Mazda Appoints New Group Manager of Brand Strategy

Business Wire, August 31, 1999

IRVINE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 31, 1999--

Mazda North American Operations (MNAO) Tuesday announced the recent appointment of Kristen Simmons to the position of group manager for Brand Strategy and Communications.

Simmons' responsibilities within the company's Marketing Operations Division will include advertising creative, media spending, relationship marketing and marketing research. The division develops communication strategies for the overall Mazda brand as well as the specific models within the lineup.

Before joining the MNAO, Simmons was the Corporate Advertising manager for Ford Motor Company from 1995 to 1999, where she helped develop the communications campaign, "Better Ideas Driven by You," which replaced the long standing "Quality is Job 1."

From 1992 to 1995, Simmons was Division Marketing manager of R.L. Polk, where she launched a line of business-to-business information products. Prior to that, Simmons was responsible for repositioning the girl's apparel brand at Fruit of the Loom, where she was the Assistant Marketing manager.

"Simmons brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to Mazda and we expect her to make significant contributions in our campaign to revitalize the Mazda brand," said Ron Neale, MNAO director of Marketing Operations.

Simmons received her BS in Business from the University of Virginia and went on to achieve her MBA from Northwestern University's Kellogg Graduate School of Business.

Mazda North American Operations is responsible for the sales and marketing, customer parts and service support of Mazda vehicles in the United States. With headquarters in Irvine, MNAO has more than 750 dealerships nationwide and is owned by Mazda Motor Corp., Hiroshima, Japan.