Eight Group reshuffles senior team with ‘powerful’ new structure

Nottingham-based Eight Group has promoted Karen Herbert and Rob Moules to senior positions.

The pair take up divisional managing director roles for Eight Days A Week Print Solutions and Eight Plus respectively, whilst Gabe Cooney continues in his role as managing director of Marketlayer – the firm which was recently acquired by Eight Group.

The company has also launched two sub-brands: Eight Digital which will encompass Marketlayer’s offering of in-house developers, digital strategists and delivery across all digital channels; and Eight Create which offers everything from artwork overflow to creative strategy.

As part of this change, current group managing director Lance Hill has taken up the new role of CEO of Eight Group.

This new repositioning and broadening of services has been in the pipeline since Tom Oldershaw joined as strategic solutions director in March.

He said: “We’ve been working on this from my first day.

“With the creation of Eight Plus and the more recent acquisition of Marketlayer, as well as the talent already in the business, our certification as a B Corp and our passion for sustainability, it’s a natural step for us to bring it all together in a way that makes it more obvious to clients new and old what we do and how we add value. We have a really powerful group offering and I can’t wait to start talking to potential clients knowing we have the brand and marketing to show what we can do.”

Hill added: “There has been a lot going on in the last three years – the MBO in 2021, the launch of Eight Plus in 2022, B Corp certification in 2023 and the acquisition or Marketlayer this year. All of this has meant I have been spinning a lot of plates, and also spending too much time in the detail, which meant not enough on the strategy and structure to deliver on our long-term objectives.

“Karen and Rob have been pretty much running the respective divisions, so this is giving them formal recognition of that plus ongoing autonomy to do what they do best – make it happen! With Tom on board as well we now have the correct infrastructure and senior team to continue with our strategic offering, whilst also retaining our core principles of delivering award winning customer service.”

Eight Group has a combined turnover of £16m and employs 32 staff.