By James Wells
SYDNEY: Housewares International (HWI) Electrical, parent company of the Breville and Kambrook businesses and the distributor of Philips small appliances, has announced it will restructure its product and marketing team.
HWI Electrical general manager – marketing, Cameron Searle, told Current.com.au that the change to the structure has introduced dedicated product and communications roles.
“Up to now, our category managers have been responsible for sourcing product and bringing it to market ready for launch including trade presentations. Now what we have done is make a clear separation between product and communication,” Searle said.
“We now have dedicated product managers who will continue to analyse the market in their categories, identify opportunities, organise sourcing and ready the product for launch. At that point, they hand it to the communications team who will develop the packaging and all communication going forward into the market."
One of the key appointments in the restructure is the promotion of Daniel Grahame to the position of product director. Reporting to Grahame will be Christine Abdal – product manager for vacuums and irons, Sabrina Smith – product manager for motor-driven kitchen appliances and the home economist division of the business including senior home economist – Michelle Thrift.
“This appointment recognises Daniel’s progress and success in the past year on the product side of the business,” Searle said.
Breville has appointed a second product director – David Card – who will relocate from South Africa to join HWI Electrical on 12 March.
Reporting to Card is Tania Miclau – senior product manager for heat-based kitchen products and James Woodhead – product manager for personal care.
“David Card has been sourcing small domestic appliances for the past 15 years and we believe he is a major find for us,” Searle said.
On the brand marketing side of the business, HWI Electrical has appointed James Robinson as brand director reporting directly to Searle.
Katerina Kassaballis who was previously assistant category manager – Philips, has been appointed trade promotions manager – responsible for the presence of Breville, Kambrook and Philips in store.