LPGA Hires CMO

After a long period of inactivity I get to blog about my favorite subject – the LPGA. This time it might be good news, but, as with everything else in the world of Ms. Bivens, we'll just have to wait and see. This time she has created a new position, the CMO (that's Chief Marketing Officer for all of us who are not up on the latest corporate speak), and has selected William F. Susetka to fill the position. (Darn, if I'd only known the position was open.) She made this announcement yesterday, Nov. 29, 2006, on the first day of the Q-School finals, which may give you some idea as to why she needs some marketing assistance. Trying to snatch away the spotlight from the players during a crucial event does not seems like a particularly great marketing move. The players are the product and you don't upstage them in any way. Susetka will not assume the position until Jan. 2, 2007 so the announcement could have waited a few days.

Susetka has outstanding credentials, at least as far as the ladies are concerned: Most recently, Susetka served as chief operating officer of Nice-Pak Products (2005-06). Prior to that, he was president of Global Marketing for Avon Products Inc. (2002-05), where he led double-digit beauty growth for three years and introduced the most successful new product launches for skin care and fragrance in Avon history with Anew Clinical, Cellu-Sculpt and the Today, Tomorrow, Always fragrance trilogy. Well, at least the ladies will smell nice. And I would appreciate some feedback on the meaning of double-digit beauty growth. No, wait, let me guess. This means that there are now twice as many beautiful women in the world as there were in 2002.

And one of Susetka's responsibilities will be to oversee emerging media departments. We can only assume that this means the Internet unless we're talking about satellite transmissions to another galaxy. And with the Internet comes bloggers. Maybe, perhaps, hopefully, this guy will get the picture and allow faithful bloggers into the Media Tent. He just might open up a whole new world of positive feedback for the LPGA.