Dan Lacaze, a former key player at Optus, is set to take on a new role at Telstra as the General Manager of Retail Marketing & Merchandising.

Lacaze, who previously held the position of Director, Device Portfolio and Partnerships at Optus, was part of the leadership team managing handset, accessory, and SIM portfolios. In his newly created role at Telstra, he is responsible for retail marketing, local area marketing and visual merchandising in the large network of Telstra stores nationwide. It’s the first time these areas are being brought together in one team.

Lacaze cited Telstra’s iconic Aussie brand status as one of the drawcards of joining.

“I love the industry and the critical role it plays connecting Australians to what they need and love, everyday,” he told Mi3. “The role sits at the intersection of how the brand behaves in communications, and how Telstra customers can tangibly touch and feel it in the stores. This was really attractive as it’s both very commercial and creative.”

It hard line reports into the Consumer Retail team, which Lacaze said he loves because “it is the engine room of the consumer business”. Lacaze also has a dotted line reporting to CMO Brent Smart and sits on his marketing leadership team.

“They are doing some of the best work in the country and I am really looking forward to contributing to the creative renaissance happening at Telstra,” Lacaze said.  

His immediate priority is to connect with all key internal stakeholders across the Retail leadership and operations team.

 “Beyond this I will be working closely with a number of partners including +61 and Telstra’s internal agency capability. These partners have proven they’re an important extension of the team,” Lacaze said.

“I’ve spent over five years in telco and have been fortunate enough to work across various roles in Retail and Channel, Product Development, Marketing, Sponsorship and Device Portfolio Management. It can be a complicated and highly regulated industry, which is why frontline staff, brilliant CX and bricks and mortar retail are still so critical. The scale and size of what we can do is unbeatable when all the moving parts align.

 “I’m looking forward to bringing learnings and relationships working with vendors such as Apple, Samsung and Google to this new role. I really do feel my journey with Telstra will connect strongly to their new brand platform ‘wherever we go’.”

Lacaze will start at Telstra next week.