Harding Brothers seeks to better understand its customers with senior marketing appointment

Leading cruiseship retail concessionaire Harding Brothers Retail has announced an important new appointment within the company. Richard Antrum joins Harding Brothers as Marketing Director in early January and will be joining the Board.

‘This newly created role reflects the changing nature of retailing onboard cruiseships, where passenger profiling and market research has become a much more central and vital part of planning the optimum retail offer,’ says Harding Brothers managing director Harold Gittelmon. ‘Richard’s appointment will be key in implementing processes that will enable us to better understand the specific passenger profiles that we serve on board the fleet.

‘Coupled with the significant inroads we have made as part of Project Revelation, where we have sought to deepen our knowledge and understanding of purchasing patterns by passengers to our shops, we believe that we have an exciting new phase of our business looming.’

Richard Antrum is an extremely experienced professional, having served as Head Of Marketing for the Peacock Group from 1995 to 2011. His marketing career began with brand management positions with consumer goods companies in the cosmetics, toiletries and food markets before moving into retail as Marketing Manager at Littlewoods Stores, responsible for the marketing of its Food, Wine and Restaurant Departments. After four years, Richard moved to The Peacock Group, leading the development of the Peacocks brand through a period of significant growth. Richard holds an MBA from Henley Management College and a PhD in Leadership & Change.

Continues Gittelmon: ‘Richard brings a great deal of experience to Harding Brothers Retail and will play a pivotal role in our development of online pre-cruise offerings, the communication of our business to the outside world, and in keeping the passengers at the core of the decisions we make as a business. It’s vital that moving forward we develop the appropriate pitch, voice and tone with which we speak to our passengers.’

December 2012