Dobbies appoints Phil Thomas as chief marketing officer
The Dobbies garden centre chain has appointed Phil Thomas as chief marketing officer.
With over 30 years’ experience in marketing, Thomas has been the chief marketing officer at Costa Coffee for the last three years. Prior to that, he held the same role at Greene King and numerous marketing roles at Reckitt Benckiser and Procter & Gamble.
In his new position, he will be responsible for all of Dobbies’ customer and marketing activity to create engaging communication and customer experiences.
This will involve heading up the teams responsible for all marketing activity and brand innovation, including developing the in-store and digital customer experiences, as well as ongoing seasonal campaigns and events. He will also lead both internal and external communications.
In addition, Thomas will be tasked with “super-charging” the award-winning Dobbies Club which has over 1.3 million members.
David Robinson, chief executive of Dobbies, said: “We are building an incredibly strong senior leadership team and recruiting Phil is another positive step in achieving our ambitions.
“Phil is a very experienced marketing operator who will drive our goal of communicating our focus on garden living through all of our marketing. Phil’s extensive knowledge of UK retail and product marketing will be invaluable to delivering on our strategy.”
The appointment comes as Dobbies’ customer director Louise Niven steps down to go on maternity leave.
Robinson added: “I’d like to thank Louise for her ten years at Dobbies, including six years at the helm of the marketing team, building our brand; delivering award-winning campaigns, positive PR and community engagement; and outstanding growth of our loyalty scheme to more than 1.3 million members.
“Everyone at Dobbies wishes her all the very best for the future.”
Dobbies operates 77 stores across the UK.
