Ex-Halifax ad chief joins agency

The former head of advertising at Halifax building society, Gerry Ibbotson, has joined specialist direct marketing agency Millennium Direct.

Ibbotson has already started in his new role as business development director.

He was ousted in a restructuring of the Halifax marketing department three months ago, which resulted in 50 staff losing their jobs.

The reshuffle, implemented one week before new marketing communications chief James Boulton joined from Walkers Crisps, put paid to Ibbotson’s role and that of the head of new media development, Diana Marsland.

Millennium Direct specialises in marketing programmes for the mature (over-50s) sector. Its client list includes Norwich Union, Bank of Scotland and Axa Sun Life.

Ibbotson says: “This is a new role for me in an organisation which is very different from any I have been involved with in the past. Millennium Direct is unrivalled in the rapidly growing mature sector.”

The agency has also recruited executives in the US to boost its client list there.

The Halifax called a review of its £25m advertising business two months ago (MW July 11). The pitch for the account, held by Bates UK for 12 years, was dogged by client conflicts. The media account, held by Zenith, is unaffected.