Appointing Verve’s first Chief Marketing Officer to lead the next phase of growth

Verve is a high-growth wellness business founded by Oliver Cookson, the entrepreneur behind Myprotein. Following strong early traction with its flagship product, V80, and an expanding product roadmap, the business entered a pivotal stage in its growth journey.

With increasing momentum across the wellness category and ambitions to build a category-defining brand, Verve required senior marketing leadership capable of transforming early traction into scalable, long-term growth.

Verve partnered with 3Search Executive to appoint its first Chief Marketing Officer, one of the most strategically important hires in the company’s evolution to date.

The brief required a rare combination of:

• Strategic and operational leadership
• Deep D2C and consumer growth expertise
• Proven experience scaling founder-led consumer brands
• Strong commercial ownership across acquisition, retention and revenue performance
• The ability to build and lead a high-performing marketing organisation in a fast-paced environment

The successful candidate needed to operate comfortably across Amazon, TikTok Shop, paid acquisition, CRM, CRO and full-funnel growth strategy, while also demonstrating the leadership capability and long-term potential to become a future executive leader within the business.

As a critical executive appointment, Verve required a specialist search partner with deep expertise across D2C, wellness and consumer growth leadership.

3Search Executive was retained due to:

• Our specialist focus on executive marketing and growth leadership within D2C businesses
• Proven experience scaling founder-led and PE-backed consumer brands
• Access to senior operators across wellness, nutrition and adjacent consumer categories
• Our ability to combine pace, rigour and high-touch executive search delivery

The search was led by Harrison Knowles, who partnered closely with the founders and leadership team throughout the process. He focused on identifying senior operators capable of scaling consumer businesses beyond the £10m revenue stage.

The process included:

• A comprehensive market map of senior consumer and wellness operators
• Targeted outreach to approximately 200 leaders across health, wellness and adjacent consumer brands
• A structured four-stage assessment process
• Final-stage presentations delivered in person at Verve HQ

Alongside candidate delivery, we also supported the business by:

• Refining the role scope and organisational positioning
• Advising on compensation structure and market calibration
• Developing a compelling executive value proposition and candidate pack
• Managing founder dynamics and preparing candidates for a fast-moving, high-touch process
• Providing structured market feedback and ongoing search insight throughout

3Search Executive successfully appointed Neal Rawlinson as Chief Marketing Officer in September 2025.

Neal brings highly relevant experience scaling consumer wellness brands and strong alignment with Verve’s long-term vision and commercial ambitions.

His appointment provides the business with a senior marketing leader capable of:

• Driving immediate revenue acceleration
• Leading full-funnel acquisition and retention strategy
• Building a scalable, high-performing marketing organisation
• Supporting the next stage of international and category expansion

With Neal in place, Verve now has the executive leadership required to accelerate growth across Amazon, TikTok Shop and CRM retention, while laying the foundations for long-term category leadership within the longevity and wellness market.