The Asda marketing veteran has become a driving force at parent Walmart, but can he counter the criticism of his current ‘baby’, the Asda Price Guarantee?

Career history

  • Joined Asda in November 2006 as group marketing director, then in 2009 became Walmart chief marketing officer of all of its international business
  • Led the merger between Geers Gross and Publicis, and in 2002 was made chief operating officer of Publicis Worldwide
  • Moved to Geers Gross and in 1986 became CEO
  • Started out at Leo Burnett, then BMP

Rick Bendel is a larger-than-life character whose relationship with Asda has spanned more than 20 years. Witty and charming, Bendel often plays the role of the entertainer, but behind the laughter Asda’s marketing chief is demanding and determined.

Bendel, a Londoner and ardent Chelsea football fan, is credited with several of Asda’s key promotional drives over the years, but this past week he has had his current “baby” picked over by both rivals and the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).

The Asda Price Guarantee, masterminded by Bendel, promises to give customers a money-back voucher if their shopping was found to be cheaper at a competitor store. Following complaints from Tesco and Morrisons, the ASA ruled that Asda needed to be clearer in its advertising when talking about comparable items. The grocer, however, is not off the hook yet and now faces further scrutiny as the ASA has since received new complaints after Asda relaunched the scheme this year, claiming to be at least 10% cheaper.

Bendel believes the ruckus is all
part of the game. “It’s a case of sticks and stones,” he says. “We’re not worried what our competitors are saying,
only that our customers love it and we’re winning new customers because of it.”

Such dogged vision has carried Bendel throughout his career. While on the one hand he “likes to smile and doesn’t take life too seriously”, he admits he is “demanding and wants things to happen yesterday”.

Bendel went into advertising at the age of 17 because he “liked watching TV and thought you didn’t have to work very hard”. He quickly found this wasn’t the case but as he was always “more art than science” at school, he became addicted to advertising.

A few lessons early on – including being told he was “cheaper than the coffee machine” as the reason he kept his job following a swathe of redundancies at agency Leo Burnett – helped shape his character. Gathering the nickname of ‘Marlboro man’ along the way, he then went on to become chief executive of Geers Gross aged just 27, before, in his early 30s, becoming chief executive of the UK arm of Publicis.

At Publicis his first job was to
persuade, or “beg” as Bendel says,
the agency’s largest client – Asda – not to fire the firm. He succeeded and became a confidant of the management, then headed by Archie Norman and Allan Leighton.

Since then Bendel has been at the heart of Asda’s strategic vision. He was key to the launch of clothing brand George, which he says was “an amazing achievement for a private label in
a sector where everyone said it wouldn’t work”, and also launched the famous ‘pocket-tap’ ads, both while
at Publicis.

After a brief spell in Paris as chief operating officer of Publicis Worldwide – the first non-Frenchman to hold the role – he was tempted to Leeds by then newly appointed boss Andy Bond.

After being at Asda for just 18 months, he impressed parent Walmart so much that he was made chief marketing officer of all its international businesses. Walmart moved its marketing centre from the US to the UK, charging Bendel with setting up a centre of excellence for marketing.

His sway at Asda and Walmart goes much further than just advertising, however. He is also responsible for Asda’s two current major initiatives – the Asda Price Guarantee, and the quality drum, with the relaunch of its mid-tier brand, Chosen by You.

One source close to Asda says Bendel “has huge clout in Walmart” and “an incredible amount of control”. While his talents are evident, the source adds, his headstrong nature can clash with some as once he has made up his mind, there is no changing it.

Bendel has certainly made up his mind that Asda is his “special place”. He loves the Yorkshire humour and accent, and says there isn’t any room for pretentiousness, unlike most of the advertising world.

And if Bendel can overcome the controversy to ensure the Price Guarantee becomes as important to Asda as Clubcard is to Tesco, his special place at Asda will certainly be cemented.