In an attempt to boost its brand building activity, DFS (a furniture retailer) is considering employment a chief marketing officer for the first time ever.  In 2010, according to The Nielsen Company,  DFS figures for advertising in 75 stores reached £90m.  Today the focus of its marketing strategy, according to an article in Marketing Week, is “designed to increase football.”

There are now plans in place to establish additional brand building campaigns. This is why it makes sense for DFS to employ a marketer that has “more classical brand” experience in the next year.  The company’s chief executive, Ian Filby pointed out that “there is an enormous opportunity to build the DFS brand and make it a loved brand.  For what it sought to achieve, marketing is being run incredibly well and efficiently. But the focus of the company was to have a big advertising spend, the focus of which was to get people in-store on a Sunday and that is a really important part of the DFS model but it is not brand-building.”   It will be Filby – who joined the firm last September – who will be in charge of brand marketing before the new person is hired.  Prior to his appointment, he worked as retail brand development director at Boots.

Hope for Increased Sales

It is of course hoped that getting this new individual on board will assist in the increase of sales.  This is needed even more now, since in the nine months leading up to the end of April, same store income (without VAT) dropped 0.7 percent.