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Tor Powell, Senior Insight Manager, Superdrug

Describe your career to date 

I have been lucky to work in some of the leading companies in their sector but it’s never been about industry for me, more about the role and the brand. I started out as a commercial analyst, before being lured into a marketing analytics role for consumer rights champion Which?, where I focused on acquisition and retention to the magazine. I was quickly promoted to a senior analyst position, where I was able to mentor junior members of the team. 

 

After a short spell at Mills & Boon, I was invited to interview at Cancer Research UK, where I spent eight years managing the insight function and working with marketing teams to help target supporters to donate to the charity or invite to take part in events. 

 

I then moved into publishing and became a senior insight consultant at Penguin Random House. The challenge was to drive the data strategy and feed data into the decision-making process. 

 

After three years, I was approached to take on my current role at Superdrug, where I have been in for the past six years. To some, six years may seem like a long time in the same position, but so much has changed in that time and the team has tripled in size as we’ve increased the revenue generated through insights and extended our support across the business. 

Tell us about the data and analytics resources you are responsible for

I manage a team of 15 analysts made up of insight managers, analysts and research specialists. I directly manage the insight managers and soon to be appointed insight project manager. As a team we are responsible for delivering insights to the business from the data derived from the 16 million members of our Health & Beauty loyalty scheme, which we enhance with market and consumer research. We present back the insights, along with the opportunities, and work with stakeholders to drive action off the back of them. We also work directly with our suppliers, generating bespoke insight packs which set out the opportunities for the brands to grow in Superdrug.

 

Tell us about any ambitions you have in terms of becoming a data leader

My ambition is absolutely to become a data leader. I truly believe that as someone who has worked my way up through the analysts ranks, I have developed a strong sense of what an insight team needs to succeed. I understand the challenges that analysts face, as I have faced them myself. I feel passionate about leading a team that is empowered to take ownership of their work, is recognised for what they do, they see the impact they make and feel part of the success of the business. 

What key skills or attributes do you consider will be essential to your success in this role? 

I think success comes from the structure and ways of working we have in place, which I have developed over the years. These have been built collaboratively with input from everyone who has passed through the team. It’s this collaborative approach which underpins everything we do in the team. 

 

How did you develop – and continue to develop – your current skills or attributes? 

I’ve spent my career managing, developing, and supporting a diverse and incredible set of individuals which has evolved my management skills. This has driven my collaborative approach within my current team as I want to continuously learn from each other as we work through challenges together. In terms of the technical skills, while I have limited capacity to get my hands dirty with the data these days, I can’t help myself sometimes. I guess that’s the analyst in me.

And what about the skills of your data teams and of your business stakeholders? How are you supporting their data literacy? 

I have developed a suite of training opportunities for my team which covers both technical and soft skills and ranges from bite size training sessions and self-serve development using DataCamp through to data science apprenticeships. 

 

We also work with a few key providers, including DataIQ to provide training and workshops on the softer skills required. In terms of driving data literacy across our stakeholder teams, we identify key individuals in each area of our business to act as our insight champions. 

 

These individuals have demonstrated strong data literacy skills and a genuine desire to master the third-party resources available to them. We then provide additional training to these champions, as well as calling on them for valuable feedback on key initiatives we are looking to roll out. The insight champions then act as an important resource to help drive data literacy within their teams, providing a bridge between stakeholder teams and us.

 

How do you keep pace or stay in touch with your peer group? Do you see it as important to have an active professional network? 

I have been fortunate to work with some incredible people in my career and as we have all gone off to new organisations and gained new experiences we often get together to share what we are up to and discuss challenges and offer possible solutions. 

 

I also enjoy getting out to events and meeting new people from similar industries and teams, and there are key individuals who I keep bumping into at different events which I love as you start to build on that initial connection. I appreciate organisations like DataIQ that bring people together for this purpose as it is hard to do without the facilitation of a third party.

Tor Powell
has been included in:
  • Future Leaders 2023 (EMEA)

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