Editor's Comment: Discovering your public spirit

Top marketers have trickled into the public sector over recent years, taking skills honed in traditional marketing with them to the heart of government. Examples include Andy Brent, the former Boots marketer who joined the Department of Health (DoH) to help create its Change4Life anti-obesity campaign. When he left last year to become marketing director at BSkyB, his duties were taken over by DoH marketing chief Sheila Mitchell, an ex-BT marketer, who oversaw the telecoms company's classic 'Beattie' ad campaign starring Maureen Lipman.

Other senior marketers in Whitehall include former BBC marketer Jane Frost, now director of the individual customer directorate at HM Revenue & Customs, and Mike Hoban, the former Scottish Widows marketer, who moved over to head marketing for Directgov. Communications chiefs have also been selected from advertising. The COI's incoming chief executive is Mark Lund, a co-founder of agency DLKW, who takes over from ex-Saatchi & Saatchi chief Alan Bishop.

If you work in the private sector, and are reading this between meetings on tackling decreasing budgets, sandwiched between rounds of job cuts, you will be wondering with, no doubt, a degree of apprehension, what the coming months have in store. At the opposite end of the scale, government departments have increased budgets while actively looking at new ways to promote messages. The pay may not be as attractive as a private-sector salary, and there may be more bureaucracy to face, but, having weighed this up against job security and stable budgets, a growing number of you are opting to climb over the fence.

Lucy.Barrett@haymarket.com.

This article was first published on Marketing