Barclaycard head of brand lands Scottish Widows job

Scottish Widows has appointed Barclaycard marketer Mike Hoban as director of customer and brand.

He takes over from Rob Rees, who has covered the role for more than a year (MW July 15, 2004).

Hoban, the head of brand at Barclays-owned Barclaycard, will start his new job in October and will report to Nathan Moss, managing director of marketing and distribution at the Edinburgh-based life and pensions firm.

Rees, a marketing troubleshooter and co-founder of Freestyle, was brought in as a consultant following the resignation of Scottish Widows marketing director Peter Jordan. He was put in charge of relaunching and repositioning the brand.

Under his directive Scottish Widows launched a review of its &£5m advertising business, which had been held by Citigate Albert Frank (now The Gate) for more than 17 years. The business was awarded to Leo Burnett. Rees also trimmed down Scottish Widows’ agency roster. WCRS and Family were among the agencies culled from the list.

He has also been responsible for introducing the new “widow”, 21-year-old Hayley Hunt, who replaces Amanda Lamb. Hunt will star in Scottish Widows’ print media campaign, which breaks in September, and in its television ad campaign, due in the New Year.

The new campaign, which supports the relaunch and repositioning, of the brand was created by Leo Burnett.

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