X puts Angela Zepeda (formerly of Hyundai) at the helm of its marketing department
The reputation of X, the social network once known as Twitter, has suffered serious damage in the last two years. The company has, however, become aware of the problem and seems determined to finally solve it. For this reason, X has signed Angela Zepedawho until recently was professionally linked to Hyundai, to take on the role of global head of marketing, a position that had remained vacant until now on Elon Musk’s social network.
Linda Yaccarino, CEO of X, announced Zepeda’s hiring on Monday, stressing the need to “recruit an exceptional leader like Angela to spur our transformation.”. According to Yaccarino, Zepeda understands perfectly how to grow a brand on a global scale and is therefore “the right person to lead X’s marketing department as we accelerate innovation in the company.”
X’s new global head of marketing cut ties with Hyundai about two weeks ago and he did so shortly after his role within the South Korean car manufacturer changed from chief marketing officer to chief creative officer.
Zepeda and Yaccarino have been friends for years. And both apparently know each other from the time when the CEO of X worked in advertising in the television industry before joining X.
Since Elon Musk acquired Twitter in October 2022, the social network’s marketing team has been largely dismantled ((Like many other divisions within the company.) When Musk took over Twitter, there were massive layoffs at the social network. And those cuts also affected Leslie Berland, Twitter’s chief marketing officer until the South African arrived on the scene. After Berland left Twitter about two years ago, there has not been a position similar to the one she previously held at the social network.
At X there has been no one at the helm of the marketing department since Leslie Berland left two years ago.
Musk has always been reluctant to use traditional marketing strategies, as is clearly evident in Tesla.The famous electric car manufacturer, of which Musk is COE, deliberately avoids traditional advertising.
Over the past two years Elon Musk has become the main spokesperson for Xwhere he is also the user with the most followers: 197 million people. From his account on X Musk has recently sought support for Donald Trump, the Republican Party candidate for the White House.
The South African tycoon is accustomed to posting controversial messages on X and specifically aimed in many cases at causing polarization.
However, The polarization that Elon Musk advocates on X does not please advertisers at all, who have fled the microblogging network en masse in the last two years. for fear of compromising the sacrosanct “brand safety” of this platform. It so happens that Hyundai, the company from which the new global head of marketing for X comes from, has been one of the advertisers that have given the social network the cold shoulder in recent months. The South Korean multinational paused its advertising on X at the beginning of this year after a series of reports that warned that ads on this platform were being placed next to content of an anti-Semitic nature.
Hyundai hired Angela Zepeda as Hyundai CMO in October 2019 After successfully leading the creative account for the South Korean automotive company at the Innocean USA agency, Zepeda was removed from her CMO position on July 31 when the company decided to split its marketing department leadership in two. Sean Gilpin then became Hyundai’s new chief marketing officer, while Zepeda became chief creative officer for the South Korean company.
Zepeda left Hyundai less than a month after the change took placewhich ultimately prompted the company to promote Gilpin to CMO.
“After an incredible five-year journey as Hyundai’s CMO/CCO, I’m excited to shift gears and embark on a new adventure as global head of marketing for X,” says Zepeda on your LinkedIn profile.
