PepsiCo CMO Dave Burwick Resigns

PepsiCo CMO Dave Burwick Resigns

PepsiCo CMO Dave Burwick Resigns

Jill Beraud takes over his duties at struggling beverage giant

PepsiCo Americas Beverages North American CMO Dave Burwick has resigned, the company confirmed today.

Jill Beraud, who is the global CMO for PepsiCo, takes over his duties at the beverage giant. Beraud was also named president, joint ventures.
 
Burwick (pictured), who had spent more than 20 years with the company, returned to the CMO role last August after spending three years as president of PepsiCo's food and beverage businesses in Canada.
 
During his first stint as North American CMO, Burwick helped build the Mountain Dew brand into one of the strongest in the category and brokered one of the first Apple iTunes partnerships. Most recently, he helped relaunch the Pepsi trademark and roll out the "Refresh everything" campaign.
 
The change comes as the company has been struggling. Net revenue declined 7 percent for the second quarter, per the company's earning's call last week. PepsiCo said this was a reflection of challenging category dynamics, "consumer shifts to lower-priced options and an intensely competitive environment, as well as deliberate strategic choices on our part."
 
Beraud joined PepsiCo in December 2008 after spending 13 years at Limited Brands, most recently as chief marketing officer of Victoria's Secret. Prior to that, she worked at Procter & Gamble.

"As much as we will miss Dave, we are delighted to have someone of Jill's marketing and advertising experience, built over more than 20 years at some of America's most highly regarded marketing companies," said PAB CEO Massimo d'Amore in a statement. "Jill has worked on dozens of different brands spanning apparel, food, beverages, publishing, entertainment and more. She is an innovative thinker and an exceptional leader and I am excited to be working with her to grow our total refreshment beverage portfolio."

Beraud will be responsible for the firm's marketing efforts in North and Latin America. She will also oversee PepsiCo's beverage joint ventures in North America, including partnerships with Unilever and Starbucks.

She reports to d'Amore, as will Sarah Robb-O'Hagan, CMO for Gatorade.

Burwick last year replaced Cie Nicholson, who had been with Pepsi since 1997. "Dave built a 20-year legacy of marketing excellence and general management expertise, and we thank him for his considerable contributions to PepsiCo," d'Amore said. "We regret to see him go, but we respect his desire to fulfill his career aspirations in general management elsewhere, and we wish him only the best."

The roster of creative agencies that handles Pepsi beverage brands includes TBWA\Chiat\Day in Playa del Rey, Calif., (Pepsi, Gatorade, Diet Pepsi, Pepsi Edge); BBDO in New York (Mountain Dew, Amp, Aquafina, Starbuck's branded products); and The Arnell Group in New York (SoBe). All three are units of Omnicom Group.

Pepsi spent more than $430 million in major measured media on beverage advertising last year and nearly $210 million in the first five months of 2009, according to Nielsen. Those figures do not include online spending.