As Coles 360 enters its second year with a clear and confident strategy, the retail media business is attracting top tier talent to boost its product and measuring capabilities.
Former REA Group Head of Product, Elle Hassett, joined Coles 360 last month in a newly created Head of Product and Platforms position.
This month, Coles 360 welcomes Andy Ford, a former Meta Director of Marketing Science, who will head up the Coles 360 data Intelligence and measurement function.
Coles 360 General Manager Paul Brooks is thrilled to welcome Ms Hassett and Mr Ford to his dynamic team.
“Our strategy is focused on driving innovation in the digital space and leading the industry from a total business, product, and measurement perspective. So, building out the team with talent like Elle and Andy will allow us to amplify this objective,” Mr Brooks said.
“Our second year of Coles 360 is all about delivering unique, impactful and measurable omni-channel media solutions and then making sure we can deliver consistent and standardised measurement that our suppliers can trust. Having the right people driving these areas of the business is imperative.”
Whilst at REA Group, Ms Hassett led the biggest product portfolio; the Residential Property Advertising portfolio. This portfolio included a product called AMAX, an AdTech product that allowed them to harness the power of first-party data across off-network platforms; driving customer engagement. Previous, to that she held senior product roles at Australia Post and Swinburne University.
“Elle will be instrumental to driving our product strategy and roadmap to ensure we are delivering enhancement and innovations at every point of the customer journey,” Mr Brooks said.
Ms Hassett says is excited to be starting at Coles 360 and to work closely with suppliers.
“I want to spend the time to understand their needs and then collaborate with the incredible Coles 360 team to bring new opportunities to life. Ultimately, I want to help suppliers connect with our massive audience and help them drive their goals; be that improved sales or increased brand exposure,” she said.
Mr Ford joins Coles 360 as Head of Data Intelligence and Measurement following nearly a decade at Meta where he was Director of Marketing Science. At Meta, Mr Ford transformed the Marketing Science function whilst leading APAC and global initiatives to achieve better results for clients through pushing for better measurement standards.
“Andy is an incredibly exciting appointment for us. He’s an industry expert in cross-channel ads measurement and he’s also not afraid to push industry boundaries of integrating multiple solutions into a holistic measurement system. Which is why he is the perfect person to lead our data intelligence and measurement function as we move towards market leading media attribution and closed-loop reporting,” Mr Brooks said.
Mr Ford is looking forward to working at Coles which is one of the most trusted brands in Australia.
“Retail media is a fast growing and exciting industry, combining that with a company that truly values measurement is a hugely appealing proposition. I can’t wait to start helping advertisers get the best from what Coles 360 offers,” he said.
