BA picks Ennals to replace Batt

NEWS

British Airways has chosen Fruit of the Loom marketing chief Ford Ennals to replace Mike Batt as marketing director.

According to sources, Ennals, who takes up the post next month, will be charged with re-establishing the authority of the marketing department in the wake of the Saatchi crisis.

BA chairman Sir Colin Marshall called a review of BA’s advertising after Maurice Saatchi resigned from Saatchi & Saatchi in December 1994. He is understood to have overridden the general sentiment of the marketing department in appointing M&C Saatchi to the BA and Qantas ad-vertising accounts (MW May 5).

M&C Saatchi was awarded a year-long contract to handle the airline’s 60m advertising account. During the prolonged pitch Marshall was criticised by some commentators for letting personal loyalty influence business decisions.

Ennals, executive vice president marketing and business for Fruit of the Loom, has worked closely with Maurice Saatchi as a client when Ennals was at Mars. He does not view the initial year’s contract as a trial period. “Maurice has a great relationship with the people at the airline and he has his own view of how to take the advertising to the next stage,” he says.

Ennals will report to managing director Bob Ayling. Derek Dear, general manager marketing communications, has been acting marketing director since Batt’s departure.

Ennals has worked for Lever Brothers, Mars and Reebok.

Batt resigned from BA in February to move to the US as executive vice president sales and marketing for Alamo Rent A Car (MW February 24).