Whirlpool Australia has just announced a huge restructuring process in its marketing team and retail and trade divisions, which involves a recruitment drive and reorganisation of responsibility.
David Graham, Whirlpool general manager of marketing, commented on how the changes were spurred on by previous successful campaigns.
“On the back of the successful first phase of the ‘Guess Whose Mum’s Got a Whirlpool?’ campaign, Whirlpool has increased efficiencies within the team with several changes including a reassessment of the category management,” he said.
The major change to occur for the manufacturer is that Michael Van Raay has been appointed marketing manager for Oceania, which means he will relinquish his responsibilities in the in the laundry category and shift focus to strategic marketing for Australia, New Zealand and Pacific Islands.
In his new role Van Raay will oversee the category management team, which has also experienced realignment.
The changes to the category marketing team includes: Natalie Nikolovski, who is now category manager for food stream solutions (refrigeration); Belinda Toner, who takes on the role as category manager for food preparation and home cleaning (cooking, microwaves and dishwashers); and Steven Warner, who has been promoted to category manager for fabric care (laundry and dryers).
But the changes do not stop there; the retail and trade division of the company will also see James Norton extend his portfolio as retail marketing manager and Francis Gardiner takes on the newly formed role of trade marketing analyst.
Graham was confident that these changes will improve the business, “With the number of major projects and developments that Whirlpool will be driving in the second half of 2009, it is important to have in place a team that has the knowledge, dedication and creativity for the job”.