Blobfish International has appointed Tom De Vries as its UK sales director, as it announces expansion into the UK market.
De Vries’ appointment is effective immediately and he will be responsible for leading sales, growing the company’s client base and brand partnerships, as well as leading further expansion into Europe.
He joins Blobfish from oOh! where he spent nearly eight years as client partnerships director, responsible for building strategic relationships with clients, and prior to that was senior account manager in New South Wales and Queensland.
De Vries has also worked with Fitness First Australia as the media sales and partnership manager.
Blobfish International founder and CEO, Nicolas Cann said the UK market was a key target for the business.
“The sampling market in the UK is amongst one of the largest in the world, and consistently sees substantial year on year growth. In addition, a few major partners of ours requested that we set up in the UK because they have seen such great success working with us in Australia and New Zealand that they wanted us to do the same in the UK,” he said.
“Leading sales, Tom is highly experienced in business development and client engagement, and he has an exemplary track record of achieving and exceeding expectations. He is client-focused, tenacious and creative, working hard to deliver. I’m confident he will be invaluable to our business as we continue to grow our UK and European footprint,” he added.
De Vries said of his appointment: “Blobfish’s innovative approach to sampling has seen the business scale rapidly and the UK market is quickly emerging as a key player in large-scale sampling and activations. I’m excited to bring the success of Blobfish in Australia to the UK, to work with clients to reach consumers in a captivating way.”
Since its Australian launch in 2015, Blobfish has worked closely with major tech partners including Uber, Ola, Didi, Uber Eats, Deliveroo, Menulog, and DoorDash to reach customers in their environments.
Cann said: “Sampling cannot be faulted in how successful it can be for FMCG brands. Reaching the right consumer, in the right environment with a product leads to purchase and often a long-term customer.
“We’ve been made a preferred partner of most major FMCGs now, and so we’re excited to continue our channel partner growth, as well as distribution of samples into the most relevant environments possible,” he added.
The Australian sampling network work with companies across food delivery services (Uber Eats, Deliveroo and Just Eat), Airbnb and hotels, rideshare vehicles (Uber and Ola), gyms, Pilates, and yoga studios, and office tower environments for brand sampling opportunities in their environments.
Blobfish is also working with UK brand partners Mondelez and PepsiCo.
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Top image: Tom De Vries
Centre image: Nicolas Cann