Greg Creed will become Taco Bell Corp.’s third chief marketing officer in four years, replacing Kip Knight who left quietly several months ago.
In his most recent position as chief marketing officer for Tricon Restaurants International, Creed developed the Taco Bell brand in Australia, company officials said. His work included new product development, marketing calendar initiatives and brand differentiating advertising.
“Greg is an exceptional leader with a proven track record of building brands around the globe and achieving strong sales growth,” said Emil Brolick, president and chief concept officer of Taco Bell Corp. “His strategic vision, focus on results, and ability to build strong franchise relationships make him the ideal candidate for our chief marketing officer.”
Brolick has been acting as chief marketing officer since January. He hired FCB Southern California in Costa Mesa last summer to handle the chain’s $200 million creative advertising account and expanded its role last month to include Taco Bell’s merchandising efforts.
Creed will join the company’s Irvine headquarters in early May.
Prior to joining Tricon in 1994, Creed had brand management and positioning experience with Lever Brothers, where he was global brand manager for Dove soap and led the launch of Lever 2000. At Taco Bell, Creed will oversee advertising efforts for some 7,200 restaurants nationwide with system-wide sales of $5.2 billion.
Creed has quite the challenge ahead of him. He joins the brand at a time when Taco Bell, one of three fast-food brands owned by Tricon Global Restaurants in Kentucky, has reported declining same-store sales in the past four quarters.
Taco Bell same-store sales fell 5% last year and have dropped for the first three months of 2001, down 4% in March, 6% in February and 10% in January. Taco Bell’s same-store sales are expected to fall further in the first half of this year, before turning positive in the second half, company officials said. Tricon’s same-store sales were down 2% in 2000.
