Chuck Fruit, the chief marketing officer for the Coca-Cola Co. is stepping down just months after his position had been diminished amid a restructuring. The CMO position will be eliminated, according to news reports.
Fruit, 58, joined Coke in 1991. He will remain on as a senior advisor, a post he begins next year, to focus on new media strategies, sports and entertainment marketing initiatives and key relationships, according to news reports that cited a memo he sent to employees.
In March, Mary E. Minnick, the president and COO of the company’s Asia division, had been assigned to lead a new corporate function that integrated marketing, innovation and strategic growth. Fruit then reported to Minnick, while retaining his title as CMO.
In one report, Fruit said he helped create the marketing group that effectively eliminated the traditional CMO role, but that he worked with Minnick to define the advisory role he will assume next year.
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