Bhs homecoming for Gossard captain
Bhs, the high street retailer, has appointed former Gossard marketer Shaeren McKenzie as its director of marketing.
She will take up the post on March 1 and will replace Beverly Churchill who left in October last year.
McKenzie quit Gossard in 2003 (MW July 31, 2003) after just 18 months at the Sara Lee Intimates UK-owned firm (now owned by French company DIM). During her time as marketing director at the lingerie company, McKenzie gained a reputation as a tough client who went through three different agencies.
Within weeks of her arrival she sacked incumbent agency Partners BDDH (now Euro RSCG) and appointed TBWA/London (MW October 25, 2001). TBWA and Gossard parted company in July 2002 citing creative differences and WARL was appointed a month later.
McKenzie moved Gossard’s advertising away from men and the “Hello Boys” style and focused more on women. She developed the “Altogether” campaign, which promoted its range of matching underwear and sub-branded G-Strings, to appeal directly to female consumers buying underwear for themselves.
The new appointment marks a return to both the Sir Philip Green-owned retail group Arcadia and Bhs for McKenzie. She started as Bhs store marketing manager in 1990 before moving on to become head of stores marketing at Mothercare, also owned by Arcadia. In 1999 she was made head of marketing for womenswear brands at the group before moving to Gossard.
McKenzie will face a tough challenge at the ailing Bhs chain which now faces fierce competition from the likes of Tesco, the supermarket giant, and a resurgent Marks & Spencer on the high street.
