Kiss marketer defects to Capital Radio

Nick Button, marketing director of EMAP-owned radio station Kiss, is defecting to rival GCap Media to take the same role at its flagship London station, Capital Radio. He has been with station for less than a year.

Button’s departure comes just a week after a relaunch of youth station Kiss, which included the rebranding of two Vibe stations in Bristol and East Anglia, a new logo and programme schedule. He will take over the role in the new year.

He takes over at Capital from Carl Lyons, who left the station in May after three years in the role. Lyons, a former marketing director at Lastminute.com, has since joined start-up telecoms company, Truphone.

Button joined Kiss in January from Chrysalis Radio, where he had been for five years as brand marketing director for the Galaxy Network. Prior to that, he has also held roles at BBC2 and Metro Radio Group.

Steve Parkinson, national brand director at EMAP, says: “He has led the reinvention and re-brand of Kiss and I am sure he will also be a great asset for GCap.”

The relaunch of Kiss, which went live on September 5, is part of a strategy to extend the brand outside of radio. It has a revamped website, totalkiss.com, but it is also expected to extend into new areas such as online social networking.