Samsung has appointed former Orange marketing chief Gareth Abel as its new UK and Ireland mobile marketing director, amid predictions that 2012 will be the biggest year yet for the mobile phone firm.
Abel is charged with continuing to increase the company’s brand awareness across the mobile division and the marketing and go-to-market strategy for all products within the mobile division.
He replaces Batyr Bulat who left in March last year “for personal reasons”, and reports to Samsung UK and Ireland managing director Simon Stanford.
Abel started his career at Dixons Stores Group in 1996, as product manager. Two years later he joined Orange, initially as senior product manager of devices. Abel spent ten years at the company, moving through a number of roles until he left in July 2009 to become group managing director at telecoms provider Etisalat for over two years, based in Abu Dhabi in the UAE.
Stanford said: “After the huge success Samsung Mobile has had in 2011, we predict that 2012 will be an even bigger year for us. Gareth has the expertise, knowledge and experience that will help us continue leading the way in marketing innovation.”
Samsung says it expects to report a 73% jump in operating profits to 5.2bn won (£2.9bn) for the last three months of 2011. It overtook Apple as the world’s biggest selling smartphone manufacturer last year, boosted by the launch of its Galaxy S2 handset, backed by a major marketing campaign.
