Rennie Freer expands remit to lead marketing for Kmart and Target

Rennie Freer has expanded her remit at Kmart Group, stepping into an expanded role as general manager of marketing for both Kmart and Target across Australia and New Zealand.

The move sees Freer add responsibility for Target’s marketing alongside her existing leadership of Kmart, marking a consolidation of brand and marketing strategy across two of Australia’s most recognisable retail banners.

Freer has spent more than four years at Kmart Australia, joining the retailer in 2021 as head of marketing before being promoted to general manager of marketing in 2022. She is also the former head of marketing at MECCA and has held senior agency roles at The Campaign Palace and JWT.

The appointment builds on Freer’s work leading Kmart’s marketing reset, which she detailed in a recent in-depth interview with Marketing-Interactive. The transformation has seen Kmart shift toward a more culture-led, customer-centric approach, designed to keep pace with changing consumer expectations and evolving media behaviours.

“Marketing has moved away from one-way broadcast messages,” she said. “It’s now about facilitating genuine connection. Allowing customers to co-own the brand. Showing up in ways that delight them. And removing friction so they can engage how they want, when they want.”

The expanded remit comes as Kmart Group continues to refine how its brands operate across marketing, media and customer experience, particularly as value-focused retailers compete harder for attention in an increasingly fragmented market.

From a media perspective, the alignment is already underway. UM, Kmart’s media agency of 25 years, was last year handed additional responsibility for Target, creating a unified media arrangement across both brands while supporting tailored execution at a brand level.

For Kmart, the challenge has been evolving the brand without losing the simplicity and accessibility that underpin its appeal. For Target, the focus remains on sharpening its proposition in a crowded mid-market retail landscape.

Freer has described the opportunity to work across both brands as a chance to apply learnings from Kmart’s evolution while respecting what makes each brand culturally and commercially distinct.

“What a joy to be part of the journey of two of Australia’s most iconic brands,” she wrote on LinkedIn.