Aldi bolsters UK marketing team with appointment of joint marketing director

Supermarket chain Aldi has appointed Krysten Halley as marketing director, following her stint in the same role at plant-based brand The Flavourists. She was previously head of brand for Ryvita.

Halley will work alongside fellow marketing director Jemma Townsend to jointly lead marketing and strategy at the discounter.

She will lead the chain’s brand campaigns and partnerships, including its flagship Team GB and ParalympicsGB tie-ups.

Halley’s appointment follows the departures of its previous marketing director Adam Zavalis in May and his co-marketing director Sean McGinty in December last year, who left to take up the top marketing job at Dunelm.

Both Halley and Townsend will report into group marketing and communications director Nick Ridley who took on the role in May. He took on the position following the departure of David Hills who left in February to join Asda as its chief customer officer.

Despite much movement internally at the supermarket, Aldi’s marketing has gone from strength to strength, with the team winning a number of awards, including Brand of the Year at the Marketing Week Awards in 2022.

Aldi scoops Brand of the Year accolade

Ridley says: “Kyrsten joins Jemma and the rest of our team at a time when we are achieving record growth in the grocery sector. Popularity and demand for Aldi has never been stronger, and the team has exciting plans for the rest of this year and into 2024.”

The discounter has also benefited from consumers feeling the pinch of the cost of living crisis, helping it overtake Morrisons last year to become the UK’s fourth largest supermarket. And it is still making gains.

The latest Kantar figures show Aldi is again the fastest growing retailer this month, with sales up 17.1% year on year, which it ascribes to 19 out of 20 shoppers remaining worried about the cost of their shopping.

In August, the brand’s overall market share was 10.2%, a record high for the company.