Brands

Royal Dutch Shell has retained WPP’s MediaCom as its global media planning and buying agency after a review that began earlier this year. The company spends an estimated $200 million on ads annually. Separately, WPP stated that Shell has placed four WPP agencies on its “Creative Agency of the Future”…

Amazon.com Inc forecast strong fall sales and posted a profit that was double Wall Street targets on Thursday thanks to the retailer’s younger, higher-earning businesses, including cloud computing and advertising. Shares rose more than 3 percent in after-hours trade. The report was a relief to investors in the U.S. technology…

Smirnoff and Absolut are both out with new limited-edition bottles — but one is taking a highly localized approach, while the other is pushing a global unity theme. Smirnoff parent Diageo has begun releasing limited-edition bottles with designs inspired by specific North American cities. The first two bottles, for California…

Comcast officially ended its pursuit of 21st Century Fox last Thursday, releasing a statement that the company would instead focus its efforts on pursuing a majority ownership in the U.K. pay-TV giant Sky. This step significantly impacts the streaming video marketplace, since it clears the way for Disney to complete…

Super Eagles star and Arsenal forward, Alex Iwobi has joined the ambassador train of entertainment company, MultiChoice Nigeria, as its latest DStv brand ambassador. This was announced at an autograph signing event with the striker at the MultiChoice head office in Lagos on Tuesday. Iwobi will be the new face…

Tech giant, Google has been slammed with a 4.34 billion euro ($5 billion) penalty by EU for illegally abusing the dominance of its operating system for mobile devices. Brussels on Wednesday accused Google of using the Android system’s near-stranglehold on smartphones and tablets to promote the use of its own…

Airtel Nigeria is offering new customers on its network 100% bonus on any data bundle purchased as well as eight times the value of any recharge. Under the new offer, new customers get 100% bonus on every data bundle of N100 and above, and also get eight times bonus on…

Lenovo is appointing Publicis Media (PM) to handle global media strategy, planning and buying, following a consolidation review. This is appointment is coming after a hotly sought-after $125 million account (according to comVergance) with pitches from various agencies across the globe, both top holding companies and regional/local agencies. PM was…

   Nestlé Nigeria Chief Executive Officer, Mauricio Alarcon has been appointed the 2nd Vice-President of Nigeria Employers Consultative Association (NECA). Alarcon’s appointment was announced at the association’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) held in Lagos on Tuesday. According to a statement by Nestlé, “Alarcon has been involved in the direction of…

The President of African Public Relations Association (APRA), Mr Yomi Badejo-Okusanya has commended the African Union (AU) on its declarations at the 31st AU Summit held in Nouakchott, Mauritania. Particularly commendable was its effort to bring on board 49 out of 55-member states to sign an agreement establishing Continental Free…