Tony Phillips leaves the supermarket giant after being appointed its first chief marketing officer last March
Woolworth has confirmed the immediate departure of its first CMO, Tony Phillips, after just one year in the role.
According to a statement from the supermarket giant, his sudden exit comes in the midst of a strategic review of its marketing functions and brand direction aimed at improving its customer engagement and services.
Current head of marketing for Woolworths Liquor Group, Andrew Hicks, will take over as interim CMO while a permanent replacement is found.
On 22 May, just days after Phillips' exit was announced, Woolworths also confimed its director of customer experience, Jess Gill, would depart after three years with the supermarket group and one year in the customer chief's role.
Woolworths has now stated that end-to-end brand control will all be placed in the hands of the next CMO, suggesting Gill will not be directly replaced.
Woolworths released details of a three-year turnaround plan last week aimed at helping reposition the business as a customer-led organisation. The strategy is based around three pillars: Improving the core offer, innovating products and services to better meet customer needs, and initiating new efficiencies.
These new efficiencies have already seen the departure of hundreds of staff and will result in a further 400 full-time positions go.
Related: CMO Interview: Tony Phillips talks cheap cheap, brand strategy and marketing
The news also comes weeks after Woolworths suffered a social media backlash for its Anzac Day campaign, which was subsequently withdrawn.
“We are proud of the work Tony has done in the past 12 months, including the reintroduction of the iconic fresh food people brand and the introduction of ‘Cheap cheap’, which has improved our price perception in the market,” the company said in a statement confirming his departure.
“We are undertaking a strategic review of our marketing functions and our brand direction as we refocus on getting our customers to put Woolworths first every time they shop.”
Phillips was Woolworths’ first-ever CMO, joining the organisation from its rival, Coles, where he held various marketing roles.
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
The faith people have in brands creates opportunity for those brands to become trusted advisors. In turn, this builds success by increasing the brand’s profile, letting it broaden its product offering and driving stronger customer loyalty.
The push to start new businesses continues. In Q1 2017, the number of seed and angel deals increased by 1.4 per cent compared to Q1 2016.
When we read articles about the need for increased diversity in marketing land, it is often through the lens of gender.
A business that cares about its customers is an easy thing to say; it’s much harder to do.
Educational activities is always a prestigious approaches in taking time for the smoother operational planning to implement in the long r...
ikuyo
Save the Children's marketing chief swaps not-for-profit for education
We all know that digital marketing in order to promote a brand, products and services is by the use of electronic media. The evolution of...
Helaina Berry
Predictions: 17 digital marketing trends for 2017
Interesting insight, well explained and the examples are just apt.Thanks for sharing!
FreshMindIdeas
The politics of branding - Brand science - CMO Australia
When the world that we live in floods with gigabytes of content every day, we have to learn to be selective about it. Such educational we...
Paulina Cameron
ADMA launches education program to tackle viewability, ad fraud and brand safety
Hi, i am an Aistralian ALK patient, been on xalkori dec 13 to oct 15 and achieved remission of disease, since been on Ceritinib until no...
gary packer
Pfizer Australia adopts AI-powered digital analyst tool for sales and marketing decision making