NDA Editor Justin Pearse sits down with Neil Jones, Head of Performance Media at Boots UK to talk about Boots’ successful in-housing strategy.
Neil, let’s start with your background. What led you to your current role at Boots?
I’ve been in digital marketing for just under 15 years. I started out in PPC but quickly realised it wasn’t quite my strength, so I moved into client services where I could do less damage. That pivot opened up everything for me. I spent time at smaller agencies before joining Mediacom for almost three years, leading performance accounts in the north, like Hillarys, Allianz and National Tyres.
I moved on to Sky Betting & Gaming, which was fascinating.
Regulation and ethical considerations made performance media there incredibly sharp and precise. Then Ollie, who’d mentored me, brought up an opportunity at Boots. I went through a full interview process and thankfully landed the role.
What was the remit when you joined Boots?
The core brief was to lead the in-housing of digital performance media. We’ve grown from a team of six to 21 and may reach around 25 or 26. It’s been a two-and-a-half-year journey focused on cost efficiency, revenue growth, and building internal capability.
Initially, there were concerns around culture and talent retention, could we really create a mini agency within a big retail business? But it worked. We’ve hired from great places like Omnicom, PrettyLittleThing, and N Brown.
We haven’t lost a single team member since we began, which says a lot about the environment we’ve built.
What parts of performance have you brought in-house and what’s still managed externally?
We started with affiliates back in 2023. That channel was very cashback-heavy, but we diversified and saw strong growth, 12% in the first year, 15% in the second. Awin has been a brilliant partner in that space.
PPC was next. We brought in Jellyfish to consult and help us transition away from our old agency tech stack. They held our hand through everything, from dashboarding to modernising the accounts, and then handed it all back. It’s running incredibly well now.
Then we took on paid social in-house. Display and video, however, still sit with Jellyfish. It’s just a much more complex space, with higher talent costs, fragmented tech, and intricate measurement challenges. For us, it made more sense to focus in-house on channels where we could see clearer performance impact.
How is your relationship with Jellyfish evolving as you in-house more?
We’ve moved from relying on them as a media buying partner to them playing a more consultative role.
They now support us with things like AI strategy, data visualisation, and tech licensing. A big question for us right now is, what’s our “why” for AI? Jellyfish are helping us avoid knee-jerk decisions and instead think carefully about where and how AI can augment what we do, especially around automation and repetitive tasks.
You mentioned being cautious about display in-housing. Could you elaborate?
Yes. We spoke with several businesses before starting this journey, and one consistent piece of advice was to treat display very seriously if you want to bring it in-house.
It’s not like PPC or affiliates. There’s a lot of tech, a lot of specialist knowledge, and often uncertain measurement.
We’ve run econometric models across different businesses, Boots, Skybet, Hillarys, and display always struggled to prove ROI linearly. That makes it a tough sell internally, especially when stacked against high-performing channels. Until we can confidently crack that, it makes more sense to keep display and video outsourced.
What about the cultural challenges of building an in-house team, what were you most concerned about?
One major concern was geography. We’re based in Nottingham, but a lot of talent is in Manchester, London, or elsewhere. So we ended up with a geographically spread team, which raised questions about cohesion and collaboration. But we’ve made it work through clear leadership and cultural investment.
Another worry was integrating people from agency backgrounds into a fast-paced retail environment.
Boots moves quickly, sometimes decisions change multiple times a day. We focused hard on setting up the right support structure. One initiative was the Media People Agenda, launched in March. It includes personalised development plans, mentoring, and leadership training. Our aim is to make this the best place for people to do career-defining work.
Looking ahead, what trends or changes in performance media are you most focused on?
Tech is the big one. We’ve gone through the in-housing journey, but now it’s about how we keep evolving. That includes making smart bets on technology, adopting the right tools, and remaining future-focused. AI is a huge part of that. But instead of automating everything, we’re focused on augmenting what our team does best.
We’re also thinking hard about the future of entry-level roles. Traditionally, those roles involved pulling data and learning the ropes through analysis. If AI takes that grunt work away, how do we still train the next generation properly? That’s something we’re actively working on.
What’s the long-term vision for your team?
We want to create the number one performance media team in the UK, a true centre of excellence within the Walgreens Boots Alliance.
One that can handle anything under the banner of Performance or Digital Marketing – to help drive best practice, growth and innovation across our channels. It’s ambitious, but with the team we’ve built and the amazing digital talent we have internally, I think it’s absolutely possible.
