BT appoints new Chief Brand Officer

BT today announced the appointment of Zaid Al-Qassab as Chief Brand Officer, a role which will see him lead group marketing strategy and brand. 

Al-Qassab joins BT with more than 20-years' experience in the consumer brand and marketing industry, having spent the majority of his career at leading consumer product company Procter & Gamble. 

His most recent position at P&G, until the end of 2013, was Managing Director of P&G's beauty and grooming division in the UK and Ireland, where he gained considerable experience developing brands such as Olay, Max Factor, Clairol, Wella and Gillette. 

He was part of the team that won 2012 Brand of the Year for P&G's corporate brand launch. 

More recently Al-Qassab was Chief Marketing Officer of HouseTrip, an internet start-up, which was awarded CoolBrands status in 2014. 

Zaid Al-Qassab said: "It's a huge honour to lead one of the UK's biggest and most valuable brands, which touches most of the population, and reaches out around the world.'

"I'm really looking forward to leading the BT brand through this period of unprecedented innovation. We've just launched BT Mobile, and the year ahead is even more exciting with the UEFA Champions League, our mobile plans, the expansion of our fibre optic network and our role supporting UK business and global customers in their own transformations. BT has a truly amazing and diverse marketing function, enabled by fantastic agencies. I'm hoping to help them combine strong strategy and customer insight to make stunning marketing and advertising that makes BT Group admired as the best marketers in the UK." 

This appointment follows the decision of Marketing and Brand Director, Suzi Williams to leave the business in September. During her ten years in the role, she created and led on BT's landmark sponsorship of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, delivering significant commercial and brand advantages for BT. BT's brand value jumped from $6bn to $16bn during these ten years. 

Suzi Williams said: "I've enjoyed a tremendous ten years at BT and I wish Zaid and the team every success with the next chapter of the BT brand." 

Suzi remains with BT through the summer to complete a number of projects which run until the autumn.