Wasmuht takes global role at Spar

Spar has appointed Tobias Wasmuht to the post of international head of marketing, with responsibility for building and implementing the retailer’s global brand.

Wasmuht, who was previously marketing manager for Marks & Spencer Deutschland, was responsible for positioning and marketing strategy in Germany and the Netherlands. He will take up his post at Spar’s headquarters in Amsterdam next month.

Wasmuht will be reporting to International Spar managing director Gordon Campbell and replaces Dieter Marquardt, who has left to join a pharmaceutical company in Germany.

One of Wasmuht’s first roles will be to replicate the UK neighbourhood store formula worldwide, beginning with Finland. He will also oversee the building of the

Spar brand internationally through sponsoring pan-European events, such as the Spar European Athletics Cup, which is to be held in Gateshead in July.

Neil Henry, marketing director of Spar in the UK, claims that the appointment will not affect the local marketing strategies developed in each of the 32 countries the global chain operates in. He says the post was about “co-ordinating international activity” and he would not be reporting to Wasmuht.

Wasmuht was born in Germany, but educated in the UK before joining M&S in London in 1966.