Times marketer takes top job at The Sun and NotW
Times marketer Andrew Dent is poised to take the top marketing job at The Sun and News of the World newspapers.
Times Newspapers promotions manager Dent is expected to take responsibilities previously handled by The Sun and News of the World marketing director Belinda Furneaux-Harris, who was ousted in April after less than seven months without a job to go to (MW April 8). Furneaux-Harris joined the group last September after holding marketing positions with HSBC and Barclays.
News International refused to comment on Dent’s appointment.
Insiders claim that the marketing director title has been axed and the promotions element within the marketing team will be strengthened. Andrew Agar, former promotions director at The Sun, left to set up his own agency in March last year and handles business for The Sun and News of the World (MW March 13).
News Group Newspapers general manager Richard Webb has handled marketing since Furneaux-Harris’s departure. The Sun and News of the World spent £15.6m on advertising in 2003. Its advertising is handled by TBWA/London. The Sun’s circulation rose 0.38 per cent in April to 3,345,828. However, average net circulation for November 2003 to April this year, compared with the same six month period the previous year, was down 4.6 per cent to 3,357,319.
