• by Staff Report , August 13, 2013

Take it from Mediapsssst, there is no title higher in Madison Avenue’s food chain than CMO -- unless it’s on the agency side. Then, you’re just the loneliest guy in town, trying to get attention for an organization that spends its time trying to get attention for its paying customers. You know, it’s not like you control any real marketing budget, are going to hold a “review,” or be courted and treated deferentially by the trade press. That being the case, we were tickled to see not one, but two agencies announce top marketing roles Monday, and we consider that a good day for a dog day. First Interpublic’s R/GA announced that Daniel DIez had joined as global CMO, and then Publicis’ Rosetta named Gary Schechner a partner and head of marketing. Of the two appointments, at least Schechner has some real-world brand marketing experience. And, oh what a brand. He joins Rosetta from, you guessed it, BP, where he headed all advertising, marketing and social media for its “ampm” brand of North American convenience stores. Before that, he was a marketing consultant for rival Chevron/Texaco, where he managed creative and media for the Texaco Havoline and Chevron Techron Concentrate Plus consumer brands.

While R/GA’s Diez has no hands-on brand marketing experience, he was senior director for global marketing and communications at a company that advises lots of brands, Omnicom’s Interbrand. And while he wasn’t client-side, he played a role “refreshing” the consltancy’s reports, including deals to promote them with the New York Times, CNBC and the New York Stock Exchange.

Before Interbrand, Diez was a public relations manager at Interpublic’s Jack Morton Worldwide unit.

“Daniel has a fresh take on how to effectively communicate our vision to expand client relationships,” stated R/GA Founder, Chairman and CEO Bob Greenberg, who’s a guy who knows something about CMOs.

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