Cellnet poaches BT chief
Mobile phone company picks new marketing chief in switch from pricing to brand-building strategy
Cellnet has raided its major shareholder to recruit a replacement for marketing director Steve Rowley who left in April (MW April 26).
At the same time it has created the new position of brand director for BT recruit Tim Evans.
The new role reflects a growing recognition in the mobile phone sector that it has to move away from its traditional dependence on pricing to longer term brand building. Advertising spend for the mobile sector is expected to top 100m this year, almost double last year’s 55.5m (Register-MEAL), because of growing competition.
But customer loyalty schemes, affinity marketing programmes and value-added services are increasingly important as mobile phone companies seek to reduce subscriber churn.
Evans, head of BT’s brand and reputation unit, will take up the role in August. As head of the BT unit, he has been responsible for all corporate promotion of the BT name.
The new job title reflects a changed structure at Cellnet. Rowley, who quit to join technology company 3 Com as managing director, was responsible for more than 12 different areas but all product management and development is now run by operations and strategy director Sohail Qadri.
Evans will control all advertising, external communications and most importantly his arrival will herald the shift in emphasis to branding. His appointment is a recognition of the need to invest in brands in a market sector which has been dogged by short-termism. Both Qadri and Evans will report to chief executive Howard Ford.
“Steve Rowley had in many ways too wide a brief,” says Ford, “I intend to upgrade the emphasis on branding by focusing the top team at Cellnet’s attention on the brand and making it profitable. Evans will help to develop the strategic long-term effort to build the brand.”
Cellnet has identified up to 20 brand owners with which it wants to develop affinity relationships. It is already working with Ford and Barclaycard. BT, which owns 60 per cent of Cellnet, has yet to decide on Evans’ replacement.
In a separate move, the judge in the com-parative advertising legal action brought by the mobile operator Vodafone against rival Orange is expected to rule today (Wednesday).
