CMO Moves Mid July Edition

The first two weeks of July saw 15 CMOs appointed, including 11 women and 4 men.

Among these, 5 are internal promotions,the most we have seen this year. It’s great to see companies rewarding loyalty and performance within their own teams.

6 of the new CMOs are stepping into the rolefor the first time.

These CMO hires are widely spread across a total of 14 industries, with Spectator Sports leading slightly with 2:

• Advertising Services 1

• Broadcast Media Production and Distribution 1

• Computer and Network Security 1

• Computer Games 1

• Financial Services 1

• Food and Beverage Services 1

• Hospitals and Health Care 1

• Information Services 1

• Insurance 1

• Manufacturing 1

• Mobile Gaming Apps 1

• Personal Care Product Manufacturing 1

• Software Development 1

• Spectator Sports 2

This again reinforces our observations that CMOs are becoming ubiquitous role across sectors, industries, and different sizes/stages of businesses.

Geographically, it’s a big month for Europe: 5 of the new CMO hires were announced by European international businesses: Tactile Games in Copenhagen, Electrolux in Stockholm, Innogames from Germany, Channel 4, and Formula E based in London.

In the US, California hired the most CMOs (4), and the others are spread across states like Colorado, Illinois, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas and Tennessee.

Now, let’s dive into the most important CMO moves announced over the last two weeks:

Dove & Liquid I.V. (Unilever)

Alessandro Manfredi, Dove's CMO, is leaving Unilever after two decades. He is the mastermind behind the brand’s Real Beauty movement and defined its purpose-driven marketing.

Since CEO Hein Schumacher took the helm in July last year from Alan Jope, who retired after a 37-year career with Unilever, there have been multiple rounds of leadership reshuffling:

Fernando Fernandez, former president of Unilever’s Beauty & Wellbeing business group, was appointed CFO of the company in January to replace Graeme Pitkethly, who decided to retire.

To replace Fernandez, Priya Nair, CMO of Beauty & Wellbeing, was appointed President Beauty & Wellbeing.

Then, Leandro Barreto, SVP of Global Dove Masterbrand and Skincare, was named CMO of Beauty & Wellbeing, replacing Nair.

Peter ter Kulve, President Home Care, was appointed President Ice Cream.

To succeed him, Eduardo Campanella, CMO of Home Care, was promoted to be President Home Care.

Esi Eggleston Bracey, CEO of Personal Care North America and Head of Country US was appointed to the new role of Chief Growth and Marketing Officer.

Jason Harcup, Global VP of R&D Prestige, was promoted to the role of Chief R&D Officer - Beauty and Well-being.

Mairead Nayager, former HR boss of Diageo, joined in February as Chief People Officer to replace Nitin Paranjpe, who stepped down after 37 years with the company.

Hanneke Faber, President Nutrition, left Unilever for the CMO role at Logitech.

Sonika Malhotra, CMO of Unilever US Hair Care, left in September last year for LVMH as President and GM of Americas for Make Up For Ever.

Matt Close, President Ice Cream, left Unilever at the end of 2023 after 31 years.

Conny Braams, Chief Digital and Commercial Officer (CDCO), left in August after 3.5 years of being in this newly created role.

Vasiliki Petrou, CEO of Unilever’s prestige division, stepped down last month after a decade with Unilever.

Aline Santos Farhat, Chief Brand Officer and Chief Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Officer, exited in February after almost 13 years.

ARE YOU STILL FOLLOWING??? We can surely agree that this is a bewildering pace of change in the CPG giant.

And just two days ago, Unilever’s powdered hydration brand Liquid I.V, promoted Stacey Andrade-Wells, their VP of Marketing, to the CMO seat.

It’s interesting to see so many cross-functional movements – from marketing leadership to business leadership and vice versa and from business leadership to finance leadership.

The company is also shedding brands.

In March, Unilever announced plans to split off its ice cream unit, including Ben & Jerry’s and Magnum, potentially affecting 7,500 jobs.

In 2023, it sold the razor brand Dollar Shave Club to PE firm Nexus Capital Management.

Earlier this week, it agreed to sell its water purification business, Pureit, to A. O. Smith.

According to Financial Times, in a recent company-wide call, Unilever announced that it will cut as many as 3,200 roles (primarily office-based) in Europe by the end of 2025.

Schumacher, described by Unilever Chairman Nils Anderse as a “values-driven business leader”, is from the financial side of the industry. He held multiple CFO roles in global CPG companies including CFO of Kraft Heinz, and CFO of FrieslandCampina.

Schumacher thinks that “not every brand should have a social or environmental purpose.” And purpose could be an “unwelcome distraction” - a point of view that hasn’t been heard from UL in recent decades. Sounds more “value-driven” than “values-driven” in our humble perspective.

“It will either work or fail spectacularly,” as the Guardian observed. Our popcorn is hot and buttered in anticipation of a good show here…

U.S. Soccer Federation & Formula E

2024 has been a big year for Sports Marketing: we have seen 4 CMOs announced in the Spectator Sports industry thus far vs. only 1 announced in 2023.

This month, 2 more CMOs were appointed in this sector, bringing the total to 6.

U.S. Soccer announced last week that Catherine Newman has been named the Federation’s Chief Marketing Officer.

Newman brings over two decades of marketing leadership experience from some of the biggest sports and entertainment brands, including WWE, Manchester United, Times Newspapers, News Corp, and the Financial Times.

Meanwhile, the electric car motorsport championship Formula E appointed Ellie Norman as CMO with an expanded scope, effective at the end of September.

Ellie Norman joins Formula E after 2 years as Chief Communications Officer at Manchester United, and 5 years at Formula 1 as Chief Marketing and Communications Officer. Prior to that, Norman held roles at both Virgin Media and Honda.

Her newly expanded remit includes brand, marketing, PR and corporate communications, digital and social media, and fan engagement.

What an exciting time in sports! With so many new marketing chiefs in place looking to make their mark on culture, we expect more career opportunities to arise in this industry in the coming months!

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