Sanjay Gupta has taken over as Allstate Chief Marketing Officer

NEW YORK (TIP): Northbrook, Ill.-based insurance company Allstate Corp. has named Sanjay Gupta, a veteran of Ally Financial and Bank of America Corp., chief marketing officer and executive vice president.

Effective Sept. 1, he heads all of Allstate’s marketing and consumer-focused initiatives.

“I am excited to join Allstate’s talented management team and look forward to leading the marketing programs for one of the strongest brands,” Gupta said in a statement. “Allstate has a proven track record of introducing award-winning advertising and marketing campaigns, and I plan to continue to leverage those successes.”

Gupta most recently was chief marketing officer at Ally Financial, the former auto-lending arm of General Motors Co.
He succeeds Mark LaNeve, who left Allstate in February after launching the insurer’s acclaimed “Mayhem” ad campaign, featuring actor Dean Winters’ over-the-top embodiment of all that can go wrong and why consumers need to be insured.
“Sanjay’s strategic and operating skills will further accelerate the implementation of our strategy to serve the four distinct customer segments in our marketplace,” said Allstate chairman and CEO Thomas J. Wilson.

“His successful experience in branded consumer financial services, data analytics and electronic commerce will support increased customer loyalty, innovative product offerings and profitable growth in all of our businesses.”
Before joining Ally in 2008, Gupta was senior vice president for global consumer and small-business marketing at Charlotte, N.C.-based Bank of America, where he worked for seven years. He also held marketing posts at SciQuest.com, and Federal Express.

Gupta has a B.S. in electronic engineering from the University of Mumbai and an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin.

The Indian American executive now has to counter Geico Corp.’s gecko mascot and Progressive Corp.’s saleswoman Flo to win insurance customers.

Geico, a unit of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., led U.S. property-casualty insurers with $993.8 million in advertising spending in 2011, according to data from SNL Financial, Bloomberg News reported. State Farm, the largest U.S. home and auto insurer, was in second place at $813.5 million. Allstate spent $745.3 million, while Progressive’s ad budget was $536.1 million