Dobbies has named Phil Thomas as its new chief marketing officer.
In his new position, Thomas will be responsible for all of the garden chain’s customer and marketing activity to create engaging communication and customer experiences.
This will involve heading up the teams responsible for all marketing activity and brand innovation, including developing the in-store and digital customer experiences, as well as ongoing seasonal campaigns and events.
He will also lead both internal and external communications as well as the job of “super-charging” the Dobbies Club which has over 1.3m members.
With over three decades of experience in marketing, prior to Dobbies Thomas was the chief marketing officer at Costa Coffee for last three years. Before, he held the same role at Greene King and numerous marketing roles at Reckitt Benckiser and Procter & Gamble.
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Dobbies chief executive David Robinson said: “We are building an incredibly strong senior leadership team and recruiting Phil is another positive step in achieving our ambitions.
“Phil is a very experienced marketing operator who will drive our goal of communicating our focus on garden living through all of our marketing. Phil’s extensive knowledge of UK retail and product marketing will be invaluable to delivering on our strategy.”
The appointment comes as the retailer’s customer director Louise Niven exits to go on maternity leave.
Robinson added: “I’d like to thank Louise for her ten years at Dobbies, including six years at the helm of the marketing team, building our brand; delivering award-winning campaigns, positive PR and community engagement; and outstanding growth of our loyalty scheme to more than 1.3 million members”
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