Beiersdorf appoints marketing director for northern Europe

Beiersdorf has announced the appointment of Neil George to the newly-created position of marketing director for northern Europe.

The new role unifies the company's UK, Ireland, Netherlands and Nordic marketing operations under a single team and will encompass all Beiersdorf brands, allowing the firm to create more unified corporate communications, reports Marketing magazine.

Mr George joins Beiersdorf from Reckitt Benckiser, where he spent ten years, while he will report to Beiersdorf northern Europe general manager Iain Holding in his new position.

A particular goal of this restructuring is to establish the Nivea skincare brand as the first or second-ranked product in all of the categories in which it operates.

Mr George said: "We will have an overarching focus on improving our return on investment against marketing, helped by only airing outstanding marketing, which in the past has occasionally been lax."

Last month, Stefan Heidenreich took over from Thomas Quaas as chief executive officer of Beiersdorf, bringing with him more than 25 years of industry experience.