PMU announces management reshuffle as rebrand continues

French gaming giant Pari-Mutuel Urbain (PMU) has announced the appointment of a new marketing director as it continues its rebranding campaign.

Emmanuelle Malecaze-Doublet will lead marketing at the French horse betting company, reporting directly to chief executive Cyril Linette. She switches from financial director, a role she took on last October.

Malecaze-Doublet, previously with consulting firm McKinsey & Company, replaces Gérard Callegari, who has been appointed strategic advisor to the chief executive.

Her appointment comes soon after PMU launched a high-profile advertising campaign, designed to overhaul the image of both the operator itself and horse racing in France.

Meanwhile, Céline Lelièvre is to replace Malecaze-Doublet as financial director. Lelièvre, who has spent five years as PMU's management controller, has also joined its management committee.

She will be responsible for managing the company's financial strategy.

In July PMU reported revenue of €4.76bn for the first six months of 2019, a 2.8% year-on-year decline. However, the operator saw revenue from betting on French horse racing vertical grow 0.5%, which PMU said showed efforts to halt the vertical's decline were paying off.

PMU launched a new advertising campaign in April of this year. According to an Ipsos study cited by PMU in July, 63% of have had a favourable reaction to the campaign, with this figure rising to 73% among sales partners, and 89% among regular PMU bettors.

“With our new advertising campaign, work on improving the PMU brand is underway,” Linette said at the time. “Many other projects are opening up. It's a long-term job, but the way is laid out. I salute the work of our staff and I know that I can count on them to continue our recovery.”