Former Heinz VP of brands to head The Light Agency

Heinz’s former vice-president of brands Scott Garrett has joined mobile marketing company The Light Agency as chief executive.

Garrett, who starts this week, has been briefed to grow the 20-strong company behind mobile phone-based customer loyalty scheme Shop Scan Save.

He left Heinz earlier this year, following the company’s decision to freeze its &£25m advertising budget, as exclusively revealed in Marketing Week (July 21).

The likes of Unilever and Masterfoods signed up to Shop Scan Save when it launched in June last year and have since been joined by Procter & Gamble.

The scheme enables shoppers to receive money-saving offers to their mobile phones by text message, which can then be redeemed at a shop till using a barcode on their mobile phone screen.

Shop Scan Save uses m-bar-go technology, which was invented by Light Agency founder Marc Lewis. He has been chief executive of The Light Agency, but will become chairman now that Garrett is on board.

Lewis says: “We have a fantastically innovative business, but I wanted to bring in someone with the right skills to manage the opportunities we have. I’m a creative, not a businessman. Scott is a proven business leader.”

Garrett started his career at Saatchi & Saatchi before moving to J Walter Thompson and later to Leo Burnett. He left Heinz in August without a job to go to.

He says: “Mobile is an exciting area to be in and it’s nice to be joining a company with the sole objective of growing it without being subject to the constraints of a large multinational.”