DiDi, Australia’s second largest rideshare platform, has appointed Tim Farmer as its head of brand marketing across Australia and New Zealand.
He fills a position that has been vacant for around a year and a half, representing DiDi’s increased investment in its marketing function.
Farmer moves from Disney, where he spent just over eight years across different marketing roles including as partnerships lead and marketing director for Disney+.
Originally from the UK, Farmer began his career in media buying in London before moving to Australia in 2010. He joined The Walt Disney Company as partnerships leads in 2016, working to develop and execute local marketing partnerships between newly released titles and major brands in the Australian market, including Woolworths, Optus, Airbnb, and Qantas.
In 2019, he led the marketing team for the launch of Disney+ in Australia and New Zealand. In June 2020, the role expanded to include marketing for Marvel, Pixar, National Geographic, and Searchlight Studios.
Commenting on his marketing goals at DiDi, Farmer said: “One of the most exciting things about joining DiDi at this point in their journey is the potential for significant growth in this market.
“In my mind, we have a great product and so the challenge is a marketing one that is firmly centred in developing and building the DiDi brand – this starts with helping consumers better understand who we are, and where our offering does and doesn’t differ from the competition.”
As the challenger brand in Australia’s well established ride sharing sector, Farmer described the unique opportunity to be innovative and trial new marketing tactics.
“With this in mind, I’m really looking forward to connecting with the different partners that we will need to bring this to life in market as we build a strong brand to support what is already a strong product offering.”
The announcement comes in the wake of DiDi’s new loyalty scheme, which the app launched in partnership with Virgin Australia’s Velocity program last week.
With competitor Ola recently announcing its departure from the local market, DiDi now commands just shy of a quarter of the local rideshare market in Australia.
Farmer will go up against Uber’s new marketer, Nicole Bardsley, who joined the rideshare leader in February, as revealed by Mediaweek.
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Top Image: Tim Farmer