Guy Sebastian, David Beckham join Chemist Warehouse’s $600m-a-year party

afr.com:

Margaret Court Arena in Melbourne Park isn’t often the site of a drug-fuelled concert. It was on November 3, though, when 2000 people gathered for Chemist Warehouse’s annual upfront event for suppliers.

Guy Sebastian performed a few songs. 3AW host Jacqui Felgate hosted. David Beckham even briefly appeared in a video on-screen. It was big, flashy and slick, attendees told us.

Chemist Warehouse founder Jack Gance. 

Chemist Warehouse is the biggest media company you’ve never heard of, but its inner workings are something of a black box. Its billionaire owners, Jack Gance and Mario Verrocchi, rarely give interviews, and the company’s top-line corporate filings are the best look inside that we have.

A topic du jour in the media industry is what is known as “retail media” – basically, retailers using customer data to sell targeted ads to their suppliers at high prices and make some extra, high-margin moolah. Woolworths, which reports $48 billion in revenue, makes something between $300 million and $500 million from its retail media arm, Cartology.

But Chemist Warehouse’s media machine makes Woolies look like child’s play. It makes, its latest filings show, $603.5 million in revenue from “marketing, advertising and other” – an astonishing figure for a pharmacy chain. A full 20 per cent of its $3 billion in revenue. It made even more in 2022 – $637.9 million – but look, it’s been a quiet year.

Its upfront event was a show of force, one attendee said. “They’re a retailer, but they’re a network. If you’re a Panadol or Rexona, you need to be in Chemist Warehouse.”

Guy Sebastian at this year’s Chemist Warehouse supplier event.  

The company pushed its all-encompassing advertising presence: thousands of in-store screens, connections