Icecream brand appoints Geraldine Van Der Merwe as national marketing manager as it looks to expand its presence in Australia
Baskin-Robbins has appointed a new marketing chief in Australia as it looks to build out its presence and revamp its customer loyalty program locally.
Geraldine Van Der Merwe joined the ice cream company this month as national marketing manager and was most recently the national marketing manager for Retail Food Group’s Michel’s Pattisserie. She has nearly 20 years’ experience in food retail, including a stint as senior marketing manager for development at Subway, and seven years with Tiger Brands.
She replaces Julian Casa, who has headed up marketing locally for Baskin-Robbins for three years and is relocating to the Northern Territory with his family.
In a statement announcing Van Der Merwe’s appointment, the company said it was planning to increase its store network by 25 per cent over the coming year as part of its ambitions to become Australia’s leading ice cream brand.
On Van Der Merwe’s priority list is shaking up and relaunching Baskin-Robbins’ Club 31 customer loyalty program, implementing an online ordering platform, and developing new strategies to drive localised marketing activities for its franchise partners.
The Club 31 loyalty program was launched in 2012 is currently a free card-based program that rewards customers with monthly discounts, competitions and personal offers. It was a replacement and enhancement of the previous Birthday Club and supported by a website redesign.
Related: 4 brands making customer loyalty programs work
Why Fitness First is dropping its customer loyalty program and turning to data
“Geraldine is an excellent addition to the Baskin-Robbins family,” said Australian general manager, David Jordan. “We’re currently in the process of growth and aim to increase our brand presence in existing and new markets.
“Geraldine’s extensive experience across food and retail will be highly beneficial as we move forward and she will play an important role in helping us achieve our goal to become Australia’s leading ice cream brand.”
Follow CMO on Twitter: @CMOAustralia, take part in the CMO Australia conversation on LinkedIn: CMO Australia, join us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CMOAustralia, or check us out on Google+: google.com/+CmoAu
Marketers have made strides this year in sustainability with the number of brands rallying behind the Not Business As Usual alliance for action against climate change being a sign of the times. While sustainability efforts have gained momentum this year, 2020 is shaping up to be the year brands are really held accountable for their work in this area.
As a Marketer, the ‘Scotty from Marketing’ meme troubles me.
Clients and agencies can get stuck into a particular way of behaving and viewing the world, but there are ways to break out of our marketing echo chamber.
In this bonus last episode of this new podcast series, BrandHook MD, Pip Stocks, talks with former ANZ group general manager of marketing, Louise Eyres, talks about the importance of thinking like a customer and using intuition to solve customer painpoints.
It's a good idea. Customers really should control their data. Now I understand why it's important.
Elvin Huntsberry
Salesforce CMO: Modern marketers have an obligation to give customers control of their data
Instagram changes algorithms every time you get used to them. It really pisses me off. What else pisses me off? The fact that Instagram d...
Nickwood
Instagram loses the like in Australia; industry reacts positively
I tried www.analisa.io to see my Instagram Insight
Dina Rahmawati
7 marketing technology predictions for 2016
The saying is pretty tongue in cheek. It's not saying that marketers are bad people, nor that they don't take themselves seriously. There...
LYF Solutions
The trouble with Scotty from Marketing - The CMO view - CMO Australia
Given Scotty's failed track-record in the marketing realm the memes and the ridicule is very apt and is in no way a reflection on marketi...
denysf
The trouble with Scotty from Marketing - The CMO view - CMO Australia