The main piece of excitement in the South African World Cup came not on the field, where England scraped through to the knock-out, but in the stands. The brewery that brought in three dozen “spectators” dressed in its corporate colour has given a new boost to ambush marketing.
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Sir Richard Branson has sold a third of his spaceship venture at a price valuing the project at $900m. What planet are the buyers on? Abu Dhabi, it seems.
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Setanta retires injured: can Disney score where it failed?
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When spending on all other forms of marketing is being slashed, it is not surprising sports sponsorship is struggling. Some of the best deals came from sponsors that could not afford them.
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Coca-Cola is a mature product, if a sprightly one, but its purchase of a stake in Innocent suggests the UK smoothie business realises it is reaching maturity too.
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Surely all businesses can cope with a 1 per cent contraction in the economy? Not if some of them try to maintain their sales at the expense of others, they can’t. It’s time for a bit of game theory.
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If bidders pay £111m for Damien Hirst’s latest works is the art market immune from the decline in other forms of asset values?
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Orange is a distinctive colour that has attracted the attention of marketing men at many companies. In Britain the RAC car breakdown service repainted its blue vans orange and the British School of Motoring has adopted its bright tones. EasyJet has tried to lay claim to it as a colour to apply across all its brands – and a mobile phone company uses the name as well as the hue.

It is in your face, but it works as a marketing technique. Yet, as viewers of the European football tournament have been reminded, the colour has been hijacked as a country branding as well as a corporate branding. The Dutch team is decked in orange from neck to toe and its supporters wear the same colour – not just a scarf or replica shirt, but a whole uniform of orange so that the fans become a phalanx in the stands.

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