Henkel marketing boss shifted to South Africa

Henkel UK is shifting marketing director Carole Armstrong-Hooper to an unspecified role in South Africa, following a management reshuffle at the struggling homecare company.

Armstrong-Hooper’s marketing responsibilities will be handed to Gervase Cottam, who has been appointed to the newly created position of general manager. Cottam was previously managing director for Henkel’s UK distributor, Buck Chemicals.

Armstrong-Hooper will remain in her post until the end of the year, and will then be transferred to South Africa to work for Henkel on projects.

Prior to becoming marketing director in 2000, Armstrong-Hooper held various marketing responsibilities at Henkel, ranging from product manager for hair colourants to marketing director for cosmetics.

Armstrong-Hooper’s time in the UK has not always been easy. Henkel has so far failed to make much of an impression in the UK with its household cleaning brands, despite its strength in Europe, where it owns brands such as Persil and Somat.

Dishwashing brand Glist has been beset by difficulties since its launch in October 2001, against fierce competition from Reckitt Benckiser’s dominant Finish brand. The brand has failed to find much shelf-space in major retailers, despite an advertising spend of close to &£10m over the past three years. Abbott Mead Vickers.BDDO creates advertising for Henkel.

Industry sources say the company is planning a &£2m revamp of its toilet cleaning brand Frish Dual Chamber, which has also failed to make much of an impact since its acquisition and relaunch by Henkel last year.