The man behind those Allstate Insurance "mayhem" television ads has been picked to lead marketing at Ford Motor Co.
Mark LaNeve, a former marketing chief at General Motors, will start the new job on Feb. 1. He'll try to reverse Ford's declining sales.
The 55-year-old LaNeve replaces John Felice, who is retiring after 30 years with Ford. LaNeve will be vice president of U.S. marketing, sales and service.
Ford's U.S. sales fell just under 1 percent last year even though the market grew by nearly 6 percent. The company lost almost a full percentage point of market share.
From 2009 until 2012, LaNeve led marketing at Allstate. He launched the popular "mayhem" campaign that features an actor who causes car crashes, fires, and other insurance disasters.
LaNeve left Allstate early in 2012 and later that year joined Global Team Ford, the company's advertising agency. He was named chief operating officer for the agency in August of 2012.
Before Allstate, LaNeve was at General Motors, where he led corporate sales and marketing from 2005 to October of 2009. He also headed the Cadillac brand and once served as North American CEO for Volvo Cars.
"He will be focused on continuing to grow the business by building the Ford brand with innovative new digital communications and transforming the retail experience for customers," Ford said in a statement.
Ford's sales fell last year largely because it closed pickup-truck plants to switch production to the new aluminum-clad F-150.
SMPTE elects board officers, regional governors
SMPTE®,the home of media professionals, technologists, and engineers, has revealed the board officers and regional governors who will serve terms beginning in January 2025.
Three new officers--Richard Welsh as SMPTE president, Eric Gsell as SMPTE executive VP, and Polly Hickling as SMPTE Education VP--have been elected for a two-year term from Jan. 1, 2025, to Dec. 31, 2026. One SMPTE officer, Lisa Hobbs, will be continuing her service as SMPTE secretary and treasurer for another two-year term. Additionally, Raymond Yeung will be stepping into the role of standards VP on Jan. 1, 2025.
“SMPTE’s membership has spoken,” said SMPTE interim executive director Sally-Ann D’Amato. “These officers have been tasked with an important responsibility, one each of them is prepared to tackle head-on. These next two years are looking bright for SMPTE!”
In addition to the officers, 10 regional governors were elected by the Society to serve two-year 2025-2026 terms.
These include the following regional governors, re-elected to continue their service:
Asia-Pacific Region Governor
Tony Ngai, Society of Motion Imaging Ltd.
EMEA - Central & South America Region Governor
Fernando Bittencourt, FB Consultant
United Kingdom Region Governor
Chris Johns, Sky UK.
USA - Central Region Governor
William T. Hayes, Consultant
USA - Eastern Region Governor
Dover Jeanne Mundt, Riedel Communications
USA - Western Region Governor
Jeffrey F. Way, Open Drives
Also elected were four newcomers to the SMPTE Board:
Canada Region Governor
Jonathan Jobin, Grass Valley
USA - Hollywood Region Governor
Allan Schollnick, Voxx... Read More