Dive Brief:

• Instacart announced Wednesday it has hired Tim Castelli as its new vice president of global advertising sales. 
• Castelli is coming to the company from iHeartMedia, where he most recently served as chief revenue officer of the media company’s Multi-Platform Group.
• Castelli brings more than 30 years of experience of advertising experience to Instacart.

Dive Insight:

Castelli will lead Instacart’s advertising team with a focus on developing and deepening relationships with CPG brands and agencies, per the press release. He will report to Chief Business Officer Chris Rogers.

Castelli spent more than a decade at iHeartMedia, according to his LinkedIn profile. Before that, Castelli was a senior vice president of sales for AOL and worked as a technology industry director for Google. He was also previously a publisher of Rolling Stone Magazine and held various leadership roles at Ziff Davis Media.

“Tim is one of the most well-regarded advertising leaders in our industry, known for delivering value to partners,” said Rogers, adding that Castelli “has deep expertise and a proven track record of innovating in traditional industries, creating high-impact advertising strategies, and leading large, effective sales teams.”

Rogers said Castelli’s mix of advertising and media expertise will help the company grow its ads business. 

Instacart said it works with more than 5,500 brands and is continuing to expand brand and agency partnerships across North America.

Citing recent research from Incisiv, Castelli said the U.S. grocery industry is a $1.1 trillion market that Instacart is tapping into with advertising opportunities. 

“Instacart is a leader in connecting millions of consumers with beloved brands across more than a thousand retail banners in North America, directly at the point of purchase,” Castelli said. “I’m thrilled to be joining Instacart – we have a bright future ahead as we deliver one of the most compelling advertising platforms to brands of all sizes.”

Last year, Instacart expanded its advertising toolkit with new products for brand partners, including shoppable video and display ad units.

Last March, Instacart launched Instacart Platform, a tech platform that lets retailers sell ads on their sites. At the end of 2022, Instacart announced a new suite of advertising solutions, Instacart Promotions, which allows brand partners to independently launch new deal structures, incentives and promotions with the company’s Instacart Ad campaigns.