Former Centrica marketer returns to run golf scheme

Centrica has lured Beenz marketing chief Dale Clements back to the company. He is to become marketing director for the company’s new venture, Golf England.

Golf England is an initiative between the Centrica-owned Automobile Association, the English Golf Union and technology company AdvancedWave.

Clements left Centrica, where he was head of marketing development, to join Beenz in April last year. But Beenz, a rewards scheme for shoppers who buy on the Internet, suffered financial difficulties and had to wind up its European operations in August.

Clements, who was chief marketer at Beenz, has previously held marketing roles at Cadbury and American Express. He will report to Golf England managing director Keith Nelson.

Golf England is developing a smart card for golfers, which will allow them to keep electronic logs of their scores and handicaps. This can be used at any of the golf clubs Clements is trying to sign up to the scheme, but non-members will have to pay about &£40 a year for the card.

There are 1,900 golf clubs in the UK and 3.8 million regular and casual golfers.

The AA will be using the scheme to push its financial products, starting with a credit card which doubles as a smart card. This will be branded with both Golf England and AA imagery, and will be managed by Bank of Scotland.

The company will seek to use this relationship to sell its other insurance and loan products, possibly via a magazine distributed to the clubs.