Procter & Gamble, the bastion of marketing know-how, is axing the title of marketing director, rebadging all former marketing directors as brand directors as part of sweeping global efforts to simplify its marketing structure and enable faster decision making.
It means Australia and New Zealand marketing director Yasuhiko Iida, who joined from the Japanese business in October, will take on the new title of brand director.
A P&G APAC spokesperson told AdNews that the bottom line is that P&G wants to to be more nimble and agile as a business and the changes will give brand directors more accountability to make decisions. It also means that disciplines like PR, design and market research will work more closely with the brand director than they have previously with marketing directors.
As a relatively small region, Australia has just one marketing director for the business, rather than dedicated marketing directors for each brand as it does in larger markets like the US where there is a marketing director for Gillette, for example.
It's not thought that the changes mean any loss of headcount, but a restructuring of roles and accountabilities.
Marc Pritchard, P&G's top global marketer, has had the job title global marketing and brand building officer since 2009 after becoming global marketing director in 2008 and he is a strong advocate of the concept of brand building.
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