On January 26, Twitter CEO, Jack Dorsey, announced Leslie Berland as the latest addition to his executive leadership team, joining as the company’s new Chief Marketing Officer (CMO).
Dorsey hopes that Berland, who previously served as senior VP of digital partnerships at American Express, will boost Twitter’s slowing growth. He tweeted:
Welcoming @leslieberland to Twitter! She will join as our CMO to help tell the stories of our iconic product!
— jack (@jack) January 26, 2016
At American Express, Berland led a four-year advertising campaign that put a heavy focus on social media websites, including Twitter and Facebook, as well as Apple’s mobile platform iAd. Under Berland’s leadership, which also saw her manage American Express’ brand identity, sponsorships and content, American Express went from a company with practically no online presence to being a strong social media player with a loyal online customer community in just a few years. As such, Berland is a well-known name in Silicone Valley and was even named a “Brand Genius” by Adweek in 2012.
At American Express, Berland led a four-year advertising campaign that put a heavy focus on social media websites, including Twitter and Facebook
While the appointment comes in the wake of the news four executives have left Twitter, Dorsey had actually been searching for a new CMO for months, while CFO Anthony Noto headed Twitter’s first major advertising campaign in the meantime.
Twitter’s overhaul comes at a tumultuous time for the social media giant, which despite having a monthly average of over 300 million active users experienced a stock plunge of 35 percent in 2015.
The company’s failure to attract new users has been attributed to many finding the platform difficult to use and navigate. To combat slow growth, Twitter has begun working on ways to make the site easier to use for new users during the sign-up process. Dorsey also made a deal with Google in 2015 to have tweets appear in searches, enabling it to promote content to those without an account, while a new feature called ‘Moments’ was added last December to provide a space for users to follow breaking news.
Given the major changes taking place at Twitter, it will be an interesting year for the social media giant, and one which could actually mark a turnaround in terms of growth, especially with Berland now on board to work her marketing magic.