M&S pulls ads from Mail group
Retailer reacts with fury over 'negative reporting'
Julia Finch and Jane Martinson Thursday March 3, 2005 The Guardian
Marks and Spencer has pulled all advertising from Associated Newspapers' three main titles in protest at what it regards as "negative" reporting.
The struggling high street retailer has withdrawn all adverts from the Daily Mail, the Mail on Sunday and London's Evening Standard.
The decision followed a series of articles criticising the management team led by Stuart Rose, particularly in the Daily Mail and its Sunday sister title.
Mr Rose's dramatic withdrawal from titles that attract millions of the middle-England consumers that he is trying to woo back into the stores may raise questions about M&S's management.
He is struggling with increasingly tough conditions on the high street. In the wake of poor Christmas trade he was forced into a profits warning and many City analysts think sales are continuing to deteriorate at an alarming rate.
The loss of such a big advertiser comes as a blow to Associated, as the Marks and Spencer account is worth millions of pounds. The latest ad campaign alone - which uses the strapline "Perfect" - was described by one advertising executive as a "big one" worth more than £1m.
Marks and Spencer is understood to have been paying £32,000 for each full page ad in the Daily Mail.
Neither M&S nor Associated would comment on the matter last night.
M&S has traditionally been very close to the Daily Mail. Their relationship was epitomised by the fact that the retailer's new season fashion launches were regularly previewed in the Daily Mail, which sells about 2.4m copies every day.
The Mail on Sunday has more than 2 million readers.
Matters are believed to have come to a head towards the end of last year when the Sunday paper's financial pages ran a story saying the retailer had "secretly made moves to sell up to half of its poorly performing Simply Food convenience stores".
M&S complained to the newspaper about the article, which was corrected the following week. But the retailer's management was not satisfied, following what it regarded as a barrage of criticism in the paper's financial pages.
Stuart Rose was also irked by reports of his own dealings in M&S shares during last year's bitterly contested takeover fight.
He was cleared of any wrongdoing by the Financial Services Authority.
Although the decision was made to withdraw its ads in January, advertising executives hope to be able to win back the business from such a large client.
It is understood that M&S executives believe there could be a rapprochement, maybe timed to coincide with the next big campaign. However, there is some surprise at Marks and Spencer's action.
The Evening Standard, in particular, has been less critical than its stablemates of the management.