Nokia marketing director takes on expanded role

Will Harris, the UK marketing director of Nokia, has moved into an expanded role that includes responsibility for the mobile handset maker’s new product and services development.

He takes over responsibility for the Go-To-Market division from Sami Lehtinen, who has taken on the new role head of retail.

The merging of the roles is understood to signal a change in global strategy for the Finnish company, which brings the Go-To-Market divisions under the control of the head of marketing in all markets.

It comes just months after Nokia announced that it is cutting up to 450 jobs across its sales and marketing departments globally. The move followed news that it has suffered a 5% decline in third quarter sales across Europe. Worldwide net sales for the quarter ending September 30 also fell to €12.2bn (£10.97bn), from €12.9bn (£11.6bn) a year earlier.

Harris, a former O2 and Conservative Party marketer, joined Nokia in October last year from Rebtel, a Scandinavian Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) company, where he was director of strategy.

Harris’s new role comes just weeks after the promotion of Mark Loughran from sales director to general manager. Loughran took over the position last month after Simon Ainslie moved to the new role of global vice-president retail and customer marketing for Nokia. Ainslie had led the UK business since July 2006.

In September, Nokia appointed Sony Ericsson sponsorship chief Dean Taylor to head its sponsorship division.