The announcement comes less than two months after David Ovens left the CMO post for personal reasons
and returned to Australia with his family.
Mr. Niccol most recently was general manager at sibling company
Pizza Hut, and prior to that role, he served as CMO, a role he took on in 2007. Mr. Niccol joined Pizza
Hut in 2005 as VP-strategy. He previously spent a decade at Procter
& Gamble Co. filling in a variety of brand-management
positions.
Yum's U.S. same-store sales declined 3% in the most recent
quarter, which includes declines of 2% at Taco Bell, 3% at Pizza
Hut, and 3% at KFC, though the company's international business has
fared much better. Taco Bell is bracing for more slumping sales
this year, but is predicting a turnaround in 2012. During the
earnings call, Yum chief David Novak said Taco Bell is planning on
unveiling a breakthrough product next year that will "reinvent the
taco," as well as rolling out more items for its breakfast
menu.
Taco Bell's sales have been sluggish this year, and the chain
largely blamed the lawsuit that claimed Taco Bell's advertising was
deceptive because its ground beef was made up mostly of substances
other than beef. The suit prompted Taco Bell to launch a campaign
from agency DraftFCB to
fend off the charges. The suit was withdrawn in April.
But as Taco Bell was responding to the lawsuit with marketing, a
letter from the Franchise Management Advisory Council (Franmac)
surfaced that said, among other things, the council wanted Taco
Bell to re-evaluate the DraftFCB agency relationship.
Taco Bell has since stood by the Interpublic Group of Cos.
agency, and a Taco Bell spokesman said today that there are no
plans to change agencies.
Mr. Novak in July turned to Yum's agencies -- WPP's Ogilvy & Mather
and Interpublic siblings DraftFCB and the Martin Agency -- for
a brainstorming session to help boost U.S. sales for the company's entire
portfolio.
Taco Bell in the first half of 2011 spent about $140 million on
U.S. measured media, according to Kantar. In 2010 it spent about
$275 million, up from $247 the prior year.