Fujitsu Siemens picks UK marketing chief

PC manufacturer Fujitsu Siemens Computers has appointed its first UK marketing director.

Mel Taylor joins the company from data storage company StorageTek, where he was marketing director for the Europe, Middle East and Asia region.

Taylor will oversee the 21-strong marketing department, previously overseen by strategy and communications marketing manager Charles Bowes, who will now report to Taylor. Taylor himself reports to Fujitsu Siemens Computers UK and Europe president David Teague.

Fujitsu and Siemens merged last year and Taylor’s appointment comes as it bids to improve consumer sales in the UK.

Bowes says: “We want to balance sales of business-to-consumer with business-to-business. We will be increasing marketing spend across the whole product mix and have aggressive plans for the first quarter of next year.”

Fujitsu Siemens spends about £5m on marketing annually. Creative work for consumer products is handled by Newmedia, with BJK&E Media handling media. Business product creative work, such as ads for the Lifebook handheld PC, is handled by Enigma.

Fujitsu and Siemens were two of the first companies to offer cut-price PCs through supermarkets in the UK, securing deals with Tesco and Sainsbury’s in 1998.

The newly merged company now sells a range of computers through Sainsbury’s.