Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) has hired Gary Briggs as its first ever chief marketing officer, one year after the company issued IPO. Gary Briggs has been working with Motorola Mobility Unit as a marketing chief prior to joining Facebook, according to AdAge. Facebook has called in Briggs to head the company’s marketing efforts.
Briggs to replace Eric Antonow
Briggs will replace VP of product marketing Eric Antonow who has been looking after marketing efforts for the past three years. Antonow will stay in Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) through the transition period and will leave after that in September to pursue a project in his interest- education, according to a company spokesman. With Antonow leaving Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB), there will be a change in the company’s organizational structure. Briggs will report to VP product Chris Cox unlike Antonow who reported to Chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg.
Rebecca Van Dyck head of consumer marketing, who was the former Chief marketer at Levi’s, reported to Mr. Antonow and will now report to Briggs. She heads the projects like marketing for Facebook Home, which incorporates Facebook’s first TV ads, and the ad celebrating Facebook’s billionth user.
Briggs, prior work experience
Briggs was appointed as CMO in Motorola when Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) bought Motorola Mobility unit previous year. Prior to Google, Briggs was the CEO of a gift card startup called Plastic Jungle. Briggs prior experience include VP-consumer marketing, general manager of eBay Canada, global marketing head of PayPal, CMO of eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY) North America and six years at PepsiCo, Inc. (NYSE:PEP).
And most recently he was an adviser to CEO Dennis Woodside and CMO Bill Morgan in Motorola.
Briggs to play a bigger role in Facebook
Briggs will have a bigger role in Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) than he had in any other company. He will head branding and marketing process for all Facebook team of users, developers and potential consumers of new products like Facebook home. Apart from this, he will also supervise the product marketing, platform marketing and events, communication design, brand marketing and content strategy.
Briggs said that he was excited by the new challenge. “Facebook isn’t just a company. For more than a billion people, it’s their connection to the friends and things they care about most,” Briggs said. He added that working for such a young and important brand is incredible and that he cannot wait to start his term.
