FCA Australia combines marketing, product strategy

FIAT Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) Australia has announced the appointment of Zac Loo as director of marketing and product strategy, effective May 18.

Currently director of product strategy, Mr Loo adds responsibility for marketing with the departure of Mark McCraith, who is returning to media agency Maxus after two years with the car-maker.

Mr McCraith was previously chief operating officer and head of trading at Maxus before he joined Fiat-Chrysler – one of the agency’s major clients – in May 2013.

“We’d like to thank Mark for all of his hard work, dedication and passion towards our business,” said FCA Australia president and CEO Pat Dougherty.

“He really has made an impact on the organisation and we look forward to continuing to work with him through Maxus, our media partner.”

Mr Loo’s promotion hands him responsibility for “the entire marketing and product strategy organisation, including strategic management” of each of FCA Australia’s six brands: Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Alfa Romeo, Fiat and Fiat Professional.

“Ensuring complete alignment and collaboration between marketing and product strategy will be instrumental to the future development of our business and our brands,” the company said.

Mr Loo has been director of product strategy since early 2014, having joined the company the previous year as senior manager of product planning across the Jeep, Fiat and Alfa Romeo brands.

He previously worked for Infiniti Cars Australia (from early 2011 to late 2012) as product planning manager, playing a key role in launching Nissan’s luxury brand in Australia.

Prior to that he had worked for about four years at Mercedes-Benz Australia/Pacific, serving for three years as a product manager on a variety of models after joining the company in 2007 as brand manager for Daimler’s Smart micro-car brand.

He graduated from Swinburne University of Technology in 2005 with a Bachelor of Multimedia (Business Marketing) and later completed a Master of Business Administration at the Melbourne Business School.