Tesco Mobile appoints O2 marketer as CMO

Tesco Mobile has appointed O2’s head of brand, marketing and experience Simon Groves as its chief marketing officer.

Tesco Mobile 2011 ad
A still from Tesco Mobile’s 2011 TV campaign.

Groves will be responsible for all customer facing marketing activities and driving revenue, profit, service levels and growing Tesco Mobile’s customer base. He will report into Tesco Mobile CEO Roger Fogg.

Tesco Mobile is a joint venture between Tesco and O2, which launched in 2003 and has since become the UK’s largest MNVO (mobile virtual network operator).

At O2, Groves reported into marketing director Sally Cowdry and was responsible for building a “user experience design centre of excellence” for the brand as well as helping to develop the UK marketing and customer experience strategies.

O2 is currently recruiting for his replacement.

At Tesco Mobile, Groves directly replaces David Taylor, who returned to O2 to become its managing director for M2M (machine-to-machine) in October. Taylor was O2’s head of consumer marketing between 2005 and 2007.

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