- Hyundai Motor America has restructured its marketing department and done away with the CMO role.
- Chief Marketing Officer Angela Zepeda has been named chief creative officer. In her new role, Zepeda will oversee social media, creative, experiential and multicultural marketing.
- The automotive company’s marketing department will be split into two divisions – one creative and one performance.
The CMO role has been changing in recent years and some companies are questioning if the position is still necessary. Starbucks, Etsy, UPS, Walgreens, General Mills and Johnson & Johnson are among brands that have gotten rid of the CMO position, often leaving marketing departments by chief brand officers or heads of creative.
Hyundai Motor America is the latest example of this. Zepeda will now oversee the creative side of the business and Sean Gilpin will serve as VP of marketing performance/VP for global sales marketing. The shift illustrates the company’s strategic move to focus on the customer.
“From EVs and hybrids to technology innovations, the market is filled with noise and information that can be confusing to customers and sometimes distract from the core brand message,” Hyundai Motor America CEO Randy Parker said in the press release. “This restructure will allow us to build marketing programs around data and sales performance that will help propel us to the forefront of the industry.”
