Woolworths - The value of a brand

One of the topics we recently covered as part of the Marketing unit was branding. The BBC have just published an interesting article on the value of the Woolworths name in light of its imminent demise. 

The article gives an interesting account of the problems faced by a well known high street brand name when compared with younger, online retailers like Google or Yahoo, and image-focused companies like Nike or Adidas. 

The article is well worth a look. Feel free to leave a comment with your views.

BBC Woolworths Article - Branding

DFS advert banned by Advertising Standards Authority

Hot on the heels of Apple being found guilty of misleading advertising by the Advertising Standards Authority, furniture retailer DFS have had their advertising banned for making their sofas look too big.

They admitted using special technology to superimpose actors into domestic settings but denied trying to make their sofas look bigger. However, the ASA concluded that although DFS had not intended to exaggerate the size of its sofas, "some of the sofas did appear large in relation to the actors."

Here is the offending advert - see what you think

Apple advert banned by ASA

As we have been discussing the role of the Advertising Standards Authority in recent weeks in relation to Marketing, I thought this was an interesting story. Apple have been found guilty of exaggerating the speed of their new 3G iPhone. Their claims that it was "really fast" was backed up by footage showing internet pages loading up in less than a second. 17 complaints were made by people who said the advert had misled them as to is speed and the advert has now been banned. 

Learning Point: 

The ASA is a voluntary body set up to monitor advertising in the UK - advertisements must be legal, honest, truthful and not cause offence.

For further details, check out the link below:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7749435.stm

Why do we need economic growth?

The BBC have an interesting article on their website which I recommend you have a look at. It explains the reasons why economic growth is important and could give you some useful extra information to increase your own knowledge. As well as giving a simple definition of what economic growth is, it highlights its benefits and costs.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7674841.stm

If you read it, leave a message and tell me what you think.