ScottishPower promotes Magee to marketing chief

ScottishPower has appointed Gerry Magee as its new marketing chief. He replaces Ronnie Wayte, who left the company late last year.

Magee was previously head of retention campaigns at the utility company and was part of the team that appointed Newhaven to the utility’s £4.5m ad task earlier this year (MW June 22).

Newhaven won the work in a pitch against incumbent The Bridge, The Leith Agency and Leagas Delaney. The pitch, which was overseen by Creative Brief, saw ScottishPower hand the losing agencies £5,000 for their efforts in what the company admitted was a very detailed brief.

Glasgow-based agency The Bridge had worked on Scottish Power’s advertising account since 2001. The review was prompted as the contract term had expired (MW April 20).

Prior to his role as head of retention campaigns, Magee was head of environment and spearheaded moves to solar power. He was also responsible for piloting a scheme that enabled domestic consumers to switch to solar generation.

ScottishPower has been increasingly focusing on helping its domestic energy consumers to cut carbon emissions. Last week, chief executive Philip Bowman warned the Government that investment in renewable energy could be under threat from proposed reforms, which would see subsidies for renewable energy sources tweaked and prioritise financial support for emerging technologies above established sources.

However, companies including ScottishPower are worried that existing technologies such as onshore wind farms could be affected and believe the system should be left as it is.