Group managing director: customer, Tesco
Becky Brock joined Tesco in last year as group customer director, before being promoted to managing director for customer in June. She is on a mission to elevate the brand’s customer-centricity, engineering a cultural shift to make all activities within the business customer-focused.
She’s also doubled down on optimising data and insights from the Tesco Clubcard loyalty scheme, which turned 30 this year. Used by 23.7 million UK households, Brock dubs Clubcard “the fuel that powers Tesco” and has consciously improved internal capabilities around personalisation and data science to unlock that power.
That’s alongside refinements to the supermarket’s overall digital presence, with tweaks to achieve better in-app UX and a more digitally integrated marketing function.
The work is paying off. In August, Tesco achieved its largest monthly share gain since December 2024, rising 0.8 percentage points to 28.4%, driven by sales growth of 7.4%, according to Worldpanel by Numerator data.
The retailer’s UK brand perception increased 185 basis points year-on-year in April, with reputation up 282 basis points, value up 242 basis points and quality up 123 basis points. Tesco also achieved its highest Net Promoter Score for five years.
Chief customer officer, Waitrose
Waitrose is enjoying a stellar 2025, with sales surpassing £4bn in the first half for the first time, driven by a 3% rise in volumes.
Under Ansell’s leadership, the grocer notched up record customer satisfaction scores during the first half of the year too, plus 9% more people are shopping with Waitrose than they were two years ago.
The grocer’s sales grew faster than its rivals for a fourth consecutive month in August, with improved customer service cited as a key factor, according to NIQ Scantrack data.
As well as lowering hundreds of prices on own-label products, Ansell has also overseen a conscious switch to more modern media channels. Boasting a 40% year-on-year increase in social media reach as of 2024, Waitrose is partnering with social media influencers such as TV personality Sam Thompson, whose post for the retailer’s Valentine’s Day campaign garnered 32 million views.
Waitrose runs its own foodie podcast, The Dish, which is presented by TV presenter Nick Grimshaw and Michelin-starred chef Angela Hartnett, and reaches a reported 8 million listeners every week. Ansell’s team also continue to explore strategic TV tie-ups, including with Channel 4’s The Great British Bake Off.
Nathan Ansell
Becky
Brock
Chief technology, data and marketing officer, Sainsbury’s
After 12 years at Sainsbury’s and nearly six as CMO, Mark Given was promoted to the newly created role of chief technology, data and marketing officer in August.
With operating board responsibility for technology alongside marketing and data, Given’s expanded role “reflects the strategic importance of technology and AI in delivering outstanding customer experience”, according to Sainsbury’s.
Central to Given’s remit is growing the supermarket’s data and analytics function, as the retailer looks to expand its personalisation capability. Sainsbury’s has already strengthened its Nectar Prices offering, which spans more than 9,000 products, with over 1 million customers accessing personalised savings each week.
Communicating value has been a key focus, helping Sainsbury’s achieve its highest market share gains in more than a decade in the year to 1 March 2025. The retailer’s value perceptions have also grown 370 basis points over the past four years, with quality perceptions up 200 basis points.
The number of primary customers – who purchase from Sainsbury’s as their main shop – has risen 18% in the past four years. Nearly 20% of “big basket” customers over Christmas were entirely new to the supermarket.
CMO, Burger King UK
Joshua Kobza, the CEO of Burger King’s parent company Restaurant Brands International, has drawn a line between the chain’s marketing effectiveness and its commercial success. He stated last year that when Burger King gets its “marketing right” and focuses on its core product, the Whopper, it tends to do “really well”. Then in February, he praised the “solid” growth delivered by the UK, noting plenty of “headroom” for the brand to go further.
Leading that charge is UK CMO Katie Evans, who has been with the chain since 2018.
Despite boasting 98% awareness, she describes Burger King as a challenger. A big advocate of acting outside the category norms, Evans believes “creative bravery” is essential.
To raise awareness of its delivery proposition, but without the budget to run a TV ad, Burger King launched its social-first ‘Bundles of Joy’ campaign last year, which shows new mums tucking into a post-birth burger. The ad won several awards, including a Silver Lion in the outdoor category at the 2025 Cannes Lions Festival.
Value has also been a big focus for Burger King under Evans’ leadership, with deals like the £3 ‘Whopper Wednesday’ available via its loyalty app helping to attract customers.
Katie
Evans
Mark Given
Marketing director, Aldi UK
Aldi continues to go from strength to strength, securing its position as a favourite among value-hungry UK shoppers.
As co-marketing director, a role she’s shared with Jemma Townsend since 2023, Halley led on the supermarket’s most successful Christmas campaign to date. The 2024 iteration of Aldi’s long-standing Kevin the Carrot series contributed to record-breaking sales and engagement. The grocer’s premium own-brand range was a big contributor to success, with sales up 12% compared to the previous year, leading to Aldi generating £1.6bn over the four weeks to Christmas Eve.
The discounter also passed another milestone, overtaking Asda to become the UK’s third largest food and drinks retailer for a four-week period from February to March this year, according to Kantar data.
Fourth in terms of overall market share at 10.7%, Worldpanel by Numerator figures show Aldi’s sales rose by 4.7% in the 12 weeks to 7 September. The discounter is closing in on Asda in third place, which saw its market share dip to 11.8%.
Halley believes Aldi’s marketing has succeeded in doing the basics exceptionally well – knowing the customer, understanding why the brand is relevant and seeing where it can “spike”.
Marketing director, Lidl GB
After eight years at Lidl, most recently as head of campaigns and media, Joanna Gomer was promoted to GB marketing director in 2023.
During her time at the discounter, she has headed up several key campaigns and is credited with having led Lidl’s successful partnership with the FA.
Described by the business as “an expert at putting the customer at the heart of everything”, Gomer has focused on meeting shoppers where they are. In February, Lidl became the first supermarket to launch on TikTok Shop, testing the water with a limited drop of protein bundles.
Gomer helped steer the retailer to a record-breaking Christmas. Having welcomed almost 2 million more customers through its doors and a 7% year-on-year rise in festive sales, Lidl achieved more than £1bn in turnover during the four weeks to 24 December.
The retailer is edging ever closer to overtaking Morrisons as the UK’s fifth largest supermarket. It was the second fastest growing grocer in September, recording an 11% uptick in sales, according to Worldpanel by Numerator figures. The retailer’s market share currently stands at 8.2%, with Morrisons hovering narrowly above at 8.4%.
Joanna Gomer
Kyrsten
Halley
CMO, Wingstop
Looking to make the most of Britain’s chicken wings boom, Wingstop appointed Dirujan Sabesan as its first UK CMO in 2024. Having worked with the chain since 2018 as the founder of its agency partner, Creative Nerds, he took on the role of head of partnerships and social marketing on a contract basis. After generating “remarkable” results in those roles, he was asked to join the business full time.
Sabesan’s appointment came as the restaurant chain, which has over 50 locations and was named by The Sunday Times as the UK’s “fastest growing restaurant group” for two consecutive years, looks to inject even further momentum into its growth. Wingstop is aiming to reach 200 sites within the next five years, meaning it would almost quadruple its current store estate.
The brand won’t be building its footprint and awareness with big flashy TV ads, though. Sabesan’s focus then and now is on user-generated content on platforms like TikTok, where creators provide genuine reviews and recommendations for Wingstop’s food. It’s a strategy that has already seen the chain build credibility in youth culture, as it looks to become the “JD Sports of chicken wings”.
Chief membership and customer officer, Co-op
When Co-op found itself caught up in a high-profile cyber-attack earlier this year, the retailer relied on clear, consistent and proactive communications. One man who prides himself on clarity is the brand’s chief membership and customer officer, Kenyatte Nelson, who describes his ability to “oversimplify” as a “superpower”. As well as helping the Co-op effectively communicate with customers, Nelson has built strong relationships with senior management and member owners during his nearly three years with the retailer.
Improving value perceptions has been a big focus for the business, which has invested almost £170m in lowering prices over the past two years. As part of this effort, Co-op launched its Aldi price match on over 100 everyday essentials in March. Nelson is also responsible for launching a new first-party data solution designed to reframe its retail media business and the ‘Owned by You, Right by You’ platform, which boosted membership by 20% in the first half of 2024 alone.
The grocer reported that its active membership base was up 22% to 6.2 million people in April, including a 66% increase in new members aged 25 and under. This all means Co-op is on track to boost membership to 8 million by 2030.
Kenyatte
Nelson
Dirujan
Sabesan
Customer and marketing director, Greggs
As Greggs customer and marketing director Hannah Squirrell told audiences at Marketing Week’s Festival of Marketing last year, turning the sausage roll retailer into the “customer’s favourite food on-the-go destination” has been a multi-pronged effort, built around increasing physical availability, stepping up innovation and driving mental availability.
Squirrell and the team have added more outlets, built a presence on delivery apps and unveiled innovation designed to make foodie trends accessible - Greggs now famous vegan sausage roll is a prime example.
The brand has also had plenty of fun with marketing, teaming up with Nigella Lawson for its first-ever Christmas ad in 2024 and planning a range of provocative PR stunts, including a limited-edition tie-up with KFC for its Gravy Meets Pastry Sharing Bucket, and teaming up with Icon for a range of Greggs-themed cushions and bean bags.
Greggs' first half sales rose 7% to £1.02bn, with operating profit hitting £70.4m. It is the UK’s leading food-to-go brand, according to YouGov BrandIndex figures from June, with a “sector-leading” reputation for value. Meanwhile, it claims expanded availability and menu innovation are helping it continue to meet and surpass customer expectations.
CMO, KFC UK
Monica Silic has clearly found alignment with restaurant company Yum! Brands, having worked for its KFC and Taco Bell brands since 2009. She took on the UK CMO role for KFC in October 2023 at a time when competition in the fried chicken sector has never been fiercer. Her goal coming in has been to elevate the brand “up and out” of the category.
To ensure the fast-food chain does just that, she has been working to cement KFC’s brand codes and build a "very distinctive KFC brand world". As part of this effort, KFC launched its ‘Believe in Chicken’ platform last year, which led to an uplift in brand health metrics. The chain’s consideration, quality, value and index score (a measure of overall brand health) among 18- to 34-year-olds have all increased since the platform’s launch, according to YouGov's BrandIndex.
KFC’s UK sales rose 5% year-on-year in the three months to 30 June, with Yum Brands! CEO David Gibbs calling out successful product launches and “strategic cultural partnerships”, including a tie-up with the UK’s largest free music festival Limitless Live, as all working well for the brand.
The next step for KFC is upgrading hundreds of its restaurants and expanding its footprint, all part of a £1.5bn investment over the next five years.
Monica Silic
Hannah
Squirrell
new
food & drink retail
Maria Novell
Teresa Parker
Claire Sadler
Nick
Wright
new
new
re-entry
new
new
new
Sian Hartstill
Anthony
Newman
Philip Almond
Simon Beresford
Warren Fiveash
Rosalind Goates
TRAVEL, LEISURE & sport
PROFESSIONAL SERVICES, UTILITIES, HEALTH & LIFE SCIENCES
Media, telecoms & entertainment
GENERAL RETAIL
FOOD & DRINK RETAIL
Food & drink
FMCG
FINANCIAL SERVICES
Consumer tech, property & automotive
Charities & not-for-profit
analysis
methodology
judges
