Atlanta, GA, Oct. 21--Home Depot has named John Costello to the newly created position of chief marketing officer and executive vice president. Costello, 55, joins the company from Yahoo! Inc., where he was chief global marketing officer.
Costello has worked for Sears Roebuck & Co., where he was on the team that helped to revitalize the retailer with its Softer Side of Sears advertising campaign. He was also senior vice president, sales and marketing, of Pepsi-Cola USA.
Home Depot operates about 1,400 stores nationwide, nearly twice as many as the 800 locations of Number two Lowe''''s. But Home Depot is facing increasing competition as Lowe''''s enters more of its geographic strongholds, such as the Northeast.
Home Depot''''s shares have also suffered in the past few months as investors have flocked to Lowe''''s, which has posted better same store sales. Lowe''''s reported second quarter same store sales of 6.8%, compared with Home Depot''''s 1% increase.
