Dive Brief:
- Mondelez Chief Marketing Officer Dana Anderson is leaving the company to take on a similar position at food marketing company MediaLink, according to The Wall Street Journal.
- The company has said it will use Anderson's departure as a way to evolve the CMO's role, according to an article in AdAge. The company has been wanting to tighten its focus on its biggest sellers, including Oreo, Belvita, Milka and Cadbury.
- Anderson’s departure from Mondelez is the latest in the company's c-suite shakeup. Last month, Bob Rupczynksi, the company’s vice president and head of global media, announced he was leaving to join McDonald’s Corp. Roberto Marques announced he was leaving his position as president of Mondelez International’s North America business just last week.
Dive Insight:
So far, 2017 has been a year of big changes at Mondelez. Earlier this month, the company announced it was exploring possibilities for a successor to CEO Irene Rosenfeld, who has run Mondelez or Kraft Foods for more than a decade.
With another top-level departure, it's apparent that things are going to change for the manufacturer. But what's unknown is the direction it's going in.
Like many in the snack field, Mondelez has been struggling in recent years as consumers shift toward healthier snacks. This mindset contributed to a drop in revenue of 12% last year. Analysts report that investors are wary about the company of late, and are pushing Mondelez to make changes to improve profit margins.
Big changes in leadership like this make the company's future more of a question mark. While bringing in new people can sometimes turn around a company, there are no replacements named for these executives. Once they are, it’s going to take some time for a new leadership team to take control and establish a new strategy and direction. But a massive departure of executives makes it seem that nobody knows which direction the company is going in — or if it is doing internal preparation for an eventual takeover by Kraft Heinz.