Tesco appoints new PR firm
Tesco has appointed a new PR agency to handle its global business and has created a new communications director post as it looks to boost its overseas growth.
The supermarket giant has ended its 12 year relationship with Maitland and brought in rival PR firm Brunswick. It is understood that the move reflects the retailer’s increasing focus on growth outside of the UK.
Tesco has also created a new communications director role focused on international business with Ian Hutchins, previously international corporate affairs manager, being promoted to the position.
The retailer said it will split the role of board member Lucy Neville-Rolfe who is retiring in January as executive director of corporate and legal affairs. Her role will be divided into two separate areas of legal and corporate affairs, with Brunswick’s Rebecca Shelley taking on the role of corporate affairs director. Shelley will join Tesco early in the summer and will be a member of the retailer’s executive committee.
Tesco issued its first UK profit warning in 20 years in January after its £500 million Big Price Drop campaign failed to draw in the required number of customers to offset the lower prices. The retailer has also recently announced the departure of its UK and Ireland CEO Richard Brasher after little more than a year in the job.
