Matalan steps up transformation with senior creative hire

Matalan has appointed Adele Pickering as its new Head of Creative Brand, where she will oversee creative brand execution across stores, digital, social and marketing.

Pickering brings more than 20 years of creative experience across fashion, home, beauty and lifestyle. Her previous roles include positions with Mango, NEXT and John Lewis. Most recently, she led the creative direction and transformation of M&S.com across fashion, home and beauty.

She will join Matalan in November. Her remit will cover major campaigns and targeted customer activity, with a focus on delivering a consistent brand experience across customer touchpoints.

Eilidh MacAskill, Marketing Director at Matalan, said: “I’m delighted to welcome Adele to Matalan. She brings extensive creative experience across some of the best-known fashion and lifestyle brands, and will add real strength to our team.

"We’ve made significant progress over the last year in strengthening our product, brand and customer experience. Adele will play an important role in building on that progress and making sure the Matalan brand shows up distinctively and consistently wherever our customers experience it."

Adele Pickering, incoming Head of Creative Brand at Matalan, added: "I’m really excited to be joining Matalan at such an important point in its evolution. It’s a brand with incredible heritage, scale and relevance, and there’s a real opportunity to build on the work already underway and bring the next chapter of Matalan to life for customers."

The appointment follows the launch of Matalan’s new brand platform, Believe It’s Matalan, earlier this month. It came after what Matalan describes as a year of “customer-led transformation”, during which it has introduced a clearer value proposition across its product, stores and digital experience.

Pickering’s appointment is also part of a wider series of senior changes at Matalan. These include former M&S Managing Director of Clothing, Home & Beauty Richard Price, who recently joined the business as an adviser, alongside the appointments of Angela Gaskell as Director of Sourcing, Purchasing, Quality & Fit and Jonty Wilson as Head of Quality & Technical earlier this year.