Ex-AirMiles chief moves to RBS

RBS Insurance is poised to appoint former AirMiles marketer Nigel Grimes to the new new role of customer insight director.

The Royal Bank of Scotland-owned division, which houses the insurance brands Direct Line, Churchill and Privilege, is creating the role to boost retention and cross-selling opportunities across its portfolio.

Grimes, who left AirMiles in February, will work alongside former More Than marketing director Mike Tildesley, who took on the group role last year after initially joining Direct Line. Both will report to marketing and strategy director Roger Ramsden.

Tildesley is a strong advocate of measurable marketing and is understood to be keen to build a strong customer insight team at the insurance giant.

Grimes left AirMiles, the travel loyalty scheme company owned by BA, in February this year after his customer insight director function was merged with the marketing director role held by Sarah Wood. He has since been working as a consultant.

He worked with AirMiles first as a consultant, joining in late 2004 in a role created for him, following four years of agency and client-side consultancy work. He began his career as a Post Office teller before working his way up through Royal Mail and Parcelforce.

In 1994, he joined BT, where he was responsible for the telecoms giant’s £50m direct marketing budget before joining British Gas as head of customer relationship management.

RBS Insurance is the second largest general insurance provider in the UK with 26 million policies. Its brands do not appear on price comparison sites. Earlier this year, Direct Line launched a major marketing campaign attacking price comparison operations.