Sainsbury’s Bank names marketer

Sainsbury’s Bank has appointed its first marketing director after a nine-month search.

Kate Nicholson joins from Sainsbury’s, in a move that suggests the bank is keen to tie itself more closely to the core retail brand.

At Sainsbury’s, Nicholson oversaw the supermarket’s Jamie Oliver advertising campaign as senior manager for national advertising. More recently, she looked after the core supermarkets in the formats team. Her replacement is Dominic Rowles.

In her new role, Nicholson will report to chief executive Tim Pile and will work alongside customer insight director Tom Kerr, who looks after all below-the-line marketing and customer relationship management.

As head of the marketing team, Nicholson will be responsible for brand strategy, above-the-line advertising, products and communications for the bank.

Nicholson joined Sainsbury’s in July 2001 from Mars, where she was marketing manager on the Pedigree brand. Prior to Mars, Nicholson worked for three years as senior product manager at Ski Yoghurt, then part of Northern Foods.

Sainsbury’s Bank first advertised its products on television in January. The ads, created by Abbott Mead Vickers.BBDO, featured the face of Sainsbury’s supermarket advertising, Jamie Oliver. Nicholson says she has no plans to change this strategy: “Jamie Oliver is a fantastic character who is full of passion and he has worked very well for all Sainsbury’s brands.”