Business Diary: Lots of crying over missing milk

There really is no excuse these days for not realising that email is a global phenomenon. What, then, was Keith Zakheim, the chief executive of an American firm called Beckerman, thinking when he fired this missive off to staff after arriving at work to discover an errant colleague had failed to replace the milk in the office fridge? "If I catch someone not replacing the milk, or at least, in the case where the downstairs store has closed already, not sending an email to the office so the first person that arrives can pick one up upon arrival – then I am going to fire you," Zakheim explodes. "I'm not joking. You will be fired for not replacing the milk, and have fun explaining that one to your next employer." By the way, Beckerman is a public relations business.

Aviva falls foul of Downton fans

It must have seemed a smart idea to Aviva. Commercial breaks during last Sunday's episode of the massively popular Downton Abbey featured a series of spots from the insurer, telling the story of a poor soul injured in a motorbike accident and his efforts to go back to work. Cue expressions of outrage from Downton fans who watch the show precisely to escape this sort of real-life gloom. Aviva is reviewing the campaign, which was supposed to run for much of the series.

RBS's double raid on TV news

Here is the news – courtesy of Royal Bank of Scotland Insurance. The group has recruited not one but two television presenters to beef up its public relations team, reports trade magazine PRWeek. Former GMTV correspondent Miranda Schunke is joining, while Mike Ramsden of BBC London is also on his way to the bank.

Music Festivals makes brief debut

There can be no faulting the scrupulous compliance standards of Music Festivals, the Vince Power business that floated on the Alternative Investment Market a couple of months back. Yesterday, it dutifully published its interim results – in theory they were for the first six months of the year, but since the business floated only on 28 June, the update covered just two days of trading. Music Festivals made a £22,000 loss over those 48 hours, since you ask.

businessdiary@independent.co.uk