Lexus marketing chief to move over from Toyota GB

Lexus has appointed Toyota executive Mark Roden as its marketing chief to replace Jan Kidacki, who left last month after two years in the role (MW June 22).

Roden, who was general manager for network development at Toyota GB, joins Lexus as general manager of marketing and strategy. He will be the brand’s senior marketer and will report to director Steve Settle.

Lexus, Toyota’s luxury marque, last week appointed Clemmow Hornby Inge (CHI) to handle the launch of its next-generation hybrid model, the LS. Although Saatchi & Saatchi is still Toyota’s global agency of record, CHI has been making inroads into the business in the past 18 months but it had not previously been appointed by Lexus.

The agency was handed Toyota’s tactical advertising business in the UK earlier this year and last year was appointed to handle a pan-European brief for the Yaris. CHI has also won a pan-European brief for the Aygo and is pitching against Saatchi for the launch of the new Corolla.

Meanwhile, Toyota GB’s long-serving managing director Graham Smith has been handed a new dual European role, as exclusively predicted by Marketing Week earlier this year (May 11).

Smith, one of the men credited with the marque’s unprecedented sales growth, becomes senior vice- president for Toyota Motor Europe.

Smith will be replaced as managing director of Toyota GB by Miguel Fonseca, previously vice-president and chief operating officer of Toyota Spain