Virgin Media shakes up marketing structure

Virgin Media has overhauled its marketing structure to bring every consumer touchpoint together under one team headed by the executive director of brand and marketing communications.

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The shake up at Virgin Media to create a “Customer Marketing Organisation” department is led by recently appointed chief marketing officer Nigel Gilbert. The aim is to bring together customer insight and other departments alongside brand and marketing.

The team leader role is being handed to Jeff Dodds, previously director of brand and marketing and executive creative director for the former Virgin Media Television (VMtv) channels.

Ashley Stockwell previously held the title executive director of brand and marketing communications and he has since joined Global Ethics.

Dodd is also a former Honda marketer and at VMtv oversaw all on and off-air marketing. Before the sale of VMtv in June 2010, he moved into a corporate role with Virgin Media, as director of internal communications and employee engagement.

A spokesman says that previously brand and marketing had been “quite a siloed operation” and the intention is now “to put the customer front and centre.”

He pointed out that Dodd will bring some of the internal communications team into the new department as many of Virgin Media’s 12,500 staff are customer facing and they need to be included in developing a consistent brand positioning.

Virgin Media recently celebrated 2010 as its “best year ever” when it reported a record annual revenue up 5.8% year on year and a rise in average revenue per user of 4.9%.