Ryanair axes entire Buzz marketing team
Budget airline Buzz’s marketing and commercial team will be axed following the sale of the low-cost airline, which was launched in January 2000 by Dutch airline KLM, to rival Ryanair.
All seven members of the marketing team have been handed their notice. UK head of sales and marketing Adam Harris, European head of sales and marketing Matthew Walls and chief commercial officer Tony Camacho are among those being made redundant.
Ryanair, whose marketing team is led by sales and marketing manager Sinead Finn, plans to rebrand the Buzz aircraft and relaunch 13 of the operation’s 24 routes with increased frequencies and reduced fares, starting at half the price offered by Buzz.
Camacho joined Buzz from his position as marketing director at KLM UK & Ireland, while Harris and Walls joined in July 2000 (MW July 27, 2000). Harris was formerly senior brand manager for Tango at Britvic Soft Drinks and Walls was head of marketing at British Airways’ franchise carrier GB Airways.
As Ryanair creates its own advertising and handles media planning and buying in house, Buzz’s contracts with WCRS and Media Planning Group will be terminated. Ryanair spent &£4.3m on advertising last year (Nielsen Media Research) and the airline launched a promotion offering “1 million seats for a tenner” on Monday, to celebrate St Patrick’s Day.
