British Gas scraps top commercial role following Vlemmiks’ exit

His responsibilities as commercial director will now be split into marketing, sales and insight and will be handled by three separate people within the business.

Will Orr, currently director of communications and brand marketing will be responsible for marketing; Julian Elliott, insight director, will head up insight; while Chris Allin, director of loyalty and customer communications, will become the most senior person responsible for sales. They will all report directly into the British Gas Executive.

Marketing strategy is not set to change too dramatically following the restructure, says Vlemmiks, as campaigns for Q1 and Q2 are already in place.

It is not yet known where Vlemmiks will take up his next role, although he has told Marketing Week that it is a board level job, responsible for a company’s transformation.

Vlemmiks was promoted from marketing director to commercial director at British Gas last year after the company decided to make marketing a more influential part of its operations.

Under his leadership, Vlemmiks was responsible for the first British Gas brand identity overhaul in 16 years, the company’s partnership with Nectar that has resulted in more than 4 million customers joining the scheme and the brand’s partnership with British Swimming.

British Gas has ramped up its marketing activity in recent months after coming under fire from both consumers and the energy regulator for mishandling complaints and increasing prices.