Nestlé picks head of marketing

Nestlé has appointed Tom Wilcock as its new marketing chief following the departure of Aoife Burnell, who left during the summer for personal reasons.

Nestlé Waters has appointed Tom Wilcock as its new marketing chief following the departure of Aoife Burnell, who left during the summer for personal reasons.

Wilcock was formerly the marketing controller for Cereal Partners UK, Nestlé’s jointly owned breakfast cereal division.

His promotion to head of marketing for the waters division sees him take on responsibility for a portfolio of brands that includes Perrier, Buxton and Vittel. Wilcock will report directly to managing director Stefano Agostini. It is understood Burnell does not have a job.

Perrier, handled in the UK by Ogilvy & Mather, could take on a new positioning next year if the company decides to roll out a $10m (£5.3m) Perrier campaign recently launched in the US. Wilcock says he is not ruling out the possibility of adopting the campaign, which uses other words ending in “-ier” on the sparkling water’s bottle labels, as well as other promotional materials.

The campaign was created by agencies in New York, including Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide.

Vittel relaunched last spring with a new logo and packaging (MW February 23) to improve visibility and brand recognition. New bottles had red caps and a red label. The bottle was also remoulded to make it curvier, with chevrons incorporated to add on-shelf impact, and to make it easier to carry.