Barclays recruits ex-Labatt marketing chief

Barclays Bank has hired former Labatt marketing director David Radford to control its 18m advertising budget.

A spokesman for the bank says that Radford is head of personal sector advertising covering all aspects of Barclays Bank products apart from Barclaycard including mortgages, savings, and investments and current accounts.

The spokesman says that Radford is not replacing anybody, and that he reports to Barclay’s marketing services director, Michael Head.

Radford left Labatt two months ago, just weeks after the beer company was taken over by Whitbread (MW June 14), which is integrating the company into its own marketing department.

He had worked at Labatt since 1990, and had most recently worked as marketing director for Labatt’s Canadian Lager and Labatt’s Blue. Before joining Labatt he worked for advertising agencies Ogilvy & Mather and Horner Collis & Kirvan.

Barclays is conducting a review of all its marketing operations. It is undergoing a full-scale review of its marketing.

In June it awarded the 18m media account – excluding Barclaycard – to The Media Centre.

The account was previously split between Media Star and The Media Centre (MW June 21). The creative account for Barclays is handled by J Walter Thompson.