Mondelez World Travel Retail (WTR) Marketing Director Dogus Kezer has left his role effective from the end of August.
He is succeeded by the highly regarded Anna Somogyi, who returns to WTR in the newly created role of Director Category, Customer & Shopper Marketing after serving as Director of International Customer Insights, Strategy & Activation at Mondelēz Europe.
Mondelez World Travel Retail (WTR) said it is merging its marketing functions under a single leadership position “to enhance the consumer journey and streamline operations.
It added: “This strategic shift aims to provide travellers with a more seamless shopping experience while fostering growth-oriented dialogue with partners.”
Kezer, said the company, has been instrumental in driving growth and innovation and “has had a profound impact on the company over the past seven years”. He played a key role in transforming the brand portfolio, notably through the development and roll-out of Toblerone’s New Equity and the award-winning Cadbury FC campaign.
Somogyi held multiple leadership positions at Mondelez WTR between 2008 and 2015 in both consumer and customer marketing. A key element was the creation and launch of Mondelez’s ‘Delighting Traveler’ confectionery category vision.
Somogyi brings over ten years of consumer marketing experience from both developed and developing countries.
The company said: “She has led brand equity projects, reshaped portfolios and always brought brands closer to consumers through a collaborative approach. In the last eight years, Anna held multiple strategy roles in Mondelēz Europe region, both in marketing and sales.
“She played a critical role in the company’s digital transformation strategy; how Mondelez shifted to digital engagement and optimised commercial processes. She now brings all these robust experiences back to travel retail.
“More recently, Anna has led channel and customer strategy and was a driving force behind insights-driven joint value creation that helped to shift retailer dialogues from tactical conflicts to mutually beneficial category growth discussions. As a leader, Anna cares deeply about people and growing her team and is a vocal advocate for greater diversity and inclusion.”
Somogyi said: “I am thrilled to come back home to the travel retail channel and work with the greatest team in the industry. We are crafting the best programme with three key growth drivers, starting with increased differentiation between domestic markets and travel.
“We have strong brands but when we add travel retail magic and introduce the element of exclusivity, we boost purchases. Secondly, we continue to reframe our portfolio to ensure that shopper needs, and critical price thresholds are in sync.
“Thirdly, we will drive innovation to go beyond products to bring unique experiences to duty free, to drive up value perception. This is an exciting time to be back in the realm of travel retail; I’m looking forward to seeing our partners at TFWA Cannes as we look ahead to continued growth and partnership.”
Kezer said: “Over the past seven years, I have had the privilege of working with an incredibly talented team. Together, we have driven dynamic initiatives and have pushed the boundaries of innovation in travel retail to delight travellers in a profound and memorable way.
“It has been a rewarding journey to see Mondelez’s brand portfolio evolve with the times and technology. It has been an honour to have been a part of a company so synonymous with travel. I am proud of what was accomplished in my time here and I look forward to watching Mondelez WTR’s continued growth and success from afar.” ✈
