Craig Inglis will leave the business in October after joining in June 2024 as its first CMO.
Merlin Entertainments’ chief customer officer Craig Inglis will leave the business in October as the company scraps the role.
Inglis joined in June 2024 as the brand’s first CMO before transitioning to chief customer officer in April this year.
A Merlin spokesperson said the business decided to axe the role following a review of its leadership structure, describing it as part of an “ongoing transformation programme” designed to “support future growth ambitions”.
Merlin Entertainments’ chief customer officer Craig Inglis will leave the business in October as the company scraps the role.
Inglis joined in June 2024 as the brand’s first CMO before transitioning to chief customer officer in April this year.
A Merlin spokesperson said the business decided to axe the role following a review of its leadership structure, describing it as part of an “ongoing transformation programme” designed to “support future growth ambitions”.
The business says it is unable to confirm who will take on Inglis’ remit at this time, as the role has been “removed”, so there is “no exact successor”. Its most senior marketer is now Toby Horry, who joined from TUI in July as senior vice-president of global marketing.
“During Craig’s time at Merlin, he has been instrumental in bringing together the global marketing function, as a globally led team, under a new operating model and has put in place some very strong foundations to set it up for future success,” the spokesperson said.
The company’s half-year review noted the new operating model has been in place since January 2025 to drive “business effectiveness and growth”.
The move follows Merlin’s decision to scrap its chief strategy and commercial officer role in March, with responsibilities taken on by other senior leaders.
For the year ended 28 December 2024, Merlin Entertainments reported a 3.2% decline in revenue to £2.05bn, while profit dropped 30.1% to £285m.
When Inglis first joined the Merlin Entertainments, which owns Legoland, Madame Tussauds and Sea Life, the business described the creation of the CMO role as a “significant milestone” in its evolution and expansion globally.
He was tasked with leading “transformative initiatives” to strengthen customer engagement across four continents.
Before joining Merlin Entertainments, Inglis was chief customer officer at The Entertainer Group and is currently non-executive global chair of The Marketing Society.
Until September 2023, he served as executive vice-president of global brand and integrated marketing at Sage, leaving the B2B financial tech firm after 16 months.
Prior to joining Sage, he spent more than 12 years at John Lewis, rising from head of brand communications to customer director, with responsibility for the end-to-end customer proposition and a £200m marketing budget.
In January this year, former Merlin Entertainments UK and Europe group sales and marketing director, Sara Holt, left the business to join Center Parcs UK and Ireland as CMO.
