Ex-Orange marketer to steer Saga financial arm’s efforts

Saga, the grey goods and service company, has appointed former Orange marketer Aynsley Jardin to marketing director of its financial services division. Jardin will report to Steve Ashton, chief operating officer of Saga Services, and join the boards of Saga Services and Saga Investment Direct.

She replaces Michael Cutbill who left in March following a &£1.35bn management buyout last October (MW March 10), then joined pan-European online insurance company ci2i as chief executive (MW June 23).

Jardin will be responsible for marketing Saga’s range of insurance, savings, investment and planning products. She joins from consultancy Elephants Can’t Jump, where she was a board director. Previously, Jardin was OrangeWorld’s director of brand. She has held marketing roles at Coca-Cola and Mars.

Saga spent &£3.7m on advertising its financial products in 2004 (Nielsen Media Research). The financial services division is currently seeking a direct marketing agency to handle a multi-million pound direct-response television push (MW July 7).

The group has two divisions, Saga Holidays and Saga Services, each with its own marketing team. The new management team moved Saga Group’s media planning and buying account out of Mediaedge/CIA into Carat earlier this year (MW June 9).

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