17 Feb Converse CMO Geoff Cottrill Departs
Converse said Geoff Cottrill, its chief marketing officer, will be leaving the company.
According to a company statement, “Geoff Cottrill, Converse Chief Marketing Officer, will be leaving the company. We thank him for his many contributions to the Converse brand over the last eight years and wish him much success in the future.”
Cottrill joined Converse in 2007 as chief marketing officer. Previously, he had been VP, global entertainment for Starbucks, where he led marketing, category development and international divisions. Before joining Starbucks, Cottrill spent over 9 years at Coca-Cola Company as group director worldwide, entertainment marketing after beginning his career at Procter & Gamble.
Under Cottrill’s watch, Converse launched Rubber Tracks, a recording studio in the Williamsburg neighborhood in Brooklyn. Since the flagship studio opened in Brooklyn in July 2011, over 900 emerging artists have recorded original music at no cost. The artists retain all of the rights to their own music. Over the past three years, the program has expanded through pop-up studios to communities including Austin, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, Montreal, Sao Paulo, Beijing, Amsterdam, London, Hamburg, Paris, and Mexico City.
Last spring/summer, he oversaw the “Made by You,” in which fans’ personalities were infused in the products. Campaign. The images from the campaign contained Chucks from famous artists like Andy Warhol and singer Patti Smith. Converse also used the virtual reality Google Cardboard experience to engage with fans.
Most recently, Cottrill helped launch the Chuck II, an updated version of the classic Chuck Taylor featuring Nike’s Luralon cushioning material in what was largest launch in the brand’s history.
Converse has also built a rabid fan base across social media. It ranks in the top ten among most popular brands on Facebook, with 37.5 million fans, according to social media analytics firm Social Bakers, fans than Adidas and parent Nike combined.
“I love the people I got to work with and I’m grateful and honored to have been able to lead an iconic and global brand,” said Cotrill, according to Advertising Age. “I feel like we did some really innovative things in experiential marketing and with consumer engagement, we built a great social media network, and we had a lot of fun doing it. I’m extremely optimistic about the future of Converse, and I’m very excited about what’s ahead for me.”
The Advertising Age article indicated that Cotrill isn’t sure what his next career move will be.