Smokey Bones Bar & Fire Grill has promoted Nichole Robillard to CMO after hiring her a year ago as vice president of marketing.
In her short time at the 61-unit barbecue chain, Robillard has led a new campaign positioning the brand as "Masters of Meat" and helped revamp its beverage program with colorful cocktails and other specialty drinks. She has also led marketing for Smokey Bones' virtual brands, the Wing Experience and Burger Experience.
“Cole is an excellent leader and very successful marketing executive deserving of her promotion to CMO,” said CEO James O’Reilly in a statement. “She has improved the quality of our marketing execution, positively impacted our business results, added significant creativity to our brands and is positively impacting our culture.”
Robillard's predecessor in the CMO role was Danielle Connor, a former marketer with Red Lobster and Darden who was hired as part of a C-suite revamp under O'Reilly in 2019. She left the chain in February 2020, according to her LinkedIn.
Prior to joining Smokey Bones, Robillard was a retail marketing consultant and had held leadership positions at several marketing agencies. She said her time at the Aventura, Fla.-based casual-dining chain has been a "dream come true."
"It’s so exciting to work for an organization in the midst of an explosive growth mode, alongside people who both inspire and challenge you," she said in a statement.
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