I-Shock winds up for a5m push

funds TV series Electrical retailers are set to losethe millions of pounds they earnfrom selling cover plans due to anew European directive givingconsumers a two-year guaranteeon white and electrical goods.The Consumers Guarantees

Directive will give consumersgreater confidence when buyinggoods and make them less likelyto buy cover plans, which can costup to £150.Retailers have traditionally sold

these warranties to subsidiseproduct areas where profits havebeen squeezed. Consumers couldnow face higher prices as retailerstry to balance the books.Nick Bubb, retail analyst at SG,

formerly Societe Generale Securi-ties, said: "It is difficult to see howthis will not affect the warrantybusiness, especially white goodswhere demand for cover plans isstrong."However, electrical retailer

Dixons denied that demand for itswarranties would fall, as they alsoprovide cover against accidentaldamage and theft.

John Donovan, the sales promo-tion agency managing directorwho is suing Shell for copyrightinfringement over its Smart Cardloyalty scheme, has served anoth-er writ on the oil company, thistime for libel.Donovan, whose agency, Don

Marketing, has already broughtthree copyright actions againstShell, is suing over a press state-ment the oil firm released in re-sponse to his latest copyright writ.Shell responded to the writ,

served two weeks ago, by saying itwas satisfied that "the claim ... isentirely without substance".Donovan says that this implies

he is bringing a claim which is"wholly bogus and false". Thelibel writ claims damages on thebasis that Donovan's reputationhas been gravely damaged andthat he has "suffered acute anxi-ety and distress".A spokeswoman for Shell said:

"All we have done is defend ourposition when publicly attackedby Don Marketing."

New Euro rulesto hit retailers'warranty sales

Donovan bringsnew Shell writ

GM,TV

ket of25- to 34-year-old women.The May launch is supported

by a £3m marketing campaignthrough HHCL & Partners. TVadvertising breaks on May 11 andwill run for 11weeks. Twelve ten-second ads will also appear inGMTV ad breaks in June whenthe programme airs.

through non-traditional outlets,such as fashion retailers. We wantto continue appealing to styleleaders but also attract style fol-lowers," said marketing managerKevin Rogers.Casio is currently the UK's

third largest watch brand by vol-ume and sixth by value. Rogerssays the company intends to useG-Shock to make it the number-one value watch.The shock-resistant, digital

watches have been sold in the UKsince 1983 and have traditionallyappealed to the military due totheir hard-wearing design. Morerecently, as combat gear has be-come fashionable, they have be-come popular in the club scene.There are 167 styles of watch sell-ing for between £60 and £200.

Clothes brand Gap is to advertise its khakis on television for the first time.The campaign, which was created in-house, breaks on May 4. The series of3D-second spots will appear on Channels 4 and 5, satellite channels and incinemas. The TVads were directed by 'Hollywood talent' including Grammy-n_inated music video director I_an Coppola. The campaign will besupported by press ads in titles sucll as The Face, lren and lien's Health, aswell as outdoor adsad in-store marketing.

to extend G-Shock's appeal fromits present cult status to a wideraudience."Casio's mainstream range is

ideally suited to retailer such asArgos, but G-Shock is distributed

adults. The advertising is also notblatant alcohol but is subtle andstylish."The new brand, a zesty, light-

spirited drink, aims to expand theappeal of Martini beyond the tra-ditional vermouth drinker.It is pitched against Archers and

Malibu and is aimed at a core mar-

Martini Citro: tie-in with GMTV's new series aims to reinforce Italian heritage

G-Shock: targeting a wider audience

and 14% for business equipmentadvertising.The direct response sophistica-

tion varies dramatically across dif-ferent categories. Eighty-threeper cent of household applianceads feature a response mecha-nism, but this figure falls to 13%for confectionery ads and 3% fortobacco ads.Kerry Jonas, head of research at

Register Group, said: "When youcompare the UK with the rest ofEurope, we are much more likelyto include Freefone numbers(0800 numbers are now used inone in ten ads), but there is lesschance of us showing a Web siteaddress. There's bound to be a lotof change over the next year."

By Lisa CampbellGMTV has achieved a broadcastsponsorship first by allowing analcohol brand to fund a series.Bacardi-Martini's new product,

Martini Citro, will feature onidents surrounding a new GMTVcookery programme, Made in Italy.The four-week mini-series will

be screened twice a week, onMondays and Fridays, and wasfilmed on location in Italy.Martini intends the series, pre-

sented by Italian chef CarlaTomasi and GMTV's AnnDavies, to reinforce its own Italianheritage at the same time as givingit a contemporary feel.GMTV has never worked with

an alcohol sponsor before andrarely allows alcohol commercialsin its ad breaks. The last alcoholad it screened celebrated Foster'scentenary in January 1997.Ray Magness, GMTV's head of

broadcast sponsorship, said: "It isunusual for us to link up with alco-hol. However, in this case thefood, summer and Martini linkwas felt to be appropriate for ouraudience, 85% of whom are

CasiOnassigned up advertIsmgagency Doner Cardwell Hawkinsto develop a £5m ad campaignaimed at distancing its trendyG-Shock watch from the rest of itsrange and making Casio the UK'sbiggest watch brand by the end ofthe year.The pitch shortlist included

Bates Dorland, Arc Advertisingand Travis Sennett Sully Ross.Incumbent Peter Kane & Copitched unsuccessfully but willcontinue to work on the rest of theCasio range. Travis Sennett willcontinue working on G-Shockacross the rest of Europe.Doner Cardwell Hawkins will

produce press advertising startingin July and TV work that willbreak in September. Targeting18- to 35-year-olds, it will attempt

More than half of all UK pressadvertising now includes a directresponse mechanism - well abovethe European average, accordingto new research from RegisterGroup.The survey, which evaluated

75,000 press ads throughout 1997,reveals that 54% of press ads fea-ture some method for readerresponse, including telephonenumbers, coupons, company ad-dresses or Internet addresses.This compares with an average of39% across western Europe.However, the number of press

ads that feature aWeb site addressis 4%, a figure below the Euro-pean average. This rises to 7% fortelecommunications advertising

UK leads the way indirect response ads

First as MartiniLager's new lookBass Brewers has redesigned andrebranded premium lagerStaropramen to emphasise theword star. The new look, whichwas created by KLP Scotland,puts 'star' on the neck label andads the line 'Star of Prague' tothe main body label.

BRIEFS

Chinese data launchEuromonitor has launched ChinaMarketing Data and Statistics, thefirst bilingual source book ofbusiness and market planningdata on China, incorporating dataat na60nal-;-jjroVii'icial"iii1"-~municipal level.

Up in the worldAirtours has promoted AnitaMcErlean to the new position ofdirector of communicationsresponsible for all the touroperator's internal and externalcommunications. Formerlydirector of UK operations,McErlean joined the company in1993 as sales director.

Agency's panelJustin Hicklin, Philip Slade andMatthew Brown have set up acommunications agency that willwork with a panel of experts withacademic, retail theory, fine artand economic and socialprediction backgrounds. HicklinSlade & Partners will buy increative talent on a project basis.

BOPA contractRedwood Publishing has wonthe contract to produce BUPA'squarterly customer magazine,Upbeat, which is circulated to650,000 BUPA members.

Signed up by RegisterFormer sales and marketingdirector of Routledge, TimWestbrook, is joining RegisterInformation Services, theadvertising and marketinginformation arm of FinancialTimes Business. Westbrook hasworked as a sales, marketing andplanning consultant for the pastyear.

Bhs credit offerBhs has become the first retailerto offer a credit card option to itsloyalty card holders with thelaunch of the Bhs Gold Card,which offers up to eight ~eeks'credit. The launch is beinghandled by retail marketingspecialist RMP.

BUtaskBritish Airports Authority hasappointed The CommunicationsAgency to launch an internalcommunications programme, notThe CommunicationsConsultancy as was incorrectlystated in last week's issue.

Melz CD prolllotionMetz is launching a promotionalcampaign for the on-trade,offering a collector series of mini-CDs featuring dance, drum andbass and big beats music.Devised by DynamoPromotional MarketingConsultancy, the promotion willrun from May 1.

Holiday highlightsCastlemaine XXXX is sponsoringthe documentary Hot SummerDown Under on Sky 1, whichstarts an eight-week run onMay 3. The series follows theantics of young people onholiday in Australia.

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