Ladbrokes picks marketing chief

Ladbrokes, the gaming group, has appointed Paul Hilburn as UK head of marketing.

Hilburn joins from Pizza Hut, where he was marketing manager. He replaces Andy May, who has moved to head the group’s e-gaming division.

Hilburn’s responsibility is to look after the company’s 2,500 retail outlets and he will report to commercial services director Richard Carter.

A Ladbrokes spokesman says: “Hilburn’s main responsibility will be looking after the UK shop estate.”

Ladbrokes announced a marketing shake-up last September following the departure of Andy Walder, who was director of marketing, and marketing controller Nick Rust.

The restructure was designed to give greater focus to Ladbrokes’ online strategy, where the company competes with a large number of online rivals.

Ladbrokes has two sites – Bet.co.uk for the UK market, and Ladbrokes.com for its international audience. The company’s strategy is to attract people who bet irregularly by reaching them through the Internet, WAP technology and interactive television.

An estimated six per cent of people in the UK bet regularly, but there is a further 11 per cent – the “upmarket audience” – who bet infrequently.

Research company Datamonitor predicts that online betting will be worth more than &£6.9bn a year worldwide by 2004.