Woolworths launches stand-alone media business with Mike Tyquin at the helm
One of Australia’s biggest retail brands, Woolworths, is launching its own standalone media business “to ensure supplier partners are able to better communicate and engage with customers along the path to purchase”.
Woolworths said Cartology – which will be spearheaded by former Adshel CEO Mike Tyquin – will “progressively replace the existing media selling model and arrangement” currently used by the brand for its owned media assets. The brand confirmed it will continue to work with Dentsu Aegis Network’s bespoke agency Woolworths@DAN. 
Woolworths@DAN is based in Sydney, and was led by former Carat chief digital officer Sarah James, before she departed to become MD of Initiative Melbourne.
Woolworths said Cartology has been established to provide a more streamlined approach for suppliers to better communicate with customers via in-store, digital and other media assets.
Tyqin – who departed Adshel after its sale to Ooh Media was completed last year – will take on the role of managing director, while 35-year Woolworths veteran Rod Evenden has taken on the role of general manager of operations.
Brad Banducci, Woolworths Group CEO, said the duo would ensure the new business arm delivered.
“Having led some of Australia’s leading media operators, Mike brings with him a wealth of knowledge in media strategy and developing customer-facing technologies and channels,” he said. “Along with Rod’s extensive experience in marketing operations and connections within our business, we believe we have a leadership team that is well placed to spearhead a business to deliver on the future communications needs of our partners.”
Tyquin is back in business
He added that the brand was looking forward to working closely with suppliers and the industry to further innovate in the retail media landscape. Big retail brands, he noted, can become media behemoths in their own right.
“At Woolworths, we know in order to continue to grow our business in the future, we need to better connect our customers in a relevant and engaging way with our brands and the products we sell.
“We’ve been watching closely how other large-scale retail businesses internationally are better engaging customers along the path to purchase. Many are now leveraging new digital and data technologies to become major media businesses in their own right.
“In Australia, we are well placed to provide a platform for our suppliers to engage potential customers with close to a billion searches to our website for food and drinks in the past year alone. We also know our suppliers are looking for simplified ways to engage with customers.”
The name Cartology refers “to the science of retail media, combining the cart, as used by customers instore and online, with the in-depth delivery of measurement of media effectiveness”, Woolworths said.
Cartology team members will be joining from TMS Australia, MediaHub and Quantium 1:1, which all current work with suppliers on media across the Woolworths Group.
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Hhmmm,
Absolutely brilliant choice in Mike Tyquin to head the new business up. He is a smart operator and strong leader – will very much take the business places. Well done!
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Sounds like a privacy nightmare for Everyday Rewards & other Woolies members.
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everyday rewards data is already being sold off anyways to Quantium so not much difference
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Hope it goes better than Masters. And Big W
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That’s cute you think that data isn’t already being sold.
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