HMV appoints head of marketing

Embattled entertainment retailer HMV has appointed former Warner Home Entertainment Group marketer Patrizia Leighton to lead its relaunch of the brand

hmv

The retailer’s owner Hilco appointed Leighton to revamp the retailer’s marketing strategy, which is understood to include the launch of a brand campaign later this year

Her role replaces that of former marketing and commerce director Mark Hodgkinson who left alongside the majority of HMV’s marketing team as part of 250 head office job cuts in February. 

HMV, under the stewardship of Hilco, has also made a number of other hires in recent weeks including drafting in former Vodafone digital music boss James Coughlan to run its revamped digital music and film service, which will launch in October. Earlier this month it appointed Barclaycard’s head of business development for partnerships and loyalty to run its Pure customer loyalty programme, which will launch at the same time.

Elsewhere, the retailer has also recently appointed media agency the7stars to work on its media planning and buying account, which was formerly held by OMD.

Leighton spent almost six years at Warner Home Entertainment as senior customer marketing manager. She joined Warner after a short spell at Carphone Warehouse as category development manager. Prior to that she spent five years at Virgin Megastores as category planning manager.

HMV was brought out of administration by Hilco in April after seeing its sales ravaged by online rivals in recent years. It was widely seen to have been slow in exploiting the opportunities presented by digital. 

Hilco Capital’s $1.3bn entertainment retail division covers HMV stores in the UK, Ireland and Canada.

Recommended