Former Unilever boss Niall FitzGerald joins Brand Learning consultancy as chairman

Consultancy seems to be a booming trade these days particularly among the ranks of advertisers who seems to need their hand holding more than they used to.

One such operation is Brand Learning, headed by Mhairi McEwan, which turned over £17m last for clients including PepsiCo, Shell and Kellogg plus newbies Yum Brands, SC Johnson and Mondelez. British-based Brand Learning says that 30 per cent of its business now comes from its New York office.

Now the company has signed up Niall FitzGerald (who would be Sir Niall if he wasn’t Irish), former CEO of Unilever, as its first non-executive chairman. FitzGerald, who was succeeded by Paul Polman after he retired from Unilever, was a poster boy for the marcoms industry in his time at the fmcg giant, extolling the virtues of marketing rather than the then all-pervasive financial engineering.

FitzGerald says: “I have always admired the work that Brand Learning does for its clients and their deep understanding of the central role that marketing plays in creating the customer value needed to drive growth.

“Brand Learning brings a sharp edge to organisations seeking to build their marketing capabilities and I look forward to helping them to build their business internationally.”

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