Nissan Unveils New Marketing Structure

Nissan North America has restructured its marketing organization and tapped Jack Collins to head up a new marketing and product planning unit for the Nissan and Infiniti divisions.
Collins will report to Jed Connelly, svp, sales and marketing on Nissan’s six-member North American management team. That team was developed last fall as part of the corporate restructuring.
Collins most recently was director of product strategy at Torrance, Calif.-based Nissan North America. All members of the new marketing structure will now report to Collins.
Scott Fessenden, director of Nissan marketing, and Steve Kight, director of Infiniti marketing, both get expanded responsibilities.
The moves are part of an ongoing global reorganization at French automaker Renault, which recently acquired a 37 percent stake in Nissan’s Japanese corporate parent.
The Nissan team at TBWA\Chiat\Day, Playa del Rey, Calif., which handles both brands, is also in flux.
Steve Goldman, who played a major role in growing the Nissan and Infiniti accounts from $150 million in billings to more than $500 million, moved to BBDO West, Los Angeles, in March. In January, TBWA\C\D hired Michael Allen from Nike Canada to replace Nissan group account director Robert LePlae, who was transferred to Japan to head a joint TBWA/Hakuhodo operation servicing Nissan there [Adweek, Dec. 6].
In November, Rob Siltanen, who oversaw creative on Nissan, left to start his own agency.
The new structure at Nissan creates a division-specific marketing focus. In other moves, John Rinek takes on direct media and agency management, and Takeo Kitamura was promoted to vp, pricing, research and brand management.
The biggest change comes for Rinek, previously director of advertising, who surrenders creative and marketing communications responsibilities to Fessenden and Kight.
–with James Zolta