Little noticed so far has been the departure of LG’s European marketing director Dominic Chambers, who slipped away without a job to go to at the end of last year.
Why? Well, you could argue that he had done his “revolving door” bit with the Korean electronics and mobile phone handset manufacturer and decided to move on. A tenure of just over two years is consistent with his previous stint as Vodafone’s head of UK marketing: he joined Vodafone in 2005 and left in 2008.
But why the stealth, and why was another job not lined up? The truth, as you will have guessed, is a little more complicated.
Contrary to the suggestion in LG’s brand strapline, Life is not very Good at the moment. The Korean manufacturer has performed dismally in the smartphones arena. Mobile phone hand-sets used to be a third of its turnover; now they have slipped to about a quarter. Last September, a boardroom coup in Seoul ensured the rapid dispatch of Nam Yong, the unfortunate group chief executive responsible for this woeful performance, and his replacement by one of LG’s founders, Koo Bon-joon.
After regime-change comes the purge of the old order. Koo appears to believe that the best solution to LG’s problems is to re-establish central control, partly by ridding the company of its senior non-Korean elements.
Whether Chambers was actually fired, or simply left because he felt increasingly uncomfortable, I do not know. The bottom line is he is looking around. And when he finds his next berth, that may well be good news for BBH, Dare and/or Y&R, who have served him well in the past.
Posted by stuartsmithsblog 
