Electrolux UK, the Swedish electrical goods manufacturer, has axed
its corporate PR department as part of a worldwide programme of
cuts.
UK group head of corporate communications Isobel Norwell has left the
company, along with the other member of the corporate team, PR assistant
Gillian Corish. Norwell is to launch a PR and media relations training
company, The Training Company.
Corporate PR will now be handled from Sweden by senior vice-president
for communications and public affairs, Lars Goran Johansson, who
oversees a team of 10. Consumer PR will be the responsibility of
Electrolux’s three UK divisions: household appliances; professional
appliances, which makes equipment for food services and laundries; and
outdoor products, which makes garden equipment.
Group PR manager Tina Withington oversees communications for the
household appliance division, which markets brands including Zanussi,
AEG, and Electrolux. She joined Electrolux from rival Bosch last summer,
as the division’s first group public relations manager.
She said divisions would take responsibility for their own PR as part of
the global restructuring announced by Electrolux last year - it will
closed 25 factories worldwide, cutting thousands of jobs.
The UK corporate PR division did not retain any agencies, but worked on
an ad-hoc basis with Jackson Communications and Corporate
Communications.
