Asda appoints two interim marketing leads

Asda has appointed two interim marketing leads following the departure of vice-president of marketing Adam Zavalis announced earlier this week.

The grocer is in the process of recruiting for a new vice-president to lead its advertising, social, creative and design teams, the intention being for the role to oversee marketing strategy for both the Asda and George brands.

Having served as marketing director at Asda since October 2023, Pippa Prain will become interim senior director of marketing planning, propositions and operations, focused on providing end-to-end strategic leadership and co-ordination across the function. Prior to joining Asda, Prain served as chief brand officer at Pizza Hut UK and Europe.

Jen England will rejoin the grocer as interim senior director of marketing communications covering Asda’s advertising, social and design teams. England spent eight years at Asda between 2004 and 2012 in a variety of marketing roles, before spending 12 years at rival Morrisons, most recently as head of brand and marketing communications.

The interim appointments come after vice-president of marketing Adam Zavalis decided to depart to “pursue new opportunities”. This Friday (21 November) will be his last day in the business.

Zavalis joined Asda in November 2023 and was formerly customer marketing director at Aldi. There has been change at the top of the grocer’s marketing team in recent months, with Rachel Eyre joining as chief customer officer earlier in the year as David Hills left to become chief customer officer at Jet2.

Since joining Eyre has reshaped her team, recruiting Charlotte Rhodes as vice-president of own brand and Chris Chalmers as vice-president of customer data and loyalty.

The grocer is on a turnaround journey under returning chairman Allan Leighton after a 5.8% fall in sales caused its market share to drop to 12.5% last Christmas. Part of the turnaround has included the return of Rollback and the ‘Asda Price’ initiative in February.