Starbucks poaches Vodafone’s Crook
Starbucks has poached Vodafone’s UK director of brand marketing Danielle Crook and appointed her to the new role of vice president of marketing and category for EMEA.
Crook has become the second senior marketer to leave Vodafone in recent weeks, following global brand director Claire Sheikh’s departure last month.
Vodafone UK and Vodafone Group – where Sheikh was based – run almost as separate entities however, with UK-based marketing campaigns controlled from the former company. A Vodafone spokesman stressed that the two departures are unrelated.
At Starbucks Crook will lead marketing strategy across the 33 countries and 2,000 stores the company operates in Europe and will report into Michelle Gass, president for the EMEA region. She will be based in Amsterdam when she joins early next year.
Gass says: “I am excited to have Danielle join the EMEA leadership team and know that her strong regional experience and creative vision will amplify the connection we’ve built with our customers and the hundreds of communities we serve [in the region].”
Crook joined Vodafone UK as marketing director from Fallon in 2009. Since then she has led high profile campaigns including Vodafone’s Yoda-fronted activity to promote its contract services and the “Freebee” characters who illustrate its pay as you go deals. She was also behind the launch of customer loyalty programme Vodafone VIP
Prior to her UK marketing director role, Crook worked at Vodafone for two years from 2004 as head of integration, brand and customer experience, before joining clothing retailer Gap in 2006 as European brand director.
Vodafone UK recently revealed to Marketing Week it is set to double spend on the aforementioned Yoda campaign as it looks to deflect some of the attention away from rival EE’s forthcoming consumer launch of its 4G network.
