Zitcha continues its international expansion, launching operations in Europe with an office in London and appointing Darren Jacobs and Dan Sands as EMEA sales directors.
Lead image: Troy Townsend, Zitcha CEO
Zitcha’s retail media platform integrates on-site, off-site, and in-store assets and is already empowering retailers across seven countries, including Coles Group (Australia), The Warehouse Group (New Zealand), Peavey Mart (Canada), and Axonet (US). It’s also trusted by global brands, including Unilever, Fisher & Paykel, and Microsoft.
The European retail media market is maturing quickly as retailers and brands look for omnichannel solutions to unify their existing offerings and streamline their operations to capitalise on digital advertising’s third wave. In Western Europe, retail media is expected to peak in the UK, where eMarketer predicts ad spending is set to almost double from US$4 billion in 2024 to US$7.91 billion by 2027.
“We’ve had a lot of conversations with major players in the UK/EMEA market for the past 6-12 months and see it as mature and innovative with a cast of really great retail media networks. We already have partners and runs on the board in the UK and I believe the growth for our solution, and its ability to scale brand and retail businesses, is compelling,” said Troy Townsend, Zitcha CEO.
“We’re so excited to already be working with leaders in this space and now welcome the wealth of experience both Darren and Dan bring. Their knowledge will be exceptional in helping set the tone and culture for Zitcha in the UK. Expect more in the near future as we see Europe as a critical region for us”.
Dan Sands has been at the forefront of retail media as EMEA sales director for CitrusAds, where he worked with retailers to create a unified retail media offering. Joining Zitcha with over a decade working in retail, Sands supports brands and retailers globally to optimise how they engage shoppers. Most recently he was the EMEA director of retail partnerships at Firework, and prior to that he held multiple leadership positions at Nielsen Brandbank, working with retailers such as Carrefour, Tesco, Sainsbury and Loblaws, alongside the world’s largest CPGs, to effectively create, manage, measure and optimise product content.
“Offering the full gamut of omnichannel features, Zitcha helps retailers in a way which no other retail media platform can. From retail media networks, joint business planning into the actual delivery of assets we cover everything across in-store, onsite and offsite. Zitcha can even support retailers with no retail media network who need an expert to guide and consult on best practice. It’s the channel with the most excitement around it right now, and we’ll be here for all European retailers and brands to build on those expectations within the sector,” said Sands.
Darren Jacobs spent the best part of two decades honing his sales craft across multiple markets, including the UK, Singapore and Australia, working for Dennis Publishing, Yahoo, iClick, Nugit and Shuttlerock. The latter three were global sales leadership roles with a focus on go to market and building teams in multiple markets. In this time he’s worked with all the major media agency networks, plus directly with global brands and partners such as Nestle, P&G, Unilever, Kellogg’s, Diageo, Stellantis, Ford, Meta and TikTok.
“Zitcha is genuinely a one-stop-platform for brands and retailers. Retail media provides so much opportunity and is the fastest-growing advertising sector. It’s grown rapidly and with Zitcha’s European arrival, that’s only set to act as a further catalyst for maturation as retailers can harness the platform’s power across markets and buy retail media across multiple retail media networks on a single platform,” said Jacobs.
