British Gas snares Birds Eye marketing chief Jobling to lead brand strategy

British Gas has named Birds Eye UK’s marketing chief Margaret Jobling its first head of brand marketing.

British Gas social media 2
British Gas has hired Birds Eye marketer Margaret Jobling to lead its brand building efforts.

Jobling leaves the frozen food producer after three and a half years to steer brand-building activity for British Gas and its sub brands including Hive and ME. She will oversee a team of over 50 marketers and will also work with its digital division on expanding its online and social media presence.

The role is key to the company’s efforts to bring consistency between its campaign and customer service activity with Jobling working with the commercial executive team to develop product, marketing and sales plans. She will report to commercial director Nina Bhatia.

The appointment comes as British Gas’ marketing team restructures to form closer ties to other parts of the business in a bid to create a more integrated customer journey. The loss of almost 400,000 customers in 2013 brought about the changes and Jobling’s appointment has been shaped to support the new structure.

Bhatia says Jobling’s previous roles at Birds Eye and Cadbury see her “well placed” to lead future brand and marketing efforts for the energy supplier. During her time at Birds Eye, she steered the brand’s shift in focus from just catering to children and mums to focusing on adult diners with more innovative products.

Birds Eye has named Mondelez marketer Steve Chantry, who takes on the role next month, as Jobling’s replacement. He was category head of marketing for core chocolate and Cadbury at the snack maker’s Australia region and follows former colleague Luca Miggiano, who swapped his vice president of chocolate for the UK, Ireland and Nordics role at Mondelez for the chief marketing officer position at Birds Eye owner Iglo Group earlier this year.

Chantry will play a key role in developing Birds Eye’s £16m marketing strategy of promoting nutritious food rather than frozen. It is part of a wider €100m (£83m) marketing shake-up of Iglo Group’s frozen brands.

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