Mars Wrigley creates chief customer role for Europe

Mars Wrigley has appointed Stéphanie Domange to the newly created role of chief customer officer for Europe, Central Eurasia, Belarus and Turkey.

She will be responsible for managing its customer relations and has been tasked with strengthening the development of the confectionery business’s pan-European client strategy, encompassing plans for category growth, commercial and digital.

A former marketer, Domange takes on the new role from her previous position as general manager of Mars Wrigley France.

She has been at the business for two decades having first joined Wrigley in 2004, prior to its merger with Mars, as a senior category manager for Tesco and Asda.

She says learning about the “changing expectations and needs” of both consumers and retail customers is something that has driven her career over the past 20 years.

In her new role, Domange says she will “develop and consolidate” Mars Wrigley’s customer strategy, by creating “innovative growth levers to actively pursue our development of the category and achieve our sustainable growth ambitions”.Inside Mars Wrigley’s transformation to keep ahead of consumers

Marc Carena, regional president for Mars Wrigley Europe, Central Eurasia, Belarus and Turkey, says: “Stéphanie’s in-depth knowledge of the group and her solid customer expertise are real assets to enable Mars Wrigley to achieve its ambitions in Europe.”

He adds he will be working with Domange to “strengthen the development” of the company’s customer strategy.

During her time as head of Mars Wrigley France, Domange helped to consolidate market growth through the implementation of a more agile and efficient organisational structure. She also helped accelerate the group’s commitments to sustainable development, such as responsible cocoa sourcing.

Marketing Week spoke to Mars Wrigley’s chief brand officer Rankin Carroll earlier this year about how he has been reshaping the organisation’s global branding and content to get closer to customers.

The shift has been driven in part by the emergence of consumer data, which has allowed for a much greater understanding of the consumer journey to purchase. He said “following the consumer” has also allowed Mars to create much more personalised communications to reach particular audiences.