Boots UK, the UK’s leading pharmacy-led health and beauty retailer, today announced the appointment of Pete Markey as Chief Marketing Officer (CMO), Boots UK & ROI. Pete will be responsible for the vision, leadership, strategic direction and performance of all Boots marketing activities and will report to Vineet Mehra, SVP, Global Chief Marketing Officer, WBA, and Chief Customer Officer, Walgreens.
An accomplished and experienced marketing leader, Pete brings with him a wealth of experience. He is currently CMO, TSB (part of the Spanish banking group Sabadell), where he is responsible for brand, data, analytics, communications, digital, content and sponsorship. He recently committed to rolling out the Adobe Experience Platform for the company. Alongside his role at TSB, Pete has been a passionate supporter of diversity and inclusion and was an Executive Sponsor for TSB’s multi-award winning inclusion network.
Prior to TSB, Pete was Brand Communications and Marketing Director, Aviva, where he led the marketing team in Aviva’s ‘Digital Garage,’ a technology and innovation hub for advanced data and analytics. While there, he also helped implement the Adobe Marketing Cloud as the business shifted towards a more data driven and digitally led marketing function. His previous roles also include Chief Marketing Officer, The Post Office, Chief Marketing Officer, RSA Group, and Head of Marketing Operations, One Tel.
Vineet Mehra said “I am delighted to welcome Pete to the team. Pete is a world-class marketeer, whose deep understanding of consumer analytics and innovative approach to engaging with customers will help take the Boots marketing approach to the next level. This is a pivotal role for Boots and his extensive experience will be invaluable as we seek to achieve our vision to become a truly modern, digitally native marketing organisation, while advancing our Mass Personalization strategy.”
As the Boots CMO, Pete will lead the strategic and creative marketing activities across the retailers’ customer facing channels. This includes the design and execution of iconic Boots brand experiences, the Boots Advantage Card loyalty program, the Boots multi-channel media strategy, and the overall execution of marketing plans across physical and digital touchpoints. In addition, Pete will be responsible for deploying the WBA partnership with Adobe and Microsoft announced earlier this year across the Boots marketing organisation, his previous experience in this arena brings extremely valuable knowledge. This partnership lays the cornerstone for delivering new customer experiences by connecting Boots customer data with Microsoft’s cloud-based data platform and Adobe’s Customer Experience Management solutions.
Pete joins Boots at a critical time, as WBA works to accelerate our digital transformation, build truly differentiated omnichannel healthcare and retail offerings for customers who no longer expect a “one-size-fits-all” approach. With consumer behavior changes greatly accelerated by COVID-19, WBA is investing in and relying on marketing leadership across its brands, including Boots, to create a singular, unified view of our customers – powered by modern technology platforms – to help create extraordinary experiences at every step of their journey with us.