Royal Doulton announced (October/02) that it has appointed a branding expert to help lead the planned recovery of its business. The new group Marking Director, Gary Mylum, was headhunted from the fashionable clothes retailer Ben Sherman, where he held a similar post for 4 years. The appointment is seen as a coup for the company, which is perceived as suffering from confusion over its brand identity and has sustained years of multi-million pound losses. His arrival comes as the firm revamps its public relations activities as part of a controversial restructuring scheme. The scheme, backed by the issuing of extra shares worth GBP 18.9M, will see the closure of Royal Doulton's Baddeley Green factory and the transfer of its prized Royal Albert brand to Indonesia.
