Bedford takes digital strategy lead at Cheil UK

Cheil UK has appointed David Bedford as its new digital strategy director, a newly created role at the agency.

Bedford, who is the former head of planning at Gyro, joins the Cheil board’s digital leadership group providing direction to internal teams as well as building client relationships. He reports to David Coombs, the head of strategic services at Cheil UK.

Bedford was also previously head of planning at Geometry. He most recently worked as a freelance strategic consultant at Lida where he worked on Costa Coffee and Experian, and Wunderman, where he was strategy lead on BT’s CRM and Shell’s global CRM.

Along with Shell and BT, Bedford has led strategy for brands including HSBC, Visa and Vodafone. He was also behind the creation of Vodafone’s content hub ‘Your Ready Business’. His work has won the IPA Social Works best practice content effectiveness in social media 2015, and he led the Government ‘Act FAST’ campaign which won an IPA Effectiveness Gold.

“With David’s deep rooted strategic background and consultative approach, we are thrilled he is joining us to drive our already advanced digital offering to the next level,” said Coombs.

Bedford added: “This is a perfect opportunity to work with our clients to develop the platforms to improve conversion and to personalise the whole experience to meet the increasing demands of our customers.”