Rod Manley leaving position of Burberry Chief Marketing Officer

Rod Manley is to leave his position as Chief Marketing Officer of Burberry at the end of 2024, ending a six-year stint at the UK luxury fashion label.
 

Manley, one of the most experienced executives in PR, communications and marketing in the fashion industry, joined Burberry back in January 2019 from Calvin Klein in New York.
 
Initially, Manley reported to then CEO Marco Gobbetti. When the Italian executive departed for Ferragamo, he began reporting to his successor, and current CEO, Jonathan Akeroyd who took command in 2021.

Manley, 48, will leave Burberry at the end of the current year, a company spokesman confirmed. The London-based brand has begun a search for his replacement.
 
Fluent in Italian, French and his native English, Manley first successfully dealt with creative director Riccardo Tisci for three years at Burberry, before then seamlessly beginning to partner with Tisci’s successor, British-born designer Daniel Lee.
 
Known for his impressive media contacts and forward-thinking views on communications, Burberry staged the biggest shows in the UK runway season during Manley’s tenure, climaxing with its latest show in February inside a giant tent in north London.
 
Its front-row dazzled with Olivia Colman, Joanna Lumley, Joel Edgerton and Jonathan Bailey; rapper Skepta; and ‘It Gals’ Jourdan Dunn, Lily Allen, Georgia May Jagger, Cara Delevingne and Lila Moss. As did its after party in Marylebone, where football stars Ben Chilwell, Bukayo Saka and Dele Alli partied late.
 
While his inventive use of fresh ambassadors for the brand – from thespian Barry Keoghan and Korean soccer star Son Heung-min for men and award-winning Chinese actress Tang Wei for women – kept the label fresh.

However, in the past month Burberry has been buffeted by news that its CFO Kate Ferry would take a leave of absence after unscheduled surgery, as well as by the less than stellar results for full-year 2024, with sales down 4% to £2.968 billion.
 
Prior to joining Burberry, Manley was the executive vice president, influence marketing and communications at Calvin Klein in New York during the Raf Simons era as creative director of the American label.
 
He joined Calvin Klein after nine years at Giorgio Armani, rising through the ranks from his entrance in Milan in 2005 to becoming its senior vice president, marketing and communications with Armani, in charge of the US, based in Manhattan. After beginning his career at KCD in New York, the West Point of fashion communications in America.