Channel 4 hires Eurostar’s Amber Kirby as marketing director

Channel 4 has poached Eurostar’s Amber Kirby to become its marketing director, reporting into chief marketing officer Zaid Al-Qassab.

Based in Channel 4’s national HQ in Leeds, Kirby will lead the marketing division and take responsibility for delivering brand strategy across the broadcaster’s network of channels, as well as all marketing campaigns.

Kirby’s appointment enables Al-Qassab to take on expanded responsibilities. As part of a wide-reaching management reshuffle first announced in January, he became one of six senior managers reporting direct to the CEO committee, heading up an expanded marketing and viewer experience division.

A number of departments now feed into the new, enlarged division to ensure an integrated viewer experience, including chief product officer Dave Cameron and the All 4 product team, as well as the content and corporate communications teams, and the newly created audience integration team.

These departments have joined the existing marketing, brand, media, continuity and social teams, as well as in-house agencies 4Creative and 4Studio.

The updates are part of Channel 4’s plan to ensure it can deliver the Future4 strategy launched back in November 2020. It is seeking to streamline and simplify its management structure in order to accelerate its focus on digital and bring viewers back to the heart of its decision making.Channel 4 on the lookout for new marketing director amid reshuffle

Reflecting on her appointment, Al-Qassab credited Kirby’s experience in creating a “customer focused approach to marketing” and building brands.

She joins the broadcaster after almost two years with Eurostar, where she was director of brand and customer experience. Previously she served as vice-president of marketing and customer experience at Virgin Holidays, a role she held for just a year.

Between 2015 and 2018 she led innovation and brand development across the health and beauty portfolio at Boots as its global brand director. Prior to that Kirby was marketing director of Oral B at FMCG giant Procter & Gamble, where she spent the first 12 years of her career. In 2017 she was selected as one of 30 emerging leaders to take part in the annual Marketing Academy Scholarship.

“Channel 4 is an iconic brand, that makes a real impact on the lives of people all across the UK,” Kirby says. “With stunning award-winning creative, it is a brand that is brave, bold and different and I am truly passionate about the meaningful difference that Channel 4 makes to ‘create change through entertainment’, a real purpose.”

Taking up the post on 7 June, she adds that she is “thrilled” to join the company in time for the Paralympics, for which Channel 4 holds the broadcast rights.