Ed Child, global head consumer data and digital analytics, Costa Coffee

What has been your path to power?

I’m a proud geographer and my degree led me to my first data role building location planning models for Exxon-Mobil in European markets. This was a great basis for looking at the many different ways data can be applied to drive value. After various roles in finance and building up knowledge in digital/CRM, I got the opportunity to join Asda and drive data/analytics capability from scratch at an exciting time of e-commerce growth. This gave a great basis for building data and analytics teams and expanding our remit into single consumer views and marketing effectiveness.

I got the opportunity to move to Walmart US and continued to drive the data agenda, demonstrating the power of data to one of the world’s largest retailers. I then moved over to e-commerce, driving enterprise data strategy at Studio Retail Group at an exciting time of their growth.

I now have my most exciting role, driving the data opportunities for Costa Coffee globally. It’s such an amazing brand, with some great loyalty data assets and operations in over 35 countries globally. No day is the same and, backed by Coca-Cola, we’re in a unique position to show the power of data to drive fantastic coffee experiences around the globe!