Alessio Vannetti, who stepped down as Valentino’s chief brand officer in July, will return to Gucci to lead marketing operations as the Italian mega-label’s executive vice president and chief brand officer. Vannetti previously worked at Gucci as global communications director from 2015 to 2019.
Susan Chokachi, a US-based Gucci veteran who has led the brand’s marketing since the departure of Robert Triefus at the end of April, is set to exit the brand.
In his new role, Vannetti will be tasked with reasserting Gucci’s heritage story and cultivating a more stable brand message, after the radical aesthetic reinvention piloted by former creative director Alessandro Michele, as well as building excitement for new designer Sabato de Sarno.
The shakeup comes as CEO Marco Bizzarri prepares to depart the brand and De Sarno gears up for his high-stakes debut at Milan Fashion Week on Sept. 22. While many industry insiders are excited to see a fresh take on Gucci, concern has been rising both within the brand and among investors and retail partners about Gucci’s thus far quiet approach to marketing De Sarno’s first outing.
So far, an image from a high jewellery campaign, featuring retired model Daria Werbowy curled up next to the pool at Los Angeles’ Chateau Marmont hotel wearing oversized, gold statement earrings and subtly branded black bikini briefs reminiscent of Tom Ford-era Gucci, has been the world’s only glimpse at what De Sarno has in mind for the brand’s next chapter.
