Mazda North American Operations (MNAO) has appointed Dino Bernacchi, 47, to the newly created role of chief marketing officer for the company’s U.S. operations. Based at the company’s Irvine, Calif. headquarters, Bernacchi will report to MNAO president and CEO, as well as Mazda Motor Company’s global CMO, Masahiro Moro. Bernacchi’s appointment is effective on May 1, 2017.
In this new role, Bernacchi will oversee all aspects of brand communications for Mazda in the U.S. Specifically, he will be tasked with examining every touch point that affects a customer’s interaction with Mazda, from the earliest discovery phase of new-car shopping, through the research and purchase, to ownership and ultimately through to repurchase, and developing an overarching strategy to deliver clear, precise, consistent messages that support the Mazda Premium brand vision. His responsibility will be more than conventional marketing, and Russell Wager, currently VP, Marketing, who will report to Bernacchi, will continue to oversee Mazda’s external communications activities.
In addition, Bernacchi will have responsibility for the design, development, and execution of the strategies and processes required to deliver Mazda messaging in the ever-evolving multi-channel world; enhance customer engagement with Mazda; and respond to accelerating changes in technological and digital innovation and rapidly changing consumer behavior.
“The need to hone our company’s focus as a provider of exceptional customer experiences at every touchpoint with our brand, through our communications, with our vehicles and handled by our network of Mazda dealerships, has never been more clear,” said Moro regarding why the addition of a CMO to the MNAO team is critical to the company’s future success in the U.S. “As customer tastes and expectations change, and Mazda moves itself to a new, more premium, position in the industry, it is critical that Mazda be laser-focused in our approach to how we tell our proud brand story at every touchpoint in the customer’s journey with us. Dino’s leadership experience in doing exactly that in the past is why he is perfectly suited for this role at Mazda.”
Bernacchi joins MNAO with 23 years of experience in marketing communications, and proven successes in telling compelling brand stories in order to capture customers’ interests, ultimately leading to brand and sales successes. He has worked on both the agency, supplier and in-house aspects of the communications business, with skills honed at Campbell-Ewald Advertising, Visteon, General Motors and, most recently, as marketing director at Harley-Davidson Motor Company.
