Nick Grimshaw has been appointed Director of Loyalty Marketing by market leading casino operator London Clubs International (LCI), in a move which underscores a trend towards top-level gaming industry hires coming from outside the sector.

Nick, who joins LCI from the specialist loyalty and incentives consultancy Beneficia, has built a significant reputation in the loyalty marketing arena since joining Transmedia – a restaurant loyalty company – some 15 years ago. He went on to become Retail Development Director at Sportscard Credit Card Group, and Programme Director at International Customer Loyalty Programmes before joining The Being Best Global Alliance as Loyalty Marketing Director in 2003.

Grimshaw’s move to LCI was managed by Steven Jackson, Head of Casino Recruitment at Sports Recruitment International, who believes that it is indicative of a new resolve among leading casino companies to hire the best of breed executives to high level positions, rather than focusing solely on those already operating in the industry.

Nick Grimshaw said: “When Steven first contacted me I was intrigued as I had not considered working in gaming before. The more I discovered about the position, the company and their plans, the more I knew that this was the dream role for me. LCI has a world class offering and I look forward to playing my part in delivering that message to our customers both old and new.”

Nick will be responsible for creating and rolling-out a variety of critical loyalty and relationship marketing programmes across all of LCI’s UK clubs, creating targeted offers for repeat guests, developing and delivering a direct mail programme and streamlining the membership and admissions process to improve the customer experience.

The importance of the role was emphasized by Marty Goldman, Chief Marketing Officer at LCI, who said: “This is a crucial recruit for us, we are a marketing driven business and Nick will be responsible for maximizing the relationships with our customers. We wanted to ensure we found the best in the market and we are very happy to have Nick on board.”

According to Steven Jackson of Sports Recruitment International, LCI, owned by world renowned casino operator Harrah´s Entertainment, is increasingly looking to its wider relationship network to source specialists for operators in the casino and gaming sector.

Jackson concluded: “It is a sign of the increasing maturity of the sector that the approach to executive level recruitment is changing and that the scope of the search has widened. Casino and gaming companies operate in a highly competitive marketplace and they need the best talent available in key specialist roles. They understand that this is unlikely to be somebody who is already on their radar screens and we have been delighted to work with LCI to identify and place Nick Grimshaw in this significant role.” (E-06.17.08)

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