Lynn Rotando Leaves Ocean Spray

Onetime Arnold Exec to Join Pile and Co. as Marketing Strategist
BOSTON–Lynn Rotando will leave the top marketing post at Ocean Spray Cranberries after less than a year to join Pile and Co.
Rotando, 55, will develop a marketing consulting practice at the Boston-based management consultant. “Lynn is not going to be working 60 hours a week or by the hour,” said Pile and Co. founder Skip Pile. “I expect he will be on retainer” to a small group of clients, including Ocean Spray, he said.
The hiring of his longtime acquaintance and fellow Villanova alum stems from Pile’s desire to add marketing smarts to his firm, which now has 17 employees. “Lynn has a much more substantive background . . . as a real marketing person than I do,” he said.
Rotando described his venture with Pile as entrepreneurial, “something I’ve always been. I’m not a loner. I like the congeniality of working with others,” he said.
Rotando will have no equity stake in Pile and Co. and no specific performance goals, Pile said.
His departure from Ocean Spray is expected to have no immediate effect on lead agency Arnold Communications in Boston, according to Chris Phillips, a representative at the Lakeville, Mass.-based cranberry cooperative.
“Our relationship with Arnold is solid . . . We don’t expect to be conducting any agency reviews,” said Phillips.
New work in development from Arnold for the Ocean Spray brand will replace current campaigns carrying the tagline, “We only pick the best fruit,” said Rotando, who will not be replaced at Ocean Spray.
“There will be no more me there,” he said.
A brand consulting group Rotando set up at Ocean Spray will now be absorbed under Nancy McDermott and David Murphy, said Rotando. McDermott will run marketing for the “in-home” business unit, while Murphy will oversee marketing for the “out-of-home” division, he said.
The client spent $35 million on ads for its juice cocktail, cranberry juice and food products in 1998, according to Competitive Media Reporting.
Prior to joining Ocean Spray in May as senior vice president of brand development, Rotando was a managing partner at Arnold. He joined the Boston shop in December 1997 with the Ocean Spray account from North Castle Partners, Stamford, Conn.