The week in brief
McVitie’s in “family of brands” £12m relaunch
United Biscuits has announced a relaunch of its McVitie’s brand, unveiling a £12m multi-media advertising campaign as part of its efforts to accelerate growth for its sweet biscuits category. The food group will introduce updated packaging as part of the campaign, which begun last week with the broadcast of three new 30 second, animal-themed TV commercials created by Grey London.
BMB names new chief executive
Beattie McGuinness Bungay, whose clients include McCain, Yorkshire Tea and Grolsch, has appointed Juliet Haygarth as its first chief executive. She is currently managing director of Brothers and Sisters, a role she has held since 2009. Haygarth was previously at TBWA, where she worked on the 2005 General Election campaign for Labour. More recently, she was marketing director for the Hospital Club.
General Motors swaps Liverpool sponsor to Vauxhall
Chevrolet has left its four-year deal with Liverpool FC following parent company General Motors’ decision to stop selling the brand in Europe from 2015. The car firm is due to begin its seven-year shirt sponsorship of Manchester United at the start of the 2014-15 football season. According to Chevrolet, that arrangement is unaffected by the decision to exit the Liverpool sponsorship deal early.
£85m energy campaign sets agency tails wagging
The Smart Meter Central Delivery Body, which will roll out smart energy meters into every British home by 2020, is calling a pitch for agencies for an £85m, five-year national engagement campaign, Campaign reported last week. AAR is running the review and will contact agencies this week.
Weve unveils mobile payment partnership
Weve, the mobile joint venture between EE, O2 and Vodafone, has formed a partnership with Mastercard to launch a mobile payment service. Weve’s aim is to help limit existing fragmentation in the mobile payments market, and speed up a bank’s ability to run mass-market contactless mobile payments in a short space of time.
Ads of the week
■ Snoop Dogg, right, guest features in a new TV advert for price comparison website MoneySupermarket.com. The spot was directed by Nick Gordon through Somesuch & Co.
■ Mountain climber Erik Weihenmayer stars in the latest installment of Intel’s “Look Inside” film series. It was directed by Christopher Hewitt of Knucklehead and created by ad agency Venables Bell & Partners.