Asda has poached Morrisons chief customer and marketing officer Rachel Eyre – the former Sainsbury’s and Barclays executive – to be its new chief customer officer just weeks after completing its advertising and media agency review.
Eyre will succeed David Hills, who resigned from the role in March after just 18 months to join airline Jet2.
Within days, Asda confirmed it had appointed Lucky Generals to its advertising brief, replacing Havas London. In addition, Spark Foundry was retained as its media agency, continuing its 8-year partnership.
Eyre has been at Morrisons since September 2020; her remit has included customer insight, advertising, in-store and targeted marketing, as well as overseeing the customer services, local solutions and PR teams.
During her time at the supermarket, it has boosted its More card loyalty scheme, and expanded the Morrisons Media Group operated in partnership with SMG. The retailer’s advertising is handled by Leo Burnett.
Prior to Morrisons, Eyre worked at Sainsbury’s for five years, ultimately leading a team of 175, with an estimated marketing budget of £200m across the group, including Sainsbury’s, Argos, Tu and Habitat brands. Before that, she was head of marketing design and delivery at Barclays.
Asda executive chairman Allan Leighton said: “Rachel is an experienced leader with a strong track record in grocery retail and we are delighted to welcome her to Asda.
“She will play a pivotal role in ensuring that the customer voice is our driving purpose and demonstrating how Rollback and Asda Price are delivering good, honest value to them.”
Eyre added: “Asda is an iconic brand with a long heritage as a consumer champion. I look forward to working with Allan and the rest of the team to ensure the voice of the customer is the beating heart of Asda as we re-establish ourselves as the lowest-priced full service supermarket in the country.”
Meanwhile, Morrisons has recruited BP vice president for mobility and convenience Europe Claire Farrant to be its new group marketing director.
Farrant spent 18 years in the grocery sector including more than eight years as marketing director at Lidl UK and six years holding several senior roles at Tesco before joining BP. She will work closely with group data and media director Matt McLellan, who joined the supermarket chain from Asda.
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