Samsung has poached Unilever's Marc Mathieu to take on a global marketing role. It is understood that he will replace former Samsung global CMO Todd Pendleton.
Mathieu, who has been with Unilever since 2011, was global SVP of marketing. He previously led marketing at Coca-Cola and worked in the startup world before joining Unilever, where he was the FMCG firm's second senior global marketer behind Unilever CMO Keith Weed. He headed up the launch of Unilever's startup incubator programme The Foundry and Go Global.
Samsung has not officially confirmed the appointment, which was reproted first in the US, however, Unilever has confirmed his departure.
Locally, Samsung Australia former CMO Arno Lenior left the business a few weeks ago – there is no word yet on who will replace him, but it is understood that the recruitment process is well underway.
Mathieu is a marketer that believes in purpose driven branding and has spoken often abut the need for brands to have a purpose. He also spearheaded Unilever's “less logic, more magic” approach to brand marketing.
He spoke at last year's AANA RESET conference, where he told the audience that “digital was dead” and that marketers need to stop talking about consumers – and talk about people.
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