Bhs marketing director quits
Bhs marketing director Jane Hayman has resigned, citing a desire to take on a portfolio of executive roles.
Hayman has been at Bhs since May 1998. She was previously a marketer at retail group Arcadia.
She will work out her contract, which finishes in August, and says her resignation will not affect any marketing plans already in place.
Although Bhs has a marketing spend believed to be about &10m, it has been nearly two years since it commissioned any TV advertising. Its last campaign was created by Duckworth Finn Grubb Waters.
Hayman says: “I have worked with the team to take Bhs from a plc to a limited company, and have decided to pursue other interests. I am going to follow [former Asda head] Allan Leighton’s lead and ‘go plural’.”
Bhs has undergone major changes in the past year. Parent company Storehouse was dissolved early last year, leaving Bhs and Mothercare to be run as separate businesses. This was followed by the takeover of the Bhs store portfolio by retail entrepreneur Philip Green in April 2000.
Green introduced his own team, which included former Debenhams boss Terry Green as chief executive and Leighton himself as chairman.
Bhs hired Storm at the beginning of the month to revamp the stores and look at how the Bhs brand is presented in store.