Gillette marketing chief steps down

Gillette’s top marketer in the UK Jackie Jordan is to leave the company at the end of this month, following a restructure of the company’s marketing team in February.

Jordan, who was business unit director for grooming and personal care at Gillette, says she has another marketing director job to go to, but is refusing to say where.

George Allen, business unit director for Duracell, has been handed her marketing duties for Gillette’s grooming products, which include Mach 3 and Venus razors, as well as the recently launched Mach 3 Turbo line. Allen has also taken on responsibility for transferring the Sensor 3 disposable razor range from the US to launch in the UK this summer.

Allen says: “Jackie decided to leave ultimately because she wanted to do specific things that were not available within the Gillette organisation.”

Jordan had her responsibilities for grooming products narrowed following a series of senior management reshuffles over the past year (MW February 27). The bulk of her former duties in toiletries were transferred in January 2002 to a newly created personal care division headed by Jeff Riley, who was previously in charge of male shaving at Gillette’s North American commercial operations division.

Riley is responsible for the core Right Guard range, which will be relaunched in June with a raft of new products following a review at the beginning of this year.

Creative work on the project was given to Gillette roster agency Abbot Mead Vicker.BBDO following a secret pitch in December 2002. Media planning and buying is directed by MindShare.