• Ad Age, Tuesday, August 11, 2009 10:32 AM

So reads the headline. And there's more: "Top Talent Exits in Droves, Citing Micromanaging, No Love From D'Amore." I have no idea what impact Natalie Zmuda's and Emily Bryson York's cover story in this week's print edition is having at PepsiCo headquarters in Purchase, N.Y., but it sure has roused the cyber natives.

The piece begins with Massimo d'Amore's end run around then-Gatorade agency Element 79 for a widely derided spot from Peter Arnell that ran during the Super Bowl in 2008 and finishes with the departure of widely respected marketing executive Dave Burwick last week. Burwick was just the latest in a list of executives with much "institutional knowledge" who reportedly have bristled under CEO Massimo d'Amore's "meddling" culture.

"The last thing you need is an idiot at the top during a slow economy," says one commenter. "Sounds like the top is bringing the company down," says a second. "Good marketers abound everywhere, good leaders don't," states a third.

Pepsi, for its part, says it's going through a "talent refresh," and cites its recruitment of executives such as Jill Beraud from Limited Brands; Sarah Robb O'Hagan, a Nike veteran; and Tom Silk, formerly of Guitar Hero. "A lot of people deal with change and go along with change better than others," says Julie Hamp, senior vp-communications.

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