Rent the Runway taps Afterpay exec as marketing chief

Rent the Runway has named a marketing head as the company seeks to revitalize its brand.

The online subscription fashion rental company has appointed Natalie McGrath as chief marketing officer, effective March 4. McGrath, who will oversee all aspects of the Rent the Runway (RTR) customer journey, will report to co-founder, CEO and president Jennifer Hyman.

Most recently, McGrath led marketing at buy now, pay later platform Afterpay across its North America and Europe businesses. From 2014 to 2020, she served as VP marketing North America/head of U.S. at BooHoo Group PLC, scaling the UK’s largest retailer’s US operations to over $2 billion in revenue. 

She has also held senior leadership roles at luxury retailers including Coach, where she oversaw international marketing, and Alexander Wang, where she launched the brand’s e-commerce platform in 25+ countries. She began her career at Net-a-Porter, where she built the company’s partnerships program.

McGrath’s appointment comes as the brand launches a renewed focus on workwear, one of the core use cases for a RTR  subscription. The company, whose third-quarter revenue fell 6.3%,   is planning product, experiential and influencer work around the category beginning this spring.

“With a world-class marketer like Natalie McGrath at the helm of this iconic brand, I’m looking forward to seizing on the incredible growth opportunity I believe is ahead of us, and continuing to lead the category we created,” said Hyman. “We are focused on supercharging our market share by creating emotional and lasting connections with our core customers--and reaching net-new audiences. Natalie has proven time and again--with some of the world’s top brands--that this is where she excels, and I’m delighted to partner with her to drive RTR to the next level.”

“As a company I have long admired, I am extremely energized about joining RTR and focusing on reigniting the brand during the next phase of its growth,” said McGrath in a statement. “I believe we can achieve significant scale by reminding customers of the value RTR can bring to their everyday lives, which we plan to do through merging some of the compelling founding themes of the brand with new marketing strategies, tactics and mediums.”