Australian engaging sampling network, Blobfish International has announced its expansion into the UK market and the appointment of Tom De Vries as its UK sales director.
Blobfish works with companies across food delivery – such as Uber Eats, Deliveroo and Just Eat – as well as Airbnb and hotels, ride share vehicles – including 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.
De Vries (featured image) will now be responsible for leading sales for Blobfish International, growing the company’s client base and brand partnerships and 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.
Prior to that, De Vries was senior account manager in NSW and Queensland. He has also worked with Fitness First Australia as 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.”
Commenting on his appointment, De Vries said, “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.”
Cann added, “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.”
De Vries’ appointment is effective immediately.
