Wall’s chief nets international job
Unilever subsidiary Birds Eye Wall’s is moving its general marketing manager Alan Martin to a new international post in Germany.
Martin, who was in charge of the impulse ice cream sector in the UK, including brands such as Cornetto and Solero, is moving within Unilever to Langnese-Iglo, a sister company, in Hamburg to be an international brand manager for ice cream.
Sources within the industry say the company is restructuring to become more focused on the business side. It is understood to be assembling new business teams.
The move follows the announcement before Christmas that Unilever was restructuring its Birds Eye Wall’s business with the introduction of global category management for each of its food groups.
The restructuring involves setting up international innovation groups based in different countries with global marketing responsibilities (MW December 15).
It is not clear how the move affects Michael Hebel, marketing director for ice cream in the UK.
The advertising spend for the UK’s impulse sector was over 12m last year. The impulse ice cream market was worth 289m in the year to June 1995, an increase of more than 27 per over the previous year. Birds Eye Wall’s has over 60 per cent of the sector.