Farr lures JWT executive for top BBC role

BBC marketing chief Sue Farr has lured senior J Walter Thompson executive Maureen Duffy to one of the most important marketing jobs in British TV.

Duffy takes up the new post of controller of TV marketing for BBC Broadcast, with responsibility for BBC1, BBC2 and any non-commercially funded digital services. She reports to Farr, who is also in charge of Radios 1, 2, 3, and 4; regional broadcasting; and online services.

Duffy has spent the past 15 years at JWT, and for the past two has worked as a strategic communications director on the agency’s key Kellogg account. The role involves developing all aspects of consumer communication, both above- and below-the-line.

Duffy says: “The pace and scale of change makes television one of the most challenging environments to work in. JWT is a very difficult company to leave and it needed a special opportunity to entice me.”

Duffy was previously group director, running the centralised Kellogg media business. Before that she ran accounts which included Bacardi and worked on the ITVA and NatWest media business.

Farr says: “The search was wide, taking in classic packaged goods marketers to broadcast clients. The established pool of marketing in broadcast is small and the BBC should do its best to broaden it.”

The BBC’s director of television Alan Yentob adds: “It is vital that our programmes and services are marketed professionally, and Maureen’s appointment is a measure of our determination to do just that.”