Harrods hires marketing director from Nordstrom

Harrods, the luxury retailer, has hired US retail marketer Kathy Valentine to be its marketing director.

Valentine was East Coast region marketing director of US department store chain Nordstrom, where she was responsible for 19 stores.

Valentine, who joined early last week, will be responsible for marketing, advertising, press and PR, and visual merchandising.

She replaces the former director of marketing and strategic planning Ed Whitehead, who joined Harrods in June last year with a brief to sharpen its old-fashioned image.

Whitehead was the marketing director at Boo.com, the online fashion retailer, and is understood to have quit without a job to go to.

He left the company last December, just before the run-up to Christmas and the January sales. Shortly after his appointment, he is believed to have begun an audit of the company’s communication strategy.

Valentine is understood to have been charged with introducing a consistent and coherent communications strategy across the business.

Harrods’ creative account is handled by Leagas Delaney, which has held the business since 1987. The company has been looking at the possibility of repositioning itself as a modern luxury retailer, without alienating its traditional customers.

The retailer is also understood to be mooting its diversification into online sales.