Coke loses brand chief to BBC

The BBC has recruited a marketer from Coca-Cola to sell the major values of the broadcaster to licence fee payers.

David Grint, group brand manager for Coca-Cola Great Britain, takes the role of head of core brand marketing, reporting to BBC public service marketing director Sue Farr. He is the last senior addition to Farr’s marketing team that she has been gradually recruiting since 1997.

Farr is in charge of a newly-structured department within the BBC called the public service marketing division. This division, set up in August, combines responsibility for marketing the BBC core brand – previously handled by BBC controller of corporate marketing Jane Frost – with the public service radio, TV and online channels already overseen by Farr and her team. Frost now has a more strategic and less operational role.

Farr says Grint’s task will be to build an emotional bond between the BBC and its audience.

She says: “This is not appointment-to-view television marketing. This is about building approval for the licence fee by reminding the public of all the benefits they get from the BBC.”

Grint joins the BBC in January, after working for Coke Great Britain for three years, starting with the relaunch of Sprite. Before this he worked at Boots Healthcare International on the Nurofen brand. He began his marketing career at Bass.

Grint says: “I am delighted to be working for a brand which is so indelibly linked to British culture.”