Vodafone embarks on massive marketing cull
Only the brave should apply for the vacant job of global brand director of Vodafone, made available after David Wheldon (pictured) quit last month without a job to go to. Global director of customer insight Andy Moore has also left.
Vodafone is embarking on a major corporate review of its group marketing team led by group chief marketing officer Wendy Becker who has been tasked with making the company more competitive.
While Vodafone decides on its future structure for the marketing team, Harit Nagpal is to act as interim global brand director. He was previously chief marketing officer for Vodafone’s Indian operation. He will also oversee the consumer insight division.
Some reports say that up to 90 redundancies will be made across Vodafone marketing teams in the UK, Germany and Denmark, as part of a plan announced last year to cut 500 group-wide, although country specific marketing directors will not be affected.
Staff at Vodafone’s headquarters were informed of the review before Easter. Vodafone says it is working to try to find new roles for some staff, but admits that redundancies are inevitable.
Similar restructures have taken place in rival telecoms firms. Over the past year both O2 and T-Mobile have also conducted internal marketing reviews, resulting in the loss of some senior marketing roles.
Wheldon took on the role of global brand director of Vodafone in 2004 and before that he was CEO of team Vodafone at agency WPP.