De Vere picks Britvic marketer

Premium hotel chain De Vere is understood to have appointed former Britvic director of brands marketing Richard Collins as its new marketing director.

The appointment marks the first time in Collins’ career that he will not be using his skills to promote a packaged goods brand.

Collins left Britvic in September after four years at the soft drinks company where he reported to category director Andrew Marsden and was responsible for all marketing and sponsorship activity across brands including J20, Pepsi and Tango (marketingweek.co.uk, September 25).

Prior to his time at Britvic, Collins began his marketing career at Unilever where he worked for ten years on a range of brands including Bachelors and Fray Bentos. He then moved to drinks manufacturer Seagram, where he became global marketing director for the rum category, which included the Captain Morgan brand.

Earlier this year the De Vere Group was bought in a £724m takeover by rival hotel chain, Alternative Hotel Group.

AHG’s 30-strong Verve Venues chain, which it bought from Rentokil in November 2005 for £325m, is being rebranded as De Vere Venues while the existing De Vere hotels estate is being renamed as De Vere Resorts and developed into luxury five-star resorts. It is thought Collins will have responsibility for the marketing of the entire offering.