CompuServe picks head of UK marketing

Internet provider CompuServe has appointed Alan Lawson as marketing director.

Lawson, who will control a 10m budget and has a brief to hire an advertising agency, replaces Mike Williams who has been promoted to European marketing director.

Lawson says he has been conducting informal talks with about ten agencies, but “very few of them really understand our business”. At the moment the company employs direct marketing agency Brann.

He says there will be limited advertising work before Christmas, though he claims there will be a press campaign in the new year, with TV work under consideration.

The company is the UK’s biggest Internet service provider, claiming 428,000 members. But it has long had industry critics who say its connection lines are slow.

Lawson comes from multimedia company Epic, where he was group marketing director. Before that he managed a variety of below-the-line agencies.