Goldfish restructures for 'lifestyle' launches

Centrica has appointed former NatWest marketer Ian Peters as

managing director of Goldfish as it prepares to extend the brand beyond

finance into lifestyle services such as ticketing for events.

Peters joins from insurance broker Marsh where he is managing director.

He was previously retail marketing director of NatWest.

He replaces Eric Stobart, who took on the managing director role on a

temporary basis during his secondment from Lloyds TSB. Stobart becomes

chief operating officer at Goldfish where he will over-see technology

integration.

Peters' appointment has triggered a major restructure which sees product

and brand marketing merged into one division. Goldfish marketing

director Charlie Herbert takes on the top marketing role with an

enlarged remit that includes responsibility for product as well as

brand.

It has led to the exit of product director David Cooper, whose role has

been scrapped. Cooper moved to Bradford & Bingley in an undisclosed

role.

The merging of brand and product has increased to six the number of

people reporting to Herbert. These include Pamela Jackson, head of

marketing communications, and David Oliver, head of brand and marketing

development.

With his team in place, Herbert said innovation and new product

development would be at the forefront of the business.

The company has already launched Goldfish-branded holidays and travel

insurance, but has plans to drive loyalty by offering customers tickets

to events such as pop concerts. Other ideas that have researched well

are health-related services.

As part of its bid to become a lifestyle brand, the company is looking

to leverage the power of brands in the Centrica portfolio; for example

by making AA-branded road maps and travel guides available to Goldfish

customers buying travel insurance or holidays.

Goldfish returned to TV earlier this month with a relaunch campaign

through TBWA/London and media through MGM. At the same time, the brand

unveiled a £7m direct push through DP&A.

This article was first published on Marketing