Game loses marketing director just a month after going public

Game marketing director Ailsa McKnight has left the business less than a year after joining.

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Game’s new marketing chief will help unify its digital and high-street offering.

Her departure will be a blow to Game, coming just after its recent IPO and rebrand to Game Digital. McKnight has taken up a new role as senior director of marketing at gaming firm GTECH. Details of who will take over responsibility for marketing will be announced shortly, a Game spokesman says.

McKnight joined Game from Ladbrokes in August last year tasked with sparking a renaissance of the brand after it was brought out of administration by OpCapita in 2012. Her main focus has been on unifying Game’s online and high street offering, including the launch of a mobile wallet that allowed customer to make purchases in-store via their smartphone, as well as earn loyalty points and redeem gift cards.

That strategy does appear to be paying off, with revenues at the retailer rising to £815.7m in the 52 weeks to 25 January, up from £666.3m the previous year. Its shares are also at their highest level since the IPO on 6 June and are currently worth 215p.

Game credited its “omni-channel approach” for boosting customer engagement and sales.

It has also benefitted from the launch of two new consoles – Microsoft’s Xbox One and Sony’s PS4 – over the past year and an associated uptick in game title sales.

Game now operates 560 stores in the UK and Spain. In the year to 25 January it took £47m in profits, before interest, tax and other costs.

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