Eight Group, the print and marketing communications specialist, has promoted group managing director Lance Hill to the new role of group CEO as part of a major restructure which also sees it set up two new divisions.
The move, which follows the acquisition of data-driven marketing agency Marketlayer, sees Karen Herbert (pictured, far right) and Rob Moules (far left) take up divisional MD roles for Eight Days A Week Print Solutions and Eight Plus divisions, respectively, while Gabe Cooney continues in his role as MD of Marketlayer.
The Nottingham-based business, with a combined turnover of £16m, is also setting up two new sub-brands. Eight Digital will encompass Marketlayer’s offering of in-house developers, digital strategists, and delivery across all digital channels; while Eight Create, will offer everything from artwork overflow to creative strategy.
This new repositioning and broadening of services has been in the pipeline since Tom Oldershaw joined as strategic solutions director in March.
He commented: ‘We’ve been working on this from my first day. With the creation of Eight Plus and the more recent acquisition of Marketlayer, as well as the talent already in the business, our certification as a B Corp and our passion for sustainability, it’s a natural step for us to bring it all together in a way that makes it more obvious to clients new and old what we do and how we add value.
“We have a really powerful group offering and I can’t wait to start talking to potential clients knowing we have the brand and marketing to show what we can do.”
Hill (pictured, centre) has nearly four decades of experience working in the industry. Having started as an apprentice at Colorgraphic in the late 1980s, he had spells at Go Inspire and Spectrum Flair before taking up senior roles at The Lettershop Group, Eclipse 4DM, and Royal Mail MarketReach before starting his current post nearly five years ago.
He said: “There has been a lot going on in the past three years – the MBO in 2021, the launch of Eight Plus in 2022, B Corp certification in 2023 and the acquisition or Marketlayer this year. All of this has meant I have been spinning a lot of plates, and also spending too much time in the detail, which meant not enough on the strategy and structure to deliver on our long-term objectives.
“Karen and Rob have been pretty much running the respective divisions, so this is giving them formal recognition of that plus ongoing autonomy to do what they do best – make it happen! With Tom on board as well we now have the correct infrastructure and senior team to continue with our strategic offering, while also retaining our core principles of delivering award winning customer service.”
