Ian Shepherd
Consumer Director of Vodafone UK
Ian Shepherd, Vodaphone UK’s consumer director, is in the forefront of its consumer line promoting some of the newer products and service offerings of the company.
A Spokesman for Vodaphone’s Products
For starters he maximized the internet as a marketing tool to make Vodaphone’s presence felt more online. He has YouTube videos promoting new mobile phones on the Vodaphone network. He gets featured on many mobile phone sites. He has a Twitter site. Being one of the young corporate executives at the helm, Ian doesn’t underestimate the commercial value of social networking sites. His Twitter site is a veritable advertorial source for Vodaphone that not only contains just about the entire company’s commercial consumer portfolio, but also the many public events and corporate announcements that come regularly. Vodaphone’s Free Friday gets a lot of exposure on that site as well.
He is quite busy these days promoting the Vodaphone Access Gateway which is claimed to be the first homebound device that can increase mobile phones signals while in the house or in a building anywhere in the country. Using femtocell technology, the device increases the strength of 3G coverage indoors if the mobile user is having reception problems.
The Right Man for the Job
Vodaphone’s former director for strategy and new business development, Ian Shepherd, took on the new and more challenging role as consumer business director in January 2006. Ian Shepherd is credited with the successful brokering of Vodaphone’s Phones 4U deals with consumers and the operator’s redesign of its retail business operations. From then on, Ian Shepherd took charge of the company’s retail business overseeing its store outlets and distribution network dealing with consumers services and products.
Corporate Restructuring
A spokesperson from Vodaphone has indicated that corporate changes have been taking place to make the company more responsive to the changing business clime. The appointment of Ian Shepherd to the position was initiated by the company’s CEO Nick Read who is responsible for getting the company re-alignment into effect immediately as part of the corporate shake-up that started nine months earlier.
