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Forecourt Trader Magazine: Promotion wrangle

Jan 1st, 1995
by John Donovan.
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ARTICLE FROM 1995 ADDED TO OUR ONLINE ARCHIVE

Forecourt Trader Magazine: Promotion wrangle

January 1995

Forecourt Trader uncovers the background to the legal dispute between Shell (UK) Ltd and promotions company Don Marketing UK (Ltd)

A legal dispute between Don Marketing (UK) Ltd and Shell UK (Ltd) is now spilling out into the public arena following the placing of advertisements in the trade press by Don Marketing, requesting information from Shell dealers.

The following is an attempt by Forecourt Trader to uncover the facts behind the dispute – from both sides.

In total, Don Marketing has issued three High Court writs and a County Court proceeding against Shell, alleging wrongful use of retail promotions developed by Don Marketing. Shell has already settled one of the three writs out of court. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Debrief: SHELL STOLE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, ALLEGES DON

Nov 1st, 1994
by John Donovan.
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Article being added to our Online Archive

Debrief: SHELL STOLE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, ALLEGES DON

November 1994

SHELL UK OIL is being sued for over £350,000 damages for alleged use of promotional ideas without permission or, in some cases, payment. In a writ issued at the end of September, Bury St Edmunds-based sp consultancy Don Marketing accuses Shell of repeatedly using ideas put to it speculatively and in confidence. Don cites Shell’s July ’94 “Now Showing” promo and a Nintendo promo in 1993 – the latter the subject of a previous writ served last April and settled out of court by Shell for “a substantial sum”. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Incentive Today Editorial: SHELL SHOCK

Nov 1st, 1994
by John Donovan.
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ARTICLE ADDED TO OUR ONLINE ARCHIVE

Incentive Today EDITORIAL

Nov/Dec 1994

SHELL SHOCK

IT HAD TO HAPPEN – although it would be naive to think that it hasn’t happened before because out-of-count settlements have usually kept the quarrel well out of the industry’s gaze. An agency is to sue its client not, as I say, for the first time, but the issue is one that is close to the heart of all marketing consultancies: the agency claims that the client has stolen (let’s not beat about the bush) promotional concepts which were presented by the agency speculatively and confidentially. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

PROMOTIONS & INCENTIVES MAGAZINE: UP TO SCRATCH

Jun 1st, 1993
by John Donovan.
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Article added to our Online Archive

PROMOTIONS & INCENTIVES: UP TO SCRATCH

JUNE 1993

Picture Caption: Having shelved its Collect & Select promotion, Shell’s 1991 Star Trek scratch card campaign featured the first Star Trek series. It coincided with Star Trek’s 25th anniversary, Paramount launching a new series and BBC screening the original 1979 episodes

EXTRACTS FROM THE ARTICLE

But while there may have been a few disasters, there have also been countless successes. John Donovan, managing director of Don Marketing, an agency specialising in promotional games, says he has supplied more than a billion game pieces without any problems. He counts Shell’s Make Money game (said to have raised sales by 25%) and the Great Guinness Challenge (which boosted sales by 30%) among his biggest successes. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

National lottery takes its chances

Apr 1st, 1992
by John Donovan.
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Promotions & Incentives Magazine: National lottery takes its chances

April 1992

Is a national lottery necessarily a good thing? Or is it too early in the game to predict a result?

A national lottery looks set to make a reappearance in the UK by 1994, after an absence of 166 years. We find out what the experts think.

John Donovan

Managing director, Don Marketing

“Compare this country with California, which is about the same size as Britain, and it gives some indication of the likely effects of a national lottery here. California has had a state lottery for about ten years and there are now more promotional games running than ever before. Another development has been the move by television networks into promotional activity.

“A National Lottery Board would decide who will have the franchise. The Pools Promoters Association must be very much hoping that they’ll be asked to run the national lottery. I think that’s fairly likely – after all they have the existing organisation and public confidence. But lots of US companies that supply electronic equipment in Europe for lotto-style cards have been lobbying as well.” read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

John Donovan letter published in Marketing Week magazine September 1991

Sep 27th, 1991
by John Donovan.
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John Donovan letter published in Marketing Week magazine September 1991 Page 24 as part of a feature focussed on a Daily Express Promotion.

Expressing doubts over promotion

John Donovan letter

I was interested to read the letters from Alan Toop and Alan Frame commenting on your recent article, Express promotion reveals a prize flaw”.

Tops remarks imply the Express promotion was illegal, but that, in his opinion, the law needs liberalising. The law may or may not be an ass, but it is the law.  We are all free to campaign for change but, in the meantime, legislation should be respected and enforced. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Will Shell’s intergalactic experiment pay off?

Jul 1st, 1991
by John Donovan.
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Will Shell’s intergalactic experiment pay off?

Cover story plus coverage on 7 pages with extensive colour piks: Promotions & Incentives Magazine July-August 1991

MAIN ARTICLE

Hang on! I’ve got a new idea… …said Don Marketing when the agency sold Shell its idea for the Star Trek promotion, neatly persuading the oil giant to abandon its catalogue scheme promotions. Case study by Anne-Marie Crawford

“Promotions run in a cyclic mode. With our catalogue scheme we had reached the end of the cycle and run into stalemate,” says Alan McNab, national promotions manager at Shell UK.

Hence, faced with a moribund market, Shell decided to change tack and launch its Star Trek game.

Collect and select schemes, points equal prizes, have long been stalwart forecourt promotions among the leading petrol companies. The familiar catalogues from which consumers choose different items when they have collected a certain number of points are almost synonymous with buying petrol. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Marketing Week LETTERS page: Scratch ‘n’ miff

Oct 14th, 1988
by John Donovan.
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Marketing Week LETTERS page: Scratch ‘n’ miff

14 October 1988

With reference to your Special Report on sales promotion (Research: Ensuring the right response, Marketing Week, September 23).

We were flattered to read the reference by Brian Francis to the Cinzano Instant Roulette bottle label scratch-off game, which he praises as the “most successful ever pre-christmas promotion run of Cinzano”.

For the record, the promotional theme was developed in association with CBH & Partners and used an on-label game technique pioneered by Don Marketing for which a UK patent has now been granted. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Scratch ‘n’ miff

Oct 14th, 1988
by John Donovan.
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For the record, the promotional theme was developed in association with CBH & Partners and used an on-label game technique pioneered by Don Marketing for which a UK patent has now been granted.

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Marketing Week Magazine: RESEARCH: ENSURING THE RIGHT RESPONSE

Sep 23rd, 1988
by John Donovan.
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RESEARCH: ENSURING THE RIGHT RESPONSE

Marketing Week Magazine: RESEARCH: ENSURING THE RIGHT RESPONSE: 23 SEPTEMBER 1988

EXTRACT: The first scratch-card promotion to appear on-pack has been one of the most innovative promotions of the past few years. The game, on the back of a Cinzano bottle label, gave consumers the chance of winning a share of £100,000.

No research was available to test consumer and trade reaction and for security reasons it was impractical to test the promotion. But it proved the most successful ever pre-Christmas promotion run by Cinzano, generating immense trade support due to the appeal of the new technique. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

John Chambers and Shell Bruce’s Lucky Deal

Jul 24th, 1985
by John Donovan.
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John Chambers, Managing Director of Don Marketing during the period of several major national and international promotions for Royal Dutch Shell, including “Bruce’s Lucky Deal”, a playing card themed “Every Card Can Win” scratch card game in 1985 featuring legendary UK TV star, Bruce Forsyth.

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Marketing Magazine: The play’s the thing

May 31st, 1984
by John Donovan.
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ARTICLE BEING ADDED TO OUR ONLINE ARCHIVE

Marketing: The play’s the thing

31 May 1984

EXTRACTS:

People love to play games, and, as Shell’s Make Money promotion shows, they’ll flock to the point of sale to take part. By George Pitcher

It is appropriate that the American term for promotions like the much vaunted and widely imitated Shell Make Money campaign, aimed specifically at getting customers to the point of sale, should be ‘traffic building’. The amount of extra traffic built at Shell stations at the expense of its less imaginative rivals has, most observers believe, made the £2m investment in the promotion look like money well spent.

Such can be the power of the game card. Nevertheless, it should not be forgotten that this technique of sales promotion has been around for some time – Shell first used it in the 60s. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

The play’s the thing

May 31st, 1984
by John Donovan.
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People love to play games, and, as Shell's Make Money promotion shows, they'll flock to the point of sale to take part.

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Shell Make Money Finale

Mar 19th, 1984
by John Donovan.
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Extracts from an article published in a  SHELL IN-HOUSE MAGAZINE:  PAGES 20/21: March? 1984

THE FINALE

In an interview with Ken Danson, Manager of Shell Retail’s Sales Development Unit, we review the recently ended promotion. Did it come up to expectations? What will happen next?

KEN DANSON, Manager of Shell Retail’s Sales Development Unit, was responsible for getting Make Money into a state of lift­ off, and his was the desk on which, when there were problems, the busk stopped. How, then, does he feel about it – now that it’s over? Did it have the desired effect? · read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Shell Re-releases the “Golden Oldie” of the Sixties

Mar 1st, 1984
by John Donovan.
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The 1984 version of the famous Shell Make Money campaign has set alight the battle among the petroleum companies, and could lead to a renewal of the sort of promotional campaigns that were so familiar in the late 1960s.

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

John Donovan, Roger Sotherton and John Chambers, Don Marketing 1983

Feb 24th, 1984
by John Donovan.
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Don Marketing directors from the left, John Donovan (Chairman), Roger Sotherton (Marketing Director) and John Chambers, Managing Director. Photograph taken at Don Marketing Chelmsford UK offices in 1984, with Shell Singapore Make Money poster in background.

Don Marketing Managing Director John Chambers photographed on Shell forecourt during the spectacularly successful Shell Make Money game in 1984.

Fast flowing Don: Marketing Magazine 16 February 1984

Shell Make Money full page advert: Daily Express 21 February 1984 read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.
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