David Pugh, the former chief executive of Mills & Allen, is
returning to the poster industry as the new managing director, sales and
marketing, of Maiden Outdoor.
Pugh, who left M&A in July after the company was bought by JCDecaux,
will join Maiden in January. He takes over from Francis Goodwin, who
will now work alongside Maiden’s chief executive, Ron Zeghibe, to
develop the company’s business base both in the UK and
internationally.
Pugh will take on responsibility for the poster contractor’s day-to-day
revenue generation and management of the existing UK business. He said
his primary focus will be ’to re-emphasise the power of the 48-sheet
poster’.
Maiden has come under the spotlight in recent months for its poor
financial performance in the first half of this year, when the company
made a pounds 1 million loss. The downturn was partly blamed on a trend
away from 48-sheets.
Pugh said that Maiden is well placed to champion the 48-sheet poster
because most of its roadside stock falls into this category. He added
that he was not planning an overhaul of the sales and marketing
functions at Maiden.
Pugh’s appointment has been welcomed by other outdoor specialists. Alan
Simmons, chief executive of Concord, said that he was a good hiring for
Maiden, adding that Pugh’s task will be to ’take a strong marketing base
and translate that into a strong sales base’. Steve Bond, client
services director of Posterscope, said that Pugh is ’widely rated in the
industry’.
