Gulliford takes Standard Life top marketing role

Former Barclays marketer Simon Gulliford has resurfaced at Standard Life as its first chief marketing officer.

The former Barclays group marketing director, who left the finance giant in 2004 to become a marketing consultant, will join Standard Life next month and work three days a week. He will remain a consultant and non-executive director for companies including FST Technologies, the specialist financial services technology agency (MW last week).

Edinburgh-based Standard Life has also appointed Peter Joshi as marketing director for the UK financial services business. Joshi had previously been interim managing director of marketing.

Gulliford will report to group chief executive Sandy Crombie and sit on the group executive board. He will have responsibility for global marketing and communications strategy across the group and oversee the existing marketing teams across the assurance, bank and healthcare arms.

Gulliford left Barclays after three years in the role. He was responsible for shifting the high street bank’s then £25m advertising account to Bartle Bogle Hegarty and introducing the “Fluent in finance” strapline subsequently scrapped by his successor Jim Hytner.

Gulliford joined Barclays in May 2001 from EMAP, where he was marketing director of consumer magazines (MW April 12, 2001). He joined the publishing house in 1997 and was responsible for creating the company’s brand-driven approach to products such as FHM magazine. He was also behind the creation and launch of Red and Heat magazines.

Standard Life, which floated on the London Stock Exchange in 2006, has pursued a strategy of focusing on higher-margin products like Sipps. Last month its UK chief executive Trevor Matthews resigned to join rival Friends Provident as chief executive.

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