Del Monte Names Bibie Wu CMO

Del Monte Foods has named Bibie Wu chief marketing officer. Wu, who has held executive positions with Henkel, General Mills and other packaged goods giants, will be responsible for all marketing, innovation and R&D initiatives.

Most recently, Wu served as vice president of marketing, head of laundry conditioners and home care at Henkel and vp of marketing for Sun Products (which was acquired by Henkel in 2016). At Henkel, she led the unit’s portfolio, which includes Snuggle, Purex Crystals, Renuzit, Soft Scrub and Combat. She was also in charge of omnichannel and visual branding and served on Henkel’s executive committee. 

Wu is credited with re-invigorating Snuggle with breakthrough product innovation, advertising and digital marketing. This included working on the brand’s Valentine’s Day Snuggle promotion, a popular annual event. Earlier this year, she helped celebrate "National Hug Day" through the creation of a website that let visitors create custom video valentines involving performances from the brand’s Snuggle Bear mascot. Past events included a highly publicized "Snuggle Bear Den" in New York’s Madison Square Park.

Wu also worked at Pepperidge Farm/Campbell Soup Co. and spent 10 years at General Mills. At Mills, she managed customer marketing for the entire portfolio at Walmart & Sam’s Club, developed some of the company’s most successful TV and print ads, and directed the Komen Race for the Cure sponsorship and Save Lids to Save Lives program.

“Bibie’s wealth of knowledge will bring a fresh perspective in helping us unlock growth for our brands,” said Greg Longstreet, chief executive officer of the $1.7 billion Del Monte. “By organizing R&D under her direction along with marketing and innovation, we will improve synergies in bringing products to market.”

Longstreet, who was named CEO in September 2017, has outlined a four-point growth strategy for the brand: building relevance through product differentiation; driving innovation to address shifting consumer habits; expanding distribution into key growth areas (store perimeters and food service); and optimizing the supply chain to make it more efficient.

In 2017, this included implementing a tool that reconciles complex supply chain processes with financial processes. According to the company, budget and planning time has already been cut from a few weeks to a few days; integration and collaboration have significantly improved data accuracy across channels, along with improved reliability and actionability of forecasting and planning; on-the-fly analysis has afforded quick responses to changes in any variable.