British Airways hires Akzo Nobel's Kerris Bright to global marketing role

British Airways has hired Kerris Bright to the role of head of marketing, ending a year-long recruitment process.

British Airways: T5 campaign
British Airways: T5 campaign

Bright joins from her job as chief marketing officer at paint giant Akzo Nobel, which took over ICI in 2008.

She will report into British Airways’ sales and marketing director, Andrew Crawley.

BA began its hunt for the role late 2008, following the departure of its head of marketing communications, Katherine Whitton, as part of a wider restructure.

Whitton had opted for voluntary redundancy, along with 450 senior managers, as the airline cut costs following the difficult opening of Heathrow's Terminal 5 earlier in the year.

‘This is one of the top in the industry and I am confident her experience will help us transform our business through innovative and creative marketing campaigns worldwide,’ said Crawley.

Former Unilever marketer Bright joined ICI Paints in 2001 as UK marketing director, and the Dulux ‘we know the colours that go’ campaign. 

Most recently, she oversaw the appointment of Euro RSCG to Dulux’ £60m global ad account.

Last week, , which coincided with its first TV advertising for more than two years, dropped 12.9% year on year.

The losses were offset by cutting costs, resulting in an operating profit of £25m - its first operating profit since the second quarter of its 2008/9 financial year.

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