Fairtrade Foundation hires first marketing director

Not-for-profit lobby group The Fairtrade Foundation has poached Freeview’s strategy director Cheryl Sloan to fill a newly created marketing director role.

Sloan has been appointed to help the organisation drive sales of products accredited with its Fairtrade logo to a £2bn total by 2012.

Estimated retail sales of products such as bananas and coffee accredited by the organisation as providing fair recompense to producers in developing countries reached £700m in 2008.

She has 13 years experience in brand marketing at companies including personal care manufacturer Kimberly Clark, toy firm Mattel and National Lottery operator Camelot.

Sloan will be seeking to hire staff to create a new stand-alone marketing department at the organisation, which will work alongside communications and policy director Barbera Crowther’s policy, campaigns and media department.

She says her goal is to get “ordinary people to think of Fairtrade as a basic requirement of products that come from the developing world.”

The organisation recently revealed it has approved Cadbury’s Dairy Milk – the first mainstream brand to be given the right to use the logo.

It is currently leading a three-way pitch for a new communications agency after four years with Forster.