BA global marketing chief flies the coop
British Airways head of global marketing Kerris Bright is leaving the airline after less than a year for a position at Ideal Standard International.
Bright takes the position of chief marketing officer and a place with the executive leadership team at Ideal Standard International, a company that designs bathroom collections and services for residential, commercial and institutional buildings.
She was recruited from Akzo-Nobel to BA last year. During her tenure the airline launched an aggressive campaign emphasising its competitive pricing and value on short haul routes compared with low cost carriers.
Bright, a former Unilever marketer, has been working on a new marketing and brand strategy for BA. The airline has not unveiled any over-arching brand campaign since 2007. The airline says that it is recruiting for Bright’s replacement.
BA recruited Frank van der Post as managing director of brands and customer experience from hotel and resorts company Jumeirah Group just before Christmas. It also promoted sales and marketing director Andrew Crawley to the board as the airline’s commercial director.
BA merged with Iberia last month to form International Airlines Group but the two brands are being retained. Chief executive Willie Walsh has stated that the company wants to buy up more airlines to create “a multinational multi-brand airline group”.
