Birds Eye loses second senior marketer in weeks

Caroline Drummond, the Birds Eye Iglo marketing manager of communications, is leaving the frozen food brand just weeks after the departure of marketing director Andy Beattie. It is thought she does not have a job to go to.

Birds Eye chief executive Martin Glenn and general manager Anne Murphy are currently seeking a replacement for Beattie, although it is not clear if Drummond’s role will be filled.

Both Drummond and Beattie were part of the Birds Eye marketing team when it was owned by Unilever, and moved with the brand when it was sold to private equity company Permira for £1.1bn last year.

It is understood that Beattie felt sidelined by Glenn, who is the former president of Pepsico UK, and did not play a key part in the brand’s recent advertising or media reviews. Drummond, however, is thought to have been key to the media review, which saw the £15m account move from Unilever incumbent agency MindShare to Carat.

Glenn has also moved the brand’s advertising business from Bartle Bogle Hegarty, which had been appointed by Unilever, to Abbott Mead Vickers.BBDO (MW May 24). Glenn previously worked with AMV on the Walkers brand at PepsiCo.

He also brought in Murphy in February from Procter & Gamble, where she was head of the customer development division. She has been charged with leading the UK team and overseeing the brand as the business undergoes a major restructure.

Drummond joined Unilever in January 2006 with a brief to take the Birds Eye brand to its “next stage”. She previously held a variety of marketing roles at Heinz, including marketing manager for the Aunt Bessie’s brand.