Virgin Media CMO Moves to New BBC Customer Role

In the UK, Virgin Media Chief Marketing Officer Kerris Bright has been hired by the BBC for its newly created role of Chief Customer Officer, with a seat on the BBC Executive Committee. She will join in the summer, reporting to Deputy Director-General Anne Bulford.

Bright (pictured) will take up the post after three years at Virgin Media, where she is responsible for brand management and customer marketing. Prior to this she ran her own consultancy, was CMO at bathroom company Ideal Standard, and worked for British Airways as Head of Global Marketing. Earlier in her career, Bright served as CMO of AkzoNobel/ICI Paints, and she held senior marketing roles at Unilever for around a decade.

In her new position, Bright will oversee the Marketing and Audiences team and Licence Fee Unit, forming a new customer relationship management function. Her remit will be to develop a closer and more personal relationship with BBC consumers, licence fee payers, and those signing in to BBC services.

Bulford says the appointment will allow the Corporation to better understand and engage with its audiences across all platforms. Director-General Tony Hall adds: 'Across the BBC, we're working hard to reinvent the organisation for a new generation. Making sure the BBC of the future is uniquely tailored to everyone, and available when and where audiences want it - will be critical to our success. We're making good progress with over twelve million people already signed in to use the BBC iPlayer, but I want us to step up our efforts on personalisation in the months ahead. Kerris's appointment will help us be even more ambitious in this area'.

Web site: www.bbc.co.uk .