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ITV’s new marketing and commercial director, John Hardie, has

declared that ITV must build a stronger brand personality in order to

compete in today’s media environment.

Answering selected written questions from Marketing on his new role,

Hardie said: ’One question for all those competing for the public’s

attention is whether their channel is simply a characterless virtual

warehouse or a brand with personality which predisposes its audience to

tune in.’

Hardie said his role was intrinsically linked to that of the programme

director, David Liddiment. ’As I see it, the job is to improve ratings

and improve cost effectiveness for our advertisers. Part of achieving

that is to put a marketing approach toward the centre of our play and to

harness the power of brand marketing to strengthen our bond with

viewers.’

Commenting on his lack of experience in media, Hardie said: ’I’ll be

doing a lot of listening to start with. That said, I don’t intend to be

a shrinking violet. We need to get moving.

’Richard Eyre has committed us to having our new strategy within 100

days of his start, which leaves me with about 70 days.’

See Focus, page 26.