blu eCigs Names New Commercial Director & Marketing Director

blu eCigs, the UK’s premium global electronic cigarette brand has strengthened its senior team by announcing the appointment of a new Commercial Director, Alistair Hall, and a new Marketing Director, James Dodkin, following the company’s recent rebrand from SKYCIG to best-selling USA e-cigarette brand blu eCigs. The appointments mark another key step in blu eCigs’ plans to replicate the brand’s USA success in the UK market.

James Dodkin will oversee the marketing department, encompassing digital, advertising, social media, events, experiential and PR, to advance the current marketing strategy and develop the blu eCigs brand in the UK.

James brings over 10 years’ experience in marketing and brand management to blu eCigs, including over 4 years with L’Oreal as Senior Brand Manager and 2 years with Fosters Wine Estates as Group Innovation Manager. In his most recent role as Director for Locale, James successfully launched 6 new businesses and created over $35m in additional turnover. His strong track record of starting, growing and managing businesses places him in a unique position to continue to develop blu eCigs in the UK.

Commenting on his appointment, James said “I am very excited to be joining blu eCigs. The reasons for joining are clear – it’s a new, growing and exciting category. blu has, in my view, the highest quality product in the market. Furthermore blu has, and will continue to build, an exceptional team, which is 100% committed to making blu eCigs the leading e-cig brand in the UK.”

Alistair will be responsible for leading the company’s Sales, Category Management and Shopper Marketing functions whilst identifying new growth opportunities to take the blu eCigs UK business to multi-channel category leading positions and, ultimately, the position of market leader within the electronic cigarette industry in the UK.  

Alistair brings more than 20 years’ experience across sales, marketing and operations, gained in a number of senior roles within SME’s and Global branded FMCG businesses to blu eCigs; his most recent work includes leading commercial teams and transition projects with Mars, Nestle, Fortune Brands and E& J Gallo across a wide variety of consumer categories and market channels. This has given him significant experience of building business with the top six grocery multiples and other key players in wider routes to market including the Convenience, Discount, Wholesale and Leisure channels.

Commenting on his appointment, Alistair said: "I’m thrilled to be joining blu eCigs at a time of such rapid growth following our recent UK launch, and in a category with such immense opportunity. Building a business to meet the ever-evolving consumer needs will be a very exciting challenge as we set ourselves and our customers up for sustainable category success in 2014 and beyond.”

Jacob Fuller, blu eCigs CEO adds: “blu eCigs is delighted to welcome James and Alistair to the company; their expertise will develop our position as market leader and support the massive growth the company is experiencing, as well as strengthen the growing marketing and sales departments to take blu eCigs to the next level and push this global brand even further ahead of the competition.”