Freeads.co.uk hires Lastminute.com marketing alumni

Freeads.co.uk has appointed two former Lastminute.com marketers to senior positions.

Duncan Horton, formerly head of marketing at the travel e-tailer, becomes chief executive, while former head of retail marketing Stuart Parish becomes marketing director.

Horton had served at Lastminute.com for an interim period. That site has been shaking things up in the last couple of months with the appointment of a new chief marketing officer and marketing director in March and April.

Six-year-old Freeads.co.uk has staked out its intention to grow its base of 55,000 classified ads to 150,000. Horton said in a statement:

“This is an exciting time to enter the online classified market. Online is the fastest growing sector in the classified arena and Freeads.co.uk is the fastest growing classified website in the UK.

“We believe that the hundreds of thousands of loyal users, the new team and the new-look site will give our competitors a run for their money.”