Balmain appoints Txampi Diz as Chief Marketing Officer

By

Dominique Muret

Translated by
Nicola Mira

Published
Oct 18, 2017

Balmain is busy restructuring its senior management team in order to grow at a faster rate. The Parisian luxury label informed us it has appointed Txampi Diz to the newly created post of Chief Marketing Officer. Diz was formerly Senior Vice-President and General Manager at KCD Paris, an advertising agency for which he was in charge of the luxury label's account, one of the most important for the agency.

In June 2016, Balmain was bought by Mayhoola, a private equity firm belonging to the Qatari royal family, for the sum of approximately €500 million, nearly four times the value of the label's revenue. Last April, Balmain put Massimo Piombini in the driving seat. He was the former worldwide Commercial Director at Valentino, another label owned by Mayhoola.

Under the Italian manager's aegis, Balmain has made its ambitions quite clear, and is restructuring all its divisions in order to acquire fresh momentum, building on the popularity of its Creative Director Olivier Rousteing. The arrival of Txampi Diz is part of this effort, and the new CMO will be in charge of advertising, media relations and all digital activities.

Mayhoola's intention is to replicate with Balmain the feat achieved with Valentino, whose revenue tripled in four years, and whose valuation doubled in the last two years. The plan is to transform Balmain into a luxury brand of worldwide renown. To do so, the Parisian label has diversified its range, adding a children's line and relaunching the accessories, handbags and footwear collections. It has also developed a string of collaborations, such as the latest with L'Oréal, its first in the make-up segment.

Balmain operates 16 monobrand stores, and is chiefly distributed via multi-brand retailers. It plans to strengthen its retail network considerably in the next five years.

After Txampi Diz's departure from KCD Paris, where he worked for some fifteen years, the agency too has reorganised the management team, appointing its Vice-Presidents in charge of PR, Alexis Arnault and Michele Giacalone, as the new General Managers. Alexandre Malgouyres, senior director of PR, was promoted to the post of Vice-President of PR.

Finally, KCD Paris appointed Caroline Van der Voort as Vice-President in charge of special events. After working for about ten years at KCD in the past, Van der Voort was Vice-President in charge of PR and special events at Ralph Lauren Europe.