Yellow Wood Partners, a Boston-based private equity firm, completed the acquisition of the Scholl footcare brand, operating outside of the US, from UK based Reckitt in the summer of 2021.
The acquisition reunited the international Scholl business with sister company Dr.Scholl’s (previously owned by Bayer), to create a leading global footcare brand operating as an integrated business in 50+ countries and with annual sales exceeding $700 million.
The Scholl brand is a category leader across the UK, France, Italy, Germany and Australia, to name just a few markets, with deep penetration in both major retailers and independent pharmacies across Europe. In addition to a portfolio of footcare products, the Scholl brand provides a diversified portfolio of skincare products, insoles and treatment solutions for foot conditions.
The creation of the brand new stand-alone business, Scholl Wellness Company (SWC), heralds substantial growth opportunities over the next few years, both in bricks & mortar and through e-commerce. A dynamic new team is being built at the new head office near Reading.
Adrian Mooney joined SWC in September 2021 as the VP of Marketing and initially invited Emma Calder of tml Partners to help with some urgent interim placements as the company transitioned customer relationships from Reckitt into the new business, market by market.
The interim appointments were swiftly placed and the project then developed to help build out the marketing function across several other roles.
Adrian explained that there was a big opportunity to take a fresh look the 100 year old Scholl brand and to make it more relevant with younger consumers and accelerate NPD.
As well as appointing a top global creative agency to “provoke a customer reappraisal” and to create a closer relevance with consumers, SWC was also looking to significantly increase investments in brand development and to increase the brand’s connection with consumers across digital and social media platforms, and to build out the company’s eCommerce capabilities.
Between November 2021 and April 2022, we have been delighted to fill the positions of:
- European Category and Trade Director – FTC
- Global e-Commerce Director – FTC
- Digital Marketing Manager
- Senior Brand Manager – FTC
- e-Commerce Manager
- CRM & Data Manager
Adrian Mooney, VP of Marketing at SWC comments:
“tml Partners have been great to work with. Emma really took her time at the start of the brief to understand the company priorities for SWC as well as the new culture of our business. She was able to work at pace and was very helping in being able to assess and validate each candidate in process. I especially appreciated her proactivity throughout this intense and important hiring period and being kept up to date throughout. We are really pleased with the new team we now have in place and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend tml Partners…”
tml Partners is an international executive marketing recruitment firm specialising in senior marketing appointment up to board level, across marketing, business development and corporate communications. Emma Calder is currently partnering with high growth FMCG and Retail clients to support the best in class development of in-house marketing, innovation, communications and digital functions -working across both permanent and interim briefs.
To learn more about how Emma and the team at tml Partners can support the growth of your marketing function, please get in touch at emma.calder@tmlpartners.com
