Bmibaby commercial chief leaves

Bmibaby commercial director David Hodge has left the airline to take up a new role as marketing director at spread betting and finance company, IG Group. He had been with the airline for more than four years.

He will now over see marketing across all IG Group’s brands, which include IG Index, IG Markets and extrabet.com. He will report directly to group chief executive Tim Howkins.

Bmibaby has appointed former MyTravelLite managing director Julian Carr as a replacement. Carr, who will take up his new role in May, joins from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) where he was head of marketing and new business development.

Hodge, a former Wilkinson Sword, Cadbury and Bulmers marketer, joined the airline as marketing director in late 2003 and was later promoted to commercial director after a restructure.

In 2005, he oversaw a media pitch for the entire Bmi group, which ended with the appointment of PHD to the account. He also reappointed Euro RSCG to the Bmibaby advertising account in the same year and negotiated the carrier’s sponsorship of ITV regional weather bulletins.

At Bulmers, Hodge worked on the Strongbow and Red Stripe brands before the company was acquired by Scottish & Newcastle in July 2003 and the marketing team was moved to London.

IG Group offers a variety of financial services including financial spread betting and operates in markets in the UK, Australia, Singapore and Europe.