Express boss commits to display sales in Scotland
Richard Desmond’s Northern & Shell company, the owners of the Express newspaper titles, has confirmed that the company’s Scottish office will continue to have a full time sales function, though it will shrink from eight to one.
After a consultation period involving a number of Scottish media agencies and Scottish sales staff, it has been decided that Scottish display advertising group head Michael Ness will continue to lead the sales function in Scotland.
Day-to-day support will be supplied to the Scottish team by the Express’ advertising controller Richard Hillgrove, deputy advertising controller Mel Birkett along with the London-based regional sales team.
A letter has been sent out by the Express joint group managing director Stan Myerson to all Scottish media and advertising agencies, informing them of the changes.
Myerson’s letter stated: “We believe that the media community in Scotland would best be served, not only by the fantastic efforts of Michael, who will continue to be based in our Scottish office, but also through the direct involvement and day-to-day support of Richard Hillgrove and the Express Newspapers regional team.
“Insofar as the Scottish classified operation is concerned, after much deliberation, it has been decided to integrate this into our main classified operation.”
The move comes almost two years after the Express Newspaper group closed its regional sales office in Manchester with the loss of ten jobs.