Sainsbury’s adds three top marketers

Sainsbury’s has appointed three top marketers to grow its brand, insight and category marketing teams.

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Mark Given, previous O2 head of sponsorship, will join as head of brand communications – a newly created role. He has previously held marketing roles at Heineken UK and Procter & Gamble.

Alex Owens, former Head of Strategy at Lloyds Banking Group, joins in January 2013 as head of insight. Owens has previously worked at Capital One, BSkyB, the BBC and Millward Brown.

Sophia Weir will also join in January as advertising and media category manager. Previously she was business director at media agency Mindshare. Weir has previously worked at Budweiser and Starcom MediaVest Group.

All three marketers will report to Sarah Warby, the former Heineken marketer who joined Sainsbury’s as marketing director in January to lead its 100-strong marketing team.
While not direct replacements, the new recruits will go some way to replacing the flurry of senior marketers who left last year.

Brand director Claire Harrison-Church, who oversaw the launch of the Live Well for Less brand positioning, left in February and was not directly replaced.

Rebecca Singleton, Sainsbury’s former head of non-food and fashion marketing, joined rival Morrisons as marketing director, while Jenny Bullis, former head of marketing operations and media left to join ITV.

Sainsbury’s is the only major supermarket yet to reveal its Christmas advertising campaign.

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