Popular social networking giant, Facebook, has announced the hiring of its first CMO, Gary Briggs. A veteran of Google Inc. and EBay Inc. Briggs will be responsible for building Facebook's appeal and reputation among its 1.15 billion members and promoting new products.
According to Bloomberg, Briggs most recently served as an advisor to the head of Google's Motorola Mobility division. He will be replacing Eric Antonow who is leaving product marketing to pursue a project involving education, according to an e-mail sent out from the company. Since it's rocky initial public offering in May of 2012, the company has invested in high-production advertisements. For example, Facebook shot a promotional video directed by Academy Award-nominated director Alejandro Gonzalex Inarritu, as well as a series of clips showing off its Home application for Android phones.
"Telling the story of such an important and still very young brand is an incredible opportunity, and I cannot wait to get started," Briggs wrote in an e-mailed statement according to Bloomberg.
Briggs shifted to Motorola last year after working for Google since 2010. Before that he was a vice president at Ebay, working in its payments unit at PayPal. He also ran the gift-card startup Plastic Jungle. He will now report as CMO to Chis Cox, Facebook's vice president of product.
The hiring of Briggs shakes up the branding of Facebook as it attempts to market itself to potential customers and users as more of a product than a brand. Briggs role, according to ZDNet, will be to add analytics and structure to the company's efforts. He will have to answer the question of how to expand upon something that everyone already uses.
The question still remains as to how much money Briggs will have to spend on expanding Facebook's scope and customer base. Typically CMOs have money to spend around, especially at an executive level, most aligned with growth and revenue. Only time will tell what Briggs can bring to the table and if he will expand Facebook to even greater heights.
