Poole position at Bullrun

Ex-Diesel marketing chief Paul Poole has been appointed to the new position of marketing director at global motor racing event Bullrun, which styles itself “the world’s most glamorous rally”.

Poole will oversee the development of the brand and create a marketing push to secure financial backers. He will also be responsible for brand protection of existing partners.

As marketing chief at Diesel, Poole oversaw controversial ad campaigns that ran into trouble with the Advertising Standards Authority. He quit in 2000 to help Malcolm McLaren with his bid to become mayor of London.

Bullrun organises rallies of high-performance cars in the US and Europe. Poole says that he will work with sports marketing agency Purple Tangerine to find a number of sponsors for the race, and that a few big brands are poised to sign as sponsors from the FMCG and telecoms markets. BBC Radio 1 has already signed as a partner for the European rally in August.