £5000.

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BrightHouse, the rent-to-buy furniture and electronics retailer, is mounting a £1.5m awareness and direct response campaign to promote its ‘pay weekly’ service.

Themed around the strapline ‘Making Christmas more affordable’, the retailer will launch a TV, door drops and sponsorship campaign on 6 November.

BrightHouse’s Home & Away sponsorship idents are being updated with Christmas creative.

The door drop programme includes an 8-page leaflet distributed to three million people using newshare, a service that delivers marketing collatoral in local newspapers. BrightHouse will use TNT’s new ‘hit list’ profiling tool to target the door drops.

BrightHouse has 189 stores nationwide selling home electronic and domestic appliances, household furniture and related products, on a ‘rent to own’ weekly payment basis.

The business has benefited from the recession, and has seen five successive years of growth.

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The project is expected to be finished by January 2010 and will include daytime meeting spaces, a 220-seat purpose-built theatre and an interactive media centre.

In addition the Galleries of Modern London will include spaces available for hire for fine dining for 250 people, drinks receptions for 1,000 people and a tranquil city garden designed for summer parties.

The Museum of London also has a Docklands venue, which is, along with the refurbished main building, is expected to be one of the many places to pull in offshoot 2012 Olympics business.

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London has won the opportunity to stage a major sports event that will give the UK’s economy a huge financial boost.

The 2011 SportAccord Convention will see more than 1,500 of the world’s top sporting officials and business people from across the globe gather in the capital for the six-day event.

The event will initially contribute more than £3m to the economy, but is expected to generate many more millions through contracts for new businesses and other events.

Mayor of London Boris Johnson announced the win at the 2012 Business Summit held at Excel London today.

“This is a truly fantastic opportunity for the capital. Delivering a legacy for London after the Games is crucially important and SportAccord will now play a significant role in helping us achieve this,” he said.

Olympics minister Tessa Jowell commented: “The SportAccord Convention is an excellent opportunity for UK businesses to showcase their expertise gained from working on London 2012 to key players in the international event supplier sector.

“With preparations for the London Games reaching fever pitch in 2011, SportAccord will be a vital forum for British companies looking to capitalise on the business benefits of 2012 and take their experience overseas.”

The bid was co-ordinated by the Events for London team at Visit London and was funded by several of the UK’s sporting and business bodies.

The event will take place from 3 – 8 April 2011 at the new Park Plaza Westminster Bridge hotel.

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Renowned for providing events with semi-naked waiting staff, Butlers in the Buff, is set to unleash its unqiue service to revellers in Australia after selling its first franchise for £8,000.

Launched eight years ago by owners Jason Didcott, William Jones and Stacey Lynn, the service, which provides male butlers wearing nothing but collars, cuffs and an apron, has become a favourite at events throughout the UK.

After posting a 30% year-on-year profit rise the owners decided to create its first franchise in Sydney.

Didcott explained: “We’ve had a huge response from all over the world but have decided to launch the first franchise in Australia with someone we already know, a former butler.”

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The BT Tower was spectacularly lit up with a firework display to celebrate 1,000 days to go to the London 2012 Olympic Games on Saturday 31st October.

Thousands of people gathered to watch the display, which was also screened live on National Lottery Draw Show on BBC One.

For the first time, a screen at the top of the Tower displayed the number of days to the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Games.

To see pictures of the event click here.

“We are well and truly on the road to London 2012, and BT is thrilled to be able to bring the nation together like this,” said BT group marketing and brand director Suzi Williams.

“In our role as communications services partner, we want to inspire and engage people like never before – what better way to do this than returning the BT Tower to its original role as an information tower.”

“I hope it’s a taste of things to come in 2012 when the whole country will celebrate the Games coming to London,” added LOCOG chairman Sebastian Coe.

“We are delighted that our sponsors are playing such a big role in exciting and inspiring the nation, whether through grassroots sports activation programmes or events like the BT Tower illumination this evening. It’s great to have a world-class company, like BT, on board.”

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Three of the UK’s busiest shopping centres are to be furnished with giant Ferrero Rocher Christmas trees, as part of the brand’s £5m advertising campaign.

Westfield London, the Trafford Centre and the Bullring will each house one of the 15-metre trees, made from 2,500 suspended golden baubles.

Ferrero will also distribute 60,000 goodie bags across the three locations, including samples of the full Ferrero boxed range.

The campaign will run for the next three months until Christmas Eve, and will include TV and consumer press advertisements.

Ferrero UK marketing director Dave Tucker commented: “Ferrero has always been synonymous with Christmas, for family and friends. Our campaign builds on this association, to highlight that giving and sharing Ferrero this Christmas can make the occasion even more special.”

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We have spoken with both professional and non professional event planners to come up with a comprehensive corporate event planning resource. Use these tips as your guide to producing a successful event. 59 Questions to ask the Hotel and Venue Sales and Service Manager when choosing a Venue for your Event, Conference or Corporate Meeting. Be sure to ask plenty of questions before booking, to ensure there are no surprises once you arrive. Checklist for Corporate Event Planning Booking and Check-in – Corporate Events

1. Can you provide a link for online reservations?
2. Can you provide remote check-in or pre-check in? How many terminals are there?
3. How many stations/terminals will be available at the registration desk?
4. When our reservation block is full, can your reservations department automatically add on rooms to our block, as needed, or is a contract addendum needed?
5. When the block is full, can the reservations department direct attendees to our overflow hotels? Click here to read more….Hotel Policies
6. Are you a union hotel? If so, when is your union contract up for renewal?
7. What other groups will be in-house during our dates? What time does their meeting end?
8. What will be your availability the night before our arrival?
9. What is your service charge/gratuity rate?
10. What is your check-in and check-out time?Additional Services at the hotel
11. Are there any other mandatory charges – e.g., porterage?
12. Do you deliver daily newspapers? Which one(s)?
13. What are your Spa hours?
14. Do you have 24-hour room service?
15. What are the workout-room/gym hours? Can you open it earlier/close it later? Is there a charge for use?AV Questions for your corporate conference
16. Do you have a business centre? What are the hours? Can you open it earlier/close it later? Is there a charge?
17. Do all your meeting rooms have a sound system?
18. Who is your in-house audiovisual provider? Do they store equipment on-site? Can we bring in our own AV Company?
19. What is the largest screen that can be used in the ballroom?
20. Can you provide a TV feed in the meeting space?Meeting Rooms General
21. Can you provide a ballroom layout diagram?
22. Do you charge for easels/flipcharts?
23. How much do you charge to re-key locks in the meeting space?
24. Where is the closest hospital? (Dentist, doctor)
25. Can you provide brochures for us to send out with our registration materials/photos for online registration?Meeting Room Setup
26. What size are your round banquet tables? Do they fit 8, 10, 12 people?
27. Do you have tablecloths that go to the floor for banquet rounds and high-top cocktail tables?
28. What colour linens and table cloths do you have?
29. Do you have chair covers?
30. How many high-top cocktail tables do you have?Catering
31. Do you have mobile/belly/stand alone bars?
32. What is your overset policy for food-and-beverage functions?
33. Do you have any food-and-beverage surcharges (i.e., surcharge for a buffet for less than a certain number of people)?
34. Can we arrange a food tasting?
35. Do you have any centre pieces – e.g., candles, hurricane lamps?Extra Costs and Maintenance
36. Is there a fee for package/box/pallet acceptance/delivery?
37. Do you have a storage fee for packages? How many days in advance can we ship materials to the hotel?
38. What is your room-drop (room delivery) charge? (i.e., room deliveries by bellmen for meeting amenities, notes, papers, etc)
39. When was your last refurbishment for sleeping rooms? Meeting space?
40. Do you have a concierge/club level? What services are offered?Transport and Parking
41. Where can buses be loaded/unloaded? Executive coaches? Chauffeured cars?
42. What is your valet/self parking capacity? What are the charges?
43. Do you stamp or give out stickers for hosted parking?
44. How many parking attendants will be on duty during peak arrivals?
45. How many bellmen will be on duty during peak arrivals?Communications
46. Can you carry our walkie-talkie/radio while we’re onsite?
47. May I have both your direct-dial and mobile phone numbers? And those for the Service Manager?
48. Who is your Administrative Assistant, and can I have her/his direct number and email address?
49. Do you have an on-floor/dedicated Meeting Concierge?
50. How many people will attend the pre-con?Digital Communications
51. How long will it take you to prepare Banquet Event Orders (BEOs)?
52. Is there wifi/broadband access in the sleeping and meeting rooms? What is the cost for each?
53. Are high-speed Internet lines charged at a flat rate per day or charged per IP address?
54. Are your meeting rooms air conditioned?

Miscellaneous

1. Can you rent copying/printing equipment for us?
2. How much are portable space heaters? Do you have them on-site?
3. Will there be any type of construction going on in the hotel during our stay?
4. Is a service charge added to your meeting room rental rate?

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