3 chief marketer leaves amid reshuffle

Mon, 12 May 2008

John Penberthy-Smith, the chief marketer at mobile operator 3, is leaving the company following a restructure of its sales and marketing teams. It is not known if he has a job to go to.

The company is bringing its sales and marketing teams together under Marc Allera, who is currently sales director but will now oversee the marketing function. The decision was announced to the company today (May 12) by chief executive Kevin Russell.

A 3 spokesman says the restructure is intended to push retail as a priority and to "put the decision-making on the shoulders of one person". It is currently seeking an agency to handle a £1m retail-based project as part of a move to “refresh” its 300 UK stores (MW April 24).

Penberthy-Smith (pictured) took over the marketing director role just over a year ago after being promoted from director of customer marketing. He replaced Graham Oxby.

He was responsible for all marketing at 3, including products, customer propositions, channel and base marketing. Prior to joining 3 in 2006, Penberthy-Smith held a variety of roles at Vodafone, including director of consumer marketing for Vodafone UK.

Allera joined 3 as director of retail sales in 2001. He has been closely involved in the roll out of its retail network through 3Stores and Superdrug concessions.