Australian-born period and incontinence underwear brand Modibodi has made several redundancies to its in-house creative team and dispensed with the services of its longstanding chief marketing officer, Liana Lorenzato (pictured), B&T understands.
Updated 6/2/24: Added statement from Modibodi and clarified the position of the lead copywriter and creative lead.
Lorenzato joined the firm in 2016 as its marketing and public relations manager, before rising through the ranks to become its global marketing and CX director in 2020 and then global CMO later that year.
The brand also saw fit to eliminate the job roles of most of its in-house creative team over the past few weeks, according to a source familiar with the matter. Jacque Kennedy and Grace O’Brien, the lead copywriter and creative lead, respectively, both resigned their positions at the start of January and were unaffected by the redundancies.
Modibodi confirmed to B&T in a statement that a “small number” of redundancies had been made.
“We can confirm that Modibodi has made a number of organisation changes designed to support the growth of the business locally and internationally. The changes have resulted in a small number of redundancies. We are committed to working with the people affected to ensure they are supported through the change process,” the brand said.
There have been several changes within the Modibodi setup recently. After founding the company in 2013, Kirsty Chong sold the brand to Swedish health company Essity for $140 million in July 2022, stepping down as CEO in the process.
Last August, it was announced that Kerry Cusack would be stepping into the CEO/executive director role as Chong’s replacement.
The timing of Lorenzato’s departure is confounding given that just last week it was announced that Bread Agency had been appointed to manage Modibodi’s global social media operations. Bread Agency told B&T that they were unaware of the change to the CMO but were unable to comment further.
“As a brand we are continually looking to innovate and always push the boundaries when it comes to our marketing and communications,” said Cusack last week.
“Social media plays a key role in telling our story and bringing new audiences into the fold, which is why we are excited to work with Bread to build on what we’ve done and create bold new work with impact going forward. Bread Agency will play an important role in elevating our brand globally”.
Currently, Publicis-owned agency Zenith handles Modibodi’s media work. Its creative was largely handled internally with Howatson+Company operating on a project basis for the brand.
More to follow.
