Lactalis seeks a chief marketing officer after Fonterra deal

Lactalis Australia has started an executive search for a national chief marketing officer following the completion of its $3.5bn acquisition of Fonterra’s Mainland consumer portfolio. The newly created position will report to the chief executive and will cover marketing and brand activity across the enlarged Australian business.

The recruitment follows the departure of Michelle Scalzi, who left after 12 and a half years in marketing and innovation roles at Fonterra’s Australasian retail business. Lactalis is seeking an executive to bring its Australian marketing activities together after the Mainland dairy division was added to its existing corporate structure.

Expanded brand portfolio

Lactalis’s Australian portfolio now includes Pauls fresh and long-life milk, Oak flavoured milk, Jalna pot-set yoghurt and Western Star butter, as well as Mainland cheese and butter. Before the acquisition, marketing and commercial responsibilities were organised across separate operating units and regional brands. The new CMO will be responsible for coordinating activity across those businesses.

The company is also reorganising product-development responsibilities. Consumer innovation work has moved into a larger research and development division serving Lactalis’s broader manufacturing network, following the departure of senior product developers. The group’s Australian production assets include butter plants, cheese storage facilities, yoghurt fermentation equipment and fluid-milk bottling sites.

Commercial and supply operations

Lactalis said the marketing role would cover promotional activity and brand development across mass-market dairy products and higher-value specialty lines. The company has also been combining manufacturing operations and research functions within the enlarged business. Products identified in the company’s plans include high-protein drinks, digestive-health yoghurts and lactose-free dairy products.

Lactalis sources daily milk supplies from hundreds of farmers in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland for regional processing facilities and national retail agreements. Its Australian activities supply the brands acquired from Fonterra alongside the company’s existing products. The search for the chief marketing officer was reported by Mumbrella.