After 16 years at Woolworths and five years as CMO, Andrew Hicks is hanging up his hat and will step down from one of the largest marketing jobs in the country.

Hicks finishes up as full-time CMO on 30 June 2025 but will remain in a consulting capacity to the ASX-listed supermarket giant as a brand and strategic advisor while he seeks out his new professional venture.

It is understood Hicks does not have his new job lined up, but instead plans to review his local and global options before making his next professional step.

Hicks was lured from South Africa by Woolworths, joining Dan Murphy’s first in 2009, before rising to general manager of marketing for the Woolworths Liquor Group in 2012. He was then promoted to director of marketing for the Woolworths Group plus Supermarkets in November 2015, and took a pivotal role in the turnaround of the Woolworths brand and its brand platform, ‘That’s why I pick Woolies’ in 2016/2017.

Hicks joined the group executive team 10 years ago, then attained the title of CMO in August 2019. As well as group marketing oversight, the role also includes both brand and reputation team management for the entire retail group. 

In a statement to Mi3, Hicks said he felt the time was right to make his next career step. It is understood he made the decision several months ago but that the news was only being announced internally today.

 “It has been an enormous privilege to have been a part of the leadership team at Woolworths Group and to have been trusted with the opportunity to guide and grow such an iconic portfolio of brands,” Hicks said.

Hicks is one of the most respected marketing leaders in the country, and was twice recognised in the former CMO50 program top 10 in 2020 and 2022.

In an internal note sighted by Mi3, Woolworths CEO Amanda Bardwell said Hicks’ strategic, creative and leadership skills have had an impact in a wide variety of ways including the Group’s response to Covid, award-winning marketing campaigns and helping to set up Cartology.

“Andrew has been instrumental in establishing our Woolworths Group Brand including our Group purpose of creating better experiences together for a better tomorrow. Most recently Andrew’s keen sense of our customers' needs has been invaluable as we reassert our focus on value,” Bardwell said.

She noted the immense value that the ‘Thats why I pick Woolies’ brand platform, along with the work led by Hicks to transform the BWS brand and extend Dan Murphy’s lead, have added to the Woolworths business.

Hicks pointed to the variety of his career at Woolworths as one of the key reasons for his long tenure.

“I’ve been fortunate enough to have had a variety of leadership roles across drinks, food and group and there’s always been so much to learn and do in such an innovative customer-focused organisation. It has been really rewarding to build brands that serve 22 million Australians every week,” he commented.

“There are so many highlights across Dan Murphy’s, BWS, Big W and the Group but the turnaround of Woolworths in 2016/2017 was a particular career highlight. It was so exciting to see customers respond so positively and quickly to the launch of the ‘That’s why I pick Woolies’ brand platform and the team’s efforts rewarded by achieving Brand of The Year.”

While he’s stepping down as CMO in June, Bardwell said Hicks will support both her and CustomerX MD Jane Danziger,  as the pair plot out strategies for CustomerX and the Group for FY26 and beyond.

“As Woolworths Group continues on its transformation, we are fortunate that Andrew, given his deep knowledge and understanding of Woolworths, our brand, and our customers has agreed to support me as a Strategic Brand Consultant whilst he explores the next steps in his career,” Bartwell said.  

“Andrew has always led with care, purpose and creativity. We’d like to thank Andrew for his many years of support, the significant cultural change he has impacted, and for his keen insights, humour and the heartfelt customer focus he brought to our business.”

Hicks also took the opportunity to thank his team. “I have been privileged to have been surrounded by such a talented and committed Brand and Marketing team including our agency partners. Together, we established the innovative Greenhouse agency model and celebrated collectively as Marketing Team of the Year,” he said.

“I wanted to express my gratitude to the team for striving for excellence every day and for the camaraderie over the years.”

It is understood Woolworths has yet to start an executive search for Hicks replacement.

M&C Saatchi APAC CEO, Justin Graham, who has worked closely with Hicks for years, reflected on the partner through his various leadership roles across the Woolworths Group.

"His passion for the customer and belief in creativity has been inspirational for all of us. His list of achievements is long and recognition is well deserved. From the launch of ‘That’s why I pick Woolies’ to the highly awarded Woolworths Paris Olympic work and the recent focus on customer value, he leads with care, passion and integrity," Graham told Mi3. "He has created enormous value for the brands he has led and frankly has made M&C Saatchi a better agency as a driving force of our bespoke partnership model. I wish him all the best for this next exciting chapter."

Marketing and brand as evolution

Hicks’ approach to marketing leadership exuded both consistency and evolution was evident through his tenure. One of the key milestones earning Hicks 7^th position in the former CMO50 2022 for example, was a new chapter in the 30-year-old ‘The Fresh Food People’ by adding the moniker, ‘Today’s Fresh Food People’ in 2021.

Based on extensive customer listening, research and collaboration with long-term partners at House of Brands and within the Greenhouse, Woolworths’ bespoke joint agency model with M&C Saatchi, Today’s Fresh Food People is about putting customers' current and future priorities at the forefront. It’s supported by Woolworths’ ambition to be the country’s most loved and trusted brand.

With Fresh still at the core, five defined customer propositions helped make sense of Today’s Fresh Food People: Celebrating Australian Fresh, Making Healthier Easier, Growing Greener, Caring for all Australians, and Shopping your Way – with Get your Woolies Worth, the company’s proprietary value platform.

“This is a recommitment to our most powerful brand asset and, with the addition of ‘Today’s’, an overt reimagining to help support the conversion of passive brand advocates into promoters. It’s about fundamentally shifting what customers understand Woolworths to stand for, reinterpreted for a modern context,” Hicks said at the time.

“This was an important shift putting the brand team at the heart of commercial decision-making around new product development and what products went on promotion during the key seasonal periods.”

Woolworths’ Australian Food sales also saw the result, increasing 4.5 per cent in FY22, with above-market growth in every quarter of the year, coupled with strong market share growth.