Pepsi chief marketing officer Todd Kaplan is stepping down after 17 years with the business.
The marketer confirmed that he was leaving to “pursue an opportunity outside of the company” in a LinkedIn post.
“This was not an easy decision for me because PepsiCo has been like a family to me for almost two decades,” he wrote, saying that he was off to “learn a completely new business” and apply his talents in “entirely different ways.”
ADWEEK reached out to PepsiCo to confirm how it will fill the now vacant marketing position at its flagship brand, but the company had yet to reply at the time of writing.
The move comes amid a time of change for PepsiCo, which owns brands including Doritos, Walkers and Quaker. In May, vice president of sports, entertainment and gaming Kalen Thornton left to join Pizza Hut as global chief brand officer. Elsewhere, senior vp and CMO of energy drinks Fabiola Torres left to join Gap as global CMO.
The company also recently hired former Kraft Heinz Continental Europe CMO Paula Marconi as CMO in Europe to “strengthen” its presence across the region.
This week, Pepsi lost its crown as American’s second favorite soda (after Coca-Cola). As per data from Beverage Digest, Coke claimed 19% of the market in 2023 and Dr Pepper claimed 8.3%, narrowly edging Pepsi out of its long-held runner-up position. In the most recent financial quarter, sales volume in Pepsi’s beverage unit fell 5%.
A tall legacy
Kaplan held many roles at PepsiCo, including senior positions in its sports marketing, Mountain Dew and water teams.
In 2022, he took on the Pepsi CMO role with responsibility for creative, brand strategy, product innovation and commercial execution across its eponymous brand, diet and sugar-free variations, as well as others including sparkling water drink Bubly.
Core to his strategy was putting Pepsi back into the cultural zeitgeist. This included rebooting the Pepsi Super Bowl Halftime Show platform, which featured artists including Jennifer Lopez and Shakira, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem and The Weeknd, before Apple swooped in to secure the National Football League rights.
He also oversaw a series of NFT (nonfungible token) releases called “Pepsi Mic Drop” to further the beverage giant’s longstanding association with the music industry and led Pepsi and its sister brands in experiments with live virtual events on metaverse platforms.