The Very Group has appointed Beckie Crane-Stanion, former chief marketing officer of Frasers Group, as its new marketing director.

Crane-Stanion will manage teams across brand, marketing and the retailer's in-house creative agency HelloStudio. Very Group operates the Very and Littlewoods brands.

The retailer says she joins with a "wealth of transformational experience" in brand and retail, spanning fashion, sport and beauty.

Her most recent role was consultant global brand director at jewellery brand Abbott Lyon. Before that, she worked agency-side across UEFA, The FA and the NFL.

From 2020 to 2024, Crane-Stanion served as CMO at Frasers Group, which owns Sports Direct, FLANNELS and House of Fraser. There she led marketing through the brand's elevation strategy alongside CEO Michael Murray.

Crane-Stanion says she is "incredibly excited to join the team at Very." "It's such an iconic retailer with years of heritage and experience of supporting families," she says. "There is no better time to have a focus on how we serve this customer as we evolve the Very brand for its next exciting phase."

In a LinkedIn post announcing the move, Crane-Stanion says she "will be using all [her] experience in evolving brands particularly retailers in this new position." She also thanked the Very team for making her feel welcome.

Her role reports into Sam Wright, chief customer and commercial officer at The Very Group. Wright previously held the role of chief commercial officer and took on the expanded remit earlier this year, after former chief customer officer Jessica Myers left the business in May.

Wright says: "Beckie has joined the business at an exciting time as we go into the next iteration of our brand journey, aiming to increase reach and grow our brand even further."

The appointment signals a brand-development push at Very, with a CMO who has already steered one major UK retailer through a repositioning now charged with evolving Very for what the company calls its "next exciting phase."