Bríd Drohan-Stewart is a Marketer of the Year finalist in the YouTube NZ Marketing Awards 2025.
The winner will be announced on September 3.
Name: Bríd Drohan-Stewart
Job title: Director Brand & Marketing, Woolworths NZ
In a couple of sentences, sum up your career so far.
From Diet Coke ‘hunks’ in London – and the unforgettable day I shared a Coke with Dan Carter and Richie McCaw – it’s been a ride, that’s for sure. I like to think of it as a grand adventure, a winding path through the ever-evolving landscape of how brands connect with people. Think of it as learning the rhythm of the consumer’s heart, understanding what makes them reach for one product over another on a crowded shelf. From there, I dipped into the sizzling energy of QSR, where speed, consistency and an unforgettable experience were the name of the game. It was a baptism by fire, teaching me the immediate impact of every decision.
Then some time in the agency side – that’s where the creative sparks flew. It was about translating insights into compelling stories, crafting campaigns that not only sold products but built connections. But through it all, whether I was moving Cadbury chocolates or Coca-Cola, a fundamental truth emerged: it’s all about the customer.
Retail is great, no day is the same. Imagine walking the aisles, understanding the nuances of how a shopper navigates, what excites them, what earns their trust. For the past five years, I’ve had the immense privilege of leading the transformation of Countdown into Woolworths in New Zealand. It wasn’t just a name change, it was a complete recalibration – a journey to reignite ‘That Fresh Food Feeling’ in the hearts of our customers. Ultimately, for me, being a marketer isn’t just about campaigns, it’s about being a business leader who champions the customer at every turn.
The yardstick of success
How do you measure the success of a campaign?
There are a number of key business measures to understand how a campaign has performed, such as market share, sales, units and ultimately EBIT contribution. From a brand perspective, we measure how customers feel about what we do across the brand through our voice of the customer scores, a daily tracker of what customers experience and feel about shopping with us. Each campaign will have a VOC measure. We also have our monthly Net Promoter Score (NPS) which focuses on customer advocacy. The questions in the monthly survey cover overall shopping experience, value for money, brand relevance and meaningful communications. Brand NPS includes what customers experience, see and hear about our brand, resulting in their advocacy.
As we build the Woolworths brand in NZ our approach has been to ensure we are meaningful, different and salient and we have been using the Kantar MDS tracker to show how we are performing with each campaign. We measure meeting needs, affinity, being dynamic and having a unique offering.
Say hello to the other Marketer of the Year finalists 2025
Cath Brands
Dave Pearce
Fraser Shrimpton
Leanne Too
Matthew Pickering
PJ Morris
Susanne Hardy
Focus on sustainability
How do you incorporate eco-friendly practices in your marketing initiatives?
I am incredibly excited about the integral role eco-friendly practices and sustainability play in our work at Woolworths. These initiatives offer a powerful opportunity to craft a compelling product and business backstory for our customers. They allow us to highlight the positive impact we have on our communities and underscore our deep commitment to leaving the land in better shape for future generations – truly acting as guardians of this beautiful country. At Woolworths, our love for food is matched only by our profound dedication to nourishing the nation responsibly and sustainably. Who would have thought I could become deeply involved in product cold chain, ensuring we bring the very best quality food to our customers every day.
Food rescue
Food rescue is incredibly important to our sustainability work, and we have made enormous progress in reducing the food waste from our operations going to landfill. We want to see surplus, edible food go to people not landfill. In our just completed FY2025, Woolworths NZ donated more than 4,000 tonnes of safe, edible surplus food. That’s the equivalent of over eight million meals, valued at more than $18 million. In FY2025, Woolworths also contributed over $1 million (including customer donations) in operational grants to around 30 food rescue groups across Aotearoa, we helped kit out food rescue teams with uniforms, and donated trolley dash prizes for fundraising.
Support like this helps keep good food flowing to where it’s needed most – and strengthens the mahi of food rescue organisations across Aotearoa. One example of this is our support for the Kai Ika Project: twice a week a van collects unwanted fish heads and frames from our fish supplier Hilton Food and takes them for free distribution to the community in Māngere.
Kiwi kids
Our “Free Fruit for Kids” initiative at Woolworths New Zealand has now given away over 10 million pieces of fruit to Kiwi kids since 2015. This programme, which started as a pilot in East Auckland, is all about making healthy eating accessible and fun for children across Aotearoa. It’s fantastic to see the positive impact this has had, with over 1,400 tonnes of locally sourced fruit enjoyed by young shoppers.
Cage-free eggs
We have a commitment to be 100% cage free and we are really close to achieving this goal especially as we partner with egg farmers like Better Eggs. This is a great story we will communicate very soon.
How does Aotearoa rate?
On a scale of ‘deathly boring’ to ‘in a golden age’, where does Aotearoa sit when it comes to creativity?
Aotearoa’s advertising creativity currently resides firmly between ‘brave’ and ‘in a golden age’. While we consistently punch above our weight on the global stage, evident in our strong showing at Cannes with numerous Lions, there’s a tangible sense that we’re on the cusp of something even greater. New Zealand undoubtedly boasts some of the finest creative minds in the industry, individuals capable of crafting truly impactful and memorable campaigns.
The key to unlocking this potential golden age lies in empowering these creative ideas. Too often, brilliant concepts are diluted or watered down, hindering their ability to reach their full emotional and commercial impact. Clients play a crucial role here; a willingness to truly back bold, imaginative ideas is essential.
Furthermore, the art and craft of true storytelling in advertising needs to be re-elevated. In an increasingly fragmented media landscape, the power of a well-told story to forge emotional connections and foster brand love is more vital than ever. It’s about moving beyond mere product features and delving into narratives that resonate deeply with audiences.
Finally, as a small and agile nation, Aotearoa has historically been a technology leader. This provides a unique opportunity to trailblaze with artificial intelligence in advertising. Embracing AI, not just as a tool for efficiency but as a catalyst for new forms of creative expression and personalised storytelling, could become a significant differentiator for New Zealand on the global stage, truly ushering in a golden age of advertising creativity.
Good stuff, hard stuff
Biggest win this year?
I am very proud of how I changed our primary brand logo, our ‘Wicon’ Woolworths logo, to include a NZ Fern. This is the ultimate localisation of a brand to the communities we serve each day and it demonstrates we are here for New Zealand. The other was the development of our Christmas campaign with our “Carrot Grower” story which is a charming story of a young girl in Pōkeno caring for her reindeer carrots. It’s been one of the top performing pieces of storytelling we have delivered, and it was Woolworths’ first Christmas. The work has charm, is relatable, local and distinctively different – all the elements for success.
What are the most significant challenges for our industry at the moment?
Within the advertising industry, the prevailing sentiment is that AI will inevitably lead to significant cost efficiencies and a fundamental shift in traditional practices. While AI certainly offers transformative capabilities in marketing – providing unprecedented shortcuts and automations – its true value lies in empowering creative professionals to concentrate on innovative ideation. The critical challenge, however, will be to harness AI’s potential without inadvertently sacrificing brand charm and genuine emotional connection, which are vital for avoiding a purely transactional customer interaction. Similarly, in the retail sector, customer loyalty stands as the paramount challenge. In a marketplace saturated with choice, sustained relevance and authentic connection are essential for retaining the core consumer base.
Coming up
What’s next on your to-do list?
Continue to explore new avenues for our brand, making use of emerging technologies and fostering a culture of continuous improvement within our teams. By championing New Zealand’s unique strengths in innovation and creativity, I can further solidify our position as leaders in the industry and demonstrate the immense value our contributions bring to the broader Woolworths Group.
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