Deepika Warrier steps down as Diageo CMO, Ruchira Jaitly likely to succeed

Ruchira Jaitly, who is currently the executive vice president of marketing at Diageo, is most likely to succeed Warrier

Deepika Warrier, chief marketing officer (CMO) of Diageo India, is moving on from her current role, an Economic Times (ET) report said.

The PepsiCo veteran had joined Diageo India three years ago.

Ruchira Jaitly is expected to succeed Warrier. Jaitly is currently the executive vice-president of marketing at Diageo.

Warrier's journey at PepsiCO

Warrier joined Diageo as its CMO in July 2020. She managed a portfolio of 22 brands for PepsiCo for nearly two decades, including eight brands with annual sales exceeding Rs 2,000 crore.

She also served as MD and CEO of NourishCo, a joint venture between PepsiCo and Tata Global Beverages, in her last position with the beverage giant.

 

Warrier, who wanted to be an anthropologist or archaeologist, ended up in marketing after someone suggested she take the CAT entrance exams.

Warrier kicked off her career with Britannia after completing her MBA from IIM-B. She later joined the agency business with a stint at Ogilvy.

Following this assignment, she worked briefly for Gillette in Delhi before moving on to PepsiCo in 2000, where she was in charge of Frito Lays. She moved to beverage management after working on the snacks side of the business. Her PepsiCo assignment also landed her international stints in Mexico and Dubai.

Jaitly's career journey

Jaitly began her career as a management trainee at Hindustan Lever (now Hindustan Unilever). The demanding sales assignment took her to markets such as Western Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan for selling the personal care products portfolio of the consumer goods major.

She quickly advanced to brand activation and innovation, and was part of the team that first introduced Sunsilk's extension into hair colour in India.

At PepsiCo, Jaitly’s experience straddled the portfolio across beverages and snacks by managing brands like Mountain Dew and Kurkure respectively.

Her career also included a stint at HMD Global leading product planning, marketing and go-to-market for the extremely competitive category of mobile devices for Nokia.