Michael Fanuele will leave General Mills as chief creative officer

Michael Fanuele, chief creative officer of General Mills, is leaving the company just five months after the chief marketing officer's departure.

The changes at the top of its marketing team come as the Golden Valley-based food giant is grappling with changes in consumer food preferences that have affected its product strategies and financial performance.

Fanuele and the former top marketer, Ann Simonds, just last year oversaw a major review of the agencies that General Mills, one of the nation's biggest advertisers, hires to create product campaigns. General Mills hired 72andSunny of Los Angeles and Redscout of New York as its lead agencies, as a result. The turnover raises the prospect for more changes in the company's relationship with agencies.

News of Fanuele's departure was leaked Monday to Ad Age — a trade publication for the advertising industry — through an internal memo. In it, Fanuele said he will spend the next few weeks helping to wind down some projects at General Mills. He said he plans to finish a book he's writing and teach, though he didn't offer many details.

Fanuele joined the company in October 2014 as its first chief creative officer. He came from agency life, having previously been chief strategy officer at Fallon, a prominent Minneapolis advertising agency. On Fanuele's departure, a General Mills spokesman said, "We wish him the best in his future endeavors."

During the agency review last year, Simonds and Fanuele said General Mills wanted to work with advertisers that have more women and people of color on staff.

The company imposed a diversity benchmark for the outside firms it would hire. To be considered by General Mills, an agency had to employ at least 50 percent women and 20 percent people of color on its creative teams.

Simonds left the company following General Mills' announcement in early December of a major restructuring that would result in the loss of 600 jobs. The company also consolidated global operations responsibilities under four group presidents. At that time, General Mills said it would name a new global chief marketing officer and innovation leader. General Mills declined to comment Tuesday on when that position would be filled.