AN INTERNATIONAL business guru is proving such a draw that organisers have had to book a bigger venue.

More than 140 marketing experts have already booked to hear Wally Olins at a seminar and exhibition on October 8, starting at 6.45pm.

Organisers the Kent branch of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) and Business Link Kent have switched the booking from Leeds Castle to the Ramada Hotel, Maidstone, after all the original seats sold out within weeks of the talk being announced.

Mr Olins, one of the world's leading experts in corporate identity and branding, is guest speaker at the inaugural Annual Kent Marketing Lecture, sponsored by Pollett and Cole, Whitstable.

"We have had a fantastic response from Kent's marketing community," said Kent CIM chairman David Brooker. "Even with the change of venue the evening is going to be a sell-out so anyone interested in coming needs to book now."

Wally Olins co-founded international brand consultants Wolff Olins and was chairman of the company until 1998. He is chairman of Saffron, the new branding consultancy based in London and Madrid.

He is also visiting professor at Saïd Business School in Oxford, Lancaster University and Copenhagen Business School, and holds seminars on branding and communication issues around the world.

For further details and bookings for the event, which is open to non-member of the CIM, call 01732 744317. Tickets cost £10 and include refreshments and admission to an exhibition featuring local companies in marketing-related industries.