Brands
Andrea Mallard exits Pinterest after eight-year marketing makeover
SAN FRANCISCO: Andrea Mallard, the global chief marketing officer who helped turn Pinterest into one of Silicon Valley’s most distinctive brands, has stepped down after nearly eight years at the company.
Joining Pinterest in November 2018, Mallard oversaw one of the most expansive marketing remits in big tech. She led a 600-plus strong global team spanning product, design, research, growth, communications and creative, backed by a nine-figure budget. The brief was simple in theory and complex in practice: make Pinterest indispensable to users and irresistible to advertisers.
Under her watch, Pinterest sharpened its positioning as a platform where inspiration meets intent. Campaigns blended cultural flair with commercial purpose, from advertiser outreach inspired by Alfred Hitchcock’s cinematic style to festive creative collaborations that saw Pinterest invited to decorate the White House for Christmas. One of its B2B campaigns even earned an Editor’s Pick for best marketing work, a rare feat in a crowded category.
Mallard’s influence extended beyond campaigns. She helped knit together product innovation and brand storytelling, ensuring that marketing was not a megaphone at the end of the process but a voice at the table from the start. The result was a brand that felt warmer, clearer and more human, even as the business scaled.
Her impact did not go unnoticed. In 2024, Forbes ranked her number 15 on its World’s Most Influential CMOs list, placing her among the elite global marketers shaping modern brand thinking.
Before Pinterest, Mallard served as chief marketing officer at Athleta, where she drove double-digit growth and helped steer the brand towards B Corp status. Earlier roles included CMO at Omada Health, senior leadership positions at IDEO, and formative years at Forbes and Rodale, where she was part of the team that launched Women’s Health magazine into a global phenomenon.
Alongside her executive career, Mallard sits on the boards of Kajabi, Hydrow and TwentyFirstCenturyBrand, reflecting her continued interest in creator economies, connected fitness and purpose-led growth.
As she steps away from Pinterest, Mallard leaves behind more than metrics and campaigns. She exits having helped define how a digital platform can be commercially sharp without losing its soul, no small achievement in today’s attention economy. What comes next is yet to be announced, but few would bet against it being influential, inventive and unmistakably on brand.
Brands
Dunkin’ Donuts to exit India as Jubilant FoodWorks ends 15-year franchise deal
The quick service restaurant giant is ending a 15-year franchise partnership with the American doughnut chain, even as it renews its Domino’s agreement for another 15 years
NOIDA: Dunkin’ is done in India. Jubilant FoodWorks Ltd, the country’s leading quick service restaurant operator, has decided not to renew its franchise agreement with the American coffee and doughnut chain, and will wind down its Indian stores in a phased manner before December 31, 2026, bringing a 15-year partnership to a quiet, loss-laden close.
The decision, approved by JFL’s board on March 30, 2026, ends a relationship that began with a Multiple Unit Development Franchise Agreement signed on February 24, 2011. JFL will now evaluate and undertake what it described in a regulatory filing as the “rationalisation and/or cessation of certain operations and/or sale, transfer or disposal of assets and/or assignment or transfer of franchise rights,” all in consultation with Dunkin’s brand owners and strictly within the terms of the original agreement.
The numbers tell the story bluntly. In the financial year 2024-25, Dunkin’ India posted a revenue of Rs 37 crore against a loss of Rs 19 crore — a haemorrhage that was always going to test the patience of a parent company recording revenues of Rs 6,104 crore and a profit of Rs 194 crore in the same period. Doughnuts, it turns out, were never going to move the needle.
The contrast with JFL’s handling of its other marquee franchise could hardly be sharper. Even as it walks away from Dunkin’, the company has just doubled down on Domino’s, signing a fresh Master Franchise Agreement on March 31, 2026, granting it exclusive rights to develop and operate Domino’s Pizza stores in India for 15 years, with an option to renew for a further 10.
JFL, incorporated in 1995 and promoted by the Bharatia family, operates a network of more than 3,500 stores across six markets — India, Turkey, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Azerbaijan and Georgia. Its portfolio includes Domino’s and Popeyes on the global side, and two home-grown brands: Hong’s Kitchen and COFFY, a café brand in Turkey.
For Dunkin’, India was always a stretch. The brand never quite cracked the cultural code in a market where filter coffee and chai command fierce loyalty and where the doughnut remains, at best, an occasional indulgence rather than a daily habit. Fifteen years, mounting losses and a parent with better things to spend its capital on was always going to be a difficult equation to solve.
The doughnut has had its last day. The pizza, however, is staying.
