After the government’s volte-face on the sugar tax, will marketeers be left with a crashing low? March 22, 2016 Should the announcement of a sugar tax in last week’s Budget have marketeers worried? It certainly represents a volte-face on the part of the government. In October, when the advisory group Public Health England (PHE) released a report recommending measures to tackle childhood obesity, including a sugar tax of 10 to 20 per cent, a [...]
Gianni Infantino’s victory means little – Fifa has shown few signs of cleaning up February 27, 2016 If you believe the hype out of Zurich, you’d think that Fifa has turned the corner. The ‘bad guys’ are gone. There’s new management. And Fifa has had a Damascene conversion to good governance, transparency and accountability. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. The overwhelming emotion for many when Gianni Infantino won the ‘beauty contest’ of the Presidential [...]
Everything you need to know about the SABMiller and AB InBev deal: What happens next? October 14, 2015 SABMiller's board has given a conditional nod to AB InBev's cash offer of £44 a share, with a partial share consideration of AB InBev shares for stakeholders Altria and BevCo to reduce their tax liabilities. The London-listed brewer has also given its approval to move the deadline for a firm offer back to 5pm on 28 October. [...]
Francois Carrard: Fifa names former IOC boss as head of reform process August 11, 2015 Dr Francois Carrard, a former director general of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), will lead a committee tasked with reforming scandal-hit Fifa. Read more: Ambushed Fifa boss Sepp Blatter to step aside in February Football's governing body today named its 16-man "2016 reform committee" to develop a package of proposals for change by September. Yet [...]
US retail sales predicted to have fallen – New York Report February 8, 2015 RETAIL sales figures for January are likely to be the highlight for the economic week in the US. Economists expect the sales to have dipped by around 0.5 per cent over January, following a fall of 0.9 per cent in December. A preliminary reading on US consumer sentiment from the University of Michigan is due [...]
Super Bowl XLIX 2015 adverts: Watch Budweiser’s Lost Dog, NoMore.org’s domestic violence PSA, Bud Light’s Pac Man and T-Mobile’s Kim Kardashian videos February 1, 2015 Some 184m Americans are expected to tune into the Super Bowl this year to watch the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks showdown. While American football is nowhere near that popular here in the UK (although it is growing), chances are many more of us have seen a Super Bowl advert shared on our screens [...]
Rexam expands into Saudi Arabia February 13, 2014 Beverage cans maker Rexam yesterday said it bought a 51 per cent stake in Saudi Arabia’s United Arab Can Manufacturing, a supplier to The Coca-Cola Co, for $122m (£73.4m) as part of its strategy to expand in emerging markets. Rexam, which makes cans for Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Heineken, said UAC’s plant in Dammam, Saudi Arabia, [...]
Why smart people make bad decisions December 14, 2014 A company’s corporate culture can sometimes encourage dangerous herd behaviour. When asked recently to deliver a keynote speech at the ACORD Forum in Fort Lauderdale, I instantly knew my topic – it’s something that has been puzzling me for years – “Why do smart people make bad decisions?” I’m not referring to just hiring [...]
John Lewis Christmas advert 2014: Why are John Lewis festive ads such a big thing? And can Monty the Penguin live up to expectations? November 6, 2014 It’s not Christmas without an emotional, heart-warming, sometimes tear-jerking, advert from John Lewis. The unveiling of each new ad has become the unofficial kick-off of the festive period- move over Coca-Cola Santa, this year there's Monty the Penguin. Last year’s, featuring an animated bear and a hare, was the most popular yet with more than 13m [...]
Pepsi second quarter results beat market expectations even as profits fall July 23, 2014 PepsiCo released its second quarter results today, which, like Coca – Cola's before them, show that the soft-drinks market is losing its fizz. Luckily for Pepsi it also has a variety of snack food brands under its umbrella, including Quaker Oats and Doritos. The snack food division outperformed beverage operations and helped boost revenue growth [...]