KFC Asia CMO to join Westpac as chief brand and marketing officer

Annabel Fribence is joining Westpac Group in November as chief brand and marketing officer, moving on from her CMO, Asia Central role at KFC Asia under Yum! Brands. She will report to Chris de Bruin, chief executive consumer and business banking and be part of his leadership team. The role services the broader Westpac Group, including retail and business marketing. More specifically, she will be responsible for the brand, creative and marketing direction for the Group’s portfolio of brands, including Westpac, BT, St.George, Bank of Melbourne, BankSA, and RAMS.

De Bruin said Fribence is both creative and commercially minded, with significant experience working for major brands in Australia and Asia. "Fribence will have a critical part in helping us to strengthen connection and engagement with our customers, stakeholders, and communities across Australia. I know she will be a great advocate for our people, brands, and customers," he added.

In a LinkedIn post, Fribence said Westpac brand has a long and rich history in Australia, and she is delighted to be returning home to be part of shaping the future of the brand and marketing direction for the Group.

"I have had an incredible journey at KFC and leaving the wonderful team is bittersweet. I’ve had the privilege of seeing first-hand the power of a brand built from celebrating its strengths, its people-first internal culture, and combining this with creative bravery," she added. Among the list of countries under the Asia Central remit include Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Taiwan. MARKETING-INTERACTIVE understands Fribence's replacement has yet to be named and has reached out to Yum! Brands for comment.

She joined KFC in 2013 as marketing director based in Sydney before rising up the ranks to helm roles such as group marketing director and acting CMO, Australia. Before that, she was marketing manager, strategic projects at Pernod Ricard and senior brand and strategy manager at McDonald's Corporation. According to her LinkedIn, Fribence also spent more than six years at Foster's Group, helming roles such as senior brand manager, assistant brand manager, and market activation manager. 

Westpac is one of the four major banking organisations in Australia and offers a broad range of consumer, business and institutional banking and wealth management services through a portfolio of financial services brands and businesses. It was established in 1817 as the Bank of New South Wales before changing its name to Westpac Banking Corporation in 1982.

In June, Yum! Brands named Madhav Nayak as CMO of KFC Asia to oversee the Greater China region which MARKETING-INTERACTIVE understands includes Indonesia, Japan, Myanmar and South Korea. A few months before that, Angelina Villanueva was appointed to the marketing director role at KFC Asia under Yum! Brands, reporting to Fribence.

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