MrBeast's Company Promotes St. Jacques to First CMO
Beast Industries, the company behind YouTuber Jimmy Donaldson, known as MrBeast, has named its first chief marketing officer. Business Insider reported the appointment first. The job goes to Michelle St. Jacques, who has been president of consumer goods at the company since February.
In the new role she adds marketing for the holding company to her current duties. She will keep overseeing consumer goods, which includes Feastables, the snack and candy brand. She is based in Chicago.
An internal hire after an outside search
The company began looking for a CMO earlier this year. CEO Jeff Housenbold wrote in a memo to staff that he had considered external candidates but concluded St. Jacques was the best person for the job.
"She has served as both CMO and Chief Commercial Officer and built iconic consumer brands like Dove, Heinz, Miller Lite, and Coors Light," he wrote. He also called her "a world-class people leader."
Her remit, as Housenbold described it, covers three areas. She will define the MrBeast brand and make sure everything the company does fits the same positioning. She will lead marketing for MrBeast and partner brands. She will also oversee the viral marketing team. Housenbold saw an opportunity to lean into e-commerce and performance marketing to drive customer acquisition and retention.
St. Jacques joined after a slowdown in Feastables' growth. The brand she now markets is meant to rely less on its famous founder. Her work ranges from drawing people to theatrical releases to selling snacks and toys in stores. Donaldson lent his voice to "Angry Birds Movie 3," due in December.
The company has grown well beyond its YouTube channel, which has more than 524 million subscribers.
Beast Industries has also added several senior executives lately. Beyond Feastables, it has started to move into financial services by buying the Step app, and it has a mobile phone service in the works.
Source: Business Insider