Dunkin' Brands announces more executive changes
October 11, 2009
Dunkin' Brands, parent company of Dunkin' Donuts and Baskin-Robbins, continues to undergo management changes under first-year CEO Nigel Travis. The company has named consumer and retail industry veteran John Costello to the newly-created position of chief global customer and marketing officer. Executives leaving the company include Frances Allen, who spent two years as Dunkin' Donuts brand marketing officer, and chief legal counsel Stephen Horn, a move Travis notified franchisees about last week, according to a story by Blue MauMau.
Costello will join the Dunkin' Brands executive leadership team, reporting directly to Travis. He will oversee Dunkin' Donuts' strategic worldwide marketing efforts and brand identity, serving as head of the Dunkin' Donuts U.S. marketing team and partnering with the operations team to further drive sales. He also will provide functional direction to the Dunkin' Donuts international marketing team, as well as Baskin-Robbins U.S. and international marketing teams.
With Costello's arrival, Allen, who was recently honored by Brandweek for her marketing efforts for the company, has decided to step down after two years of leadership. During Allen's tenure, she helped solidify Dunkin' Donuts' position as a coffee leader, launched the successful DDSMART menu of healthier choices and developed award-winning marketing campaigns designed to drive traffic, promote the company's everyday value offerings and further underscore the "America Runs on Dunkin" slogan.
Costello, an early pioneer of multi-channel marketing, has served as the executive vice president of merchandising and marketing at The Home Depot as well as held executive positions at Sears, Nielsen Marketing Research U.S., Yahoo!, The Procter & Gamble Co. and Pepsi-Cola USA.
Costello was named one of the 30 Most Influential People in Marketing by Advertising Age, one of the Top 10 Merchants by DSN Retailing Today and was elected to the Retail Advertising Hall of Fame. He also is a director of The Ace Hardware Corp.
Controversial chief legal counsel resigns
According to BlueMauMau,controversial chief legal counsel Horn, who has lead a large number of lawsuits against franchisees, is leaving to pursue new opportunities after 10 years with Dunkin' Brands. Arthur Anastos, director and managing counsel, will assume management of the legal department on an interim basis.
BlueMauMau reporter Janet Sparks wrote in a guest blog for BusinessWeek that Dunkin' Brands filed more than 125 lawsuits against franchisees in 2007 and 2008. Dunkin' Donuts Independent Franchise Owners president Jim Coen issued a letter to members stating the the association favors a more collaborative approach to reconciling the issues under litigation but Dunkin' has not shown interest as of yet in doing so. From BusinessWeek:
In past years, Dunkin' has been accused of its hardball tactics against small operators, terminating their contracts and turning their stores over to large multi-unit operators. When asked if Dunkin' is still aggressively trying to get rid of the small operators, (Eric Karp, Witmer, Karp, Warner & Ryan, representing the independent franchisee association) said, "It certainly seems that way to me."...
Dunkin's director of public relations Michelle King issued this statement regarding the franchisor's litigation.
"Dunkin'Brands has never pursued litigation against a franchisee without clear cause, nor will we. When our Loss Prevention group researches an inquiry, it is done in the most thorough, professional, transparent and ethical manner that adheres to all legal guidelines. Additionally, we do not differentiate between small and large operator networks or discriminate in any manner."
