MukherJee Assumes CMO Post at Frito-Lay North America
Ann Mukherjee has been named senior vice president and chief marketing officer for the Frito-Lay North America business unit, parent PepsiCo said yesterday.
In her new post, Mukherjee will report directly to Al Carey, FLNA president and CEO. She replaces Jaya Kumar, who was also promoted yesterday to president of PepsiCo’s Quaker Foods division.
Mukherjee has worked as vice president of marketing at Frito-Lay North America since 2005, a post from which she has led a strategic re-positioning of the Plano TX-based company’s $7 billion core portfolio of brands, including Lay’s, Doritos, Tostitos, Cheetos and Fritos. She has had lead brand responsibility for several award-winning campaigns for those brands, including the “Crash the Super Bowl” user-generated ad contests for Doritos.
That campaign, created with agencies OMD USA and Millsport, won a gold medal in the 2007 Cannes Lions ad competition in its first year and ran again during the game in 2009. The original campaign also won Promo magazine’s Pro Award that year in the “consumer generated content” category. Doritos recently announced the launch of the third version of “Crash the Super Bowl” aimed at Super Bowl XLIV in Miami next February.
“Ann’s work with Doritos’ ‘Crash the Super Bowl’—along with a range of ground-breaking marketing for other FLNA brands like Cheetos and Tostitos—has set new standards for innovation in consumer brand marketing for our snacks businesses,” Carey said in a release. “Ann’s strong marketing skills and leadership profile make her the right person for the top marketing role at Frito-Lay.”
Mukherjee, named by Advertising Age as one of the top women marketers to watch, served as marketing vice president for PepsiCo’s Chicago-based convenience foods division before joining FLNA. Prior to that she spent 12 years in marketing roles at other companies, including Kraft Foods and Diners Club.
As the new president of Quaker Foods and Snacks, Kumar will oversee the $2 billion brand portfolio that includes Quaker, Aunt Jemima and Rice-A-Roni. She replaces mark Schiller, who will move to become senior vice president for Frito-Lay’s warehouse brands, including Stacy’s pita and bagel chips and nut product maker TrueNorth.
