MetLife Hires Avon's Hugh Dineen to Lead U.S. Marketing

MetLife has appointed Hugh Dineen, previously global VP for brand marketing and global head of beauty at Avon, to serve as senior VP and U.S. CMO, a new role for the company. Mr. Dineen, who officially came onboard last month, is reporting to Esther Lee, exec VP-global CMO at MetLife. Ms. Lee joined the insurance company at the beginning of the year after serving as senior VP-advertising for AT&T. Some of Mr. Dineen's main tasks include guiding marketing strategies for retail, group, direct, and corporate benefit funding lines of business in the U.S. He's also charged with shaping and executing the brand's domestic marketing strategy. Mr. Dineen said the move from his previous global role at Avon to a U.S.-centric position was "not at all an issue." At Avon, he focused mainly on work outside of the states, so he said it's a "nice next step and great learning for me to work on an even bigger business" in U.S. "What makes MetLife massively exciting to me is its purpose and long history of doing right by people," he said. "It's important for me to work for a company that makes a difference in people's lives." While he said it's too early for him to talk about specific 2016 goals, he noted that MetLife has "a lot of obvious momentum in marketing and revitalizing the brand." He declined to disclose details around marketing spend for the company. This fall, MetLife hired Argonaut as its new global creative agency after a competitive pitch process. Mr. Dineen said the firm has done a terrific job for MetLife so far, and he's looking forward to working with them in 2016. He added that it's too soon to say whether or not the brand will review any other accounts, such as social or digital, in the coming months. MetLife spent nearly $90 million on U.S. measured media in 2014, according to Kantar Media, a bump from $86.4 million in 2013.

MetLife Hires Avon's Hugh Dineen to Lead U.S. Marketing

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