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Holsten UK’s marketing director, Phil Plowman, has quit just a week

after calling the brand’s first ad review in 20 years. He is leaving to

head global marketing for Pilsner Urquell International (PUI).

Plowman leaves at the end of March. Managing director Jeremy Main and

marketing controller Andy Edge will take over the pounds 6m ad

pitch.

Plowman joined Holsten UK in 1994. He launched Holsten Pure 6 a

year-and-a-half ago, and masterminded the Fast Show TV ads. He

previously worked at Courage on the Foster’s brand.

PUI was bought last year by South African Breweries for pounds 194m. It

intends to rival brands such as Budweiser and Heineken worldwide. It

will appoint its first global agency this year.

Plowman will report to Mark Luce, managing director of Pilsner

Urquell.

He joins Jill Robinson, who was drafted in as commercial director from

Kellogg International, where she was manager of European budget and

planning initiatives.

Plowman will develop the Czech brand Pilsner Urquell in five key

markets: Slovakia, Germany, Poland, the US and the UK. The UK is the

weakest of the brand’s five markets and will be the last to be tackled

by the new strategy.

Pilsner Urquell was the original Pilsner beer, first brewed in 19th

century Bohemia. ’The brand appeals to a younger, upmarket drinker,

looking for an authentic European beer,’ said Plowman.

TBWA GGT Simons Palmer, which handles advertising for Holsten Pils,

Holsten Export and Pure 6, will repitch for the pounds 6m Holsten Pils

account.

However, the shake-up is unlikely to stop there. Plowman said creative

reviews of Holsten Export and Holsten Pure 6, also held by TBWA, could

follow.