Unilever’s Marc Mathieu joins Samsung
Marc Mathieu has left Unilever – where he was SVP of marketing – to join Samsung, The Drum understands.
Rumours of a move to the Korean company have been rife since earlier this year, when it was reported that Mathieu was in talks to replace Todd Pendleton, the CMO of Samsung's US mobile division who left in April.
Samsung is expected to formally announce the appointment imminently.
Mathieu joined Unilever from Coca-Cola in 2011 to become second in command of marketing at the FMCG giant, reporting into Keith Weed, global marketing and communications officer.
Alongside Weed and he has spent over two years developing the 'Crafting Brands for Life’ strategy introduced to help Unilever bring more creativity and put people and purpose at the core of its 400 brands.
A Unilever spokesperson said: “We thank him for his achievements here and wish him all the best in his new role.”
Mathieu recently spoke on the mobile sector, telling an audience at IAB Mobile engage that an implant will be the next phase of connectivity.
"People are always on, never offline. That is the next frontier. Now we have it on our wrist, but I would be surprised if we don't do it in an implant form pretty soon. Why have it on your wrist if you can have it permanently in you?" he said.
"The question is how do we ensure we bring the consumer on the journey with us in this world that is changing? It's easy for us to think technology first, not people first. We must remember we are doing our job as marketers for people first.”
Samsung is understood to be readying the launch of its smartwatch offering alongside the Galaxy Note 5 later this year.
A Samsung spokesperson had not returned The Drum's request for comment at the time of writing.