ISBA appoints former Coke boss as DG

Guinness%20Glass

Former Coca-Cola UK marketing director Mike Hughes has been appointed as the new director-general of the Incorporated Society of British Advertisers.

Hughes, who is also a former managing director of Guinness Brewing and chief executive of Bulmers, will take over the role from Malcolm Earnshaw in Spring next year.

In the early 1980s, Hughes oversaw the launch of Diet Coke in Britain and he later moved to Guinness, where he was responsible for the launch of the in-can widget which led to the introduction of Guinness Draught in cans.

His career hit a rock four years ago when he resigned from the chief executive’s job at Bulmers after auditors uncovered problems with the accounts (MW 19 September, 2002). There was no suggestion that Hughes was responsible for the problems but insiders at the time said that clashes with the Bulmers family, which still controlled the company, were a factor.

Hughes has been working in digital and new media over the past few years. He was European managing director of Adstream UK and is currently non-executive chairman of Infinite Thinking, a marketing services group of niche new media companies.