Asda raids B&Q for new vice president of marketing

Asda is beefing up its marketing team with the appointment of B&Q marketing director Tom Hampson as vice president of marketing, covering both the supermarket and its George clothing brand.

Hampson, who has held data-driven marketing roles for much of his career, effectively succeeds Adam Zavalis, who departed in November. However, Zavalis’ role has now been expanded beyond the Asda brand.

Reporting to chief customer officer Rachel Eyre, Hampson will join the business in June; Lucky Generals, handles the supermarket’s advertising account.

Hampson had been at B&Q for the past three years and was previously marketing director at Mamas and Papas and Itsu. He also spent nearly 10 years at Sainsbury’s, including as its head of new business marketing and head of brand planning. Before joining B&Q, he was interim director of loyalty and insight at Morrisons.

Eyre said: “Tom is an experienced and passionate customer and marketing leader who has led transformation and growth through marketing with a number of major UK retailers.

“He brings deep expertise in customer insight, proposition development and team leadership and will play a pivotal role in driving the growth agenda for two powerhouse British brands.”

Late last year, the supermarket giant boosted its use of artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies to plot faster, more personalised services through advanced data analytics and developer tools.

The move saw the company jump further into bed with Microsoft, in what it claimed was one of the largest technology deals in UK retail.

Microsoft Azure now serves as the backbone of Asda’s digital infrastructure, enabling the retailer to modernise its operations and unlock new efficiencies across the business through tools including Azure Databricks, Microsoft Fabric and Copilot Studio.

However, the company has yet to see the results reach the bottom line.

Earlier this month, market research firm Worldpanel reported that the supermarket took £4.32bn in sales over the 12 weeks to January 25, compared with £4.49bn over the same period the year before.

The 3.7% fall in sales was worth £2m a day. Five years ago, Asda took £4.8bn in sales over the same period – nearly £6m a day more than it does now.

Asda lost out to traditional rivals as well as discounters Aldi and Lidl. The retailer is more than a year into what chairman Allan Leighton reckons will be a three-to-five-year revival mission.