T-Mobile CMO Brodman to Depart

T-Mobile USA's chief marketing officer is ending his 17-year career with the company just weeks into a new ad campaign and comeback effort. Cole Brodman's retirement goes into effect at the end of May, but he will act as an adviser to the company after he leaves his post, T-Mobile said in a statement. Brodman was appointed to his current post less than two years ago, when he was moved from his position as chief technology officer during a management shakeup that replaced former president and CEO Robert Dotson with current chief executive Philipp Humm. He held a number of other executive positions at T-Mobile over the years, including senior vice president of product development. Brodman spearheaded T-Mobile's HSPA+ push, which allowed it to market "4G speeds" before it had an actual LTE network, and was instrumental in the company's adoption of Android-based smartphones. Under his leadership, T-Mobile launched the first-ever Android smartphone, the G1. In a 2010 interview with Wireless Week, Brodman said the operating systems T-Mobile had been working with "were simply not open enough or robust enough to do the things that we thought were necessary for people to be able to communicate the way they wanted to,” he said. “When (Google's Andy Rubin) walked through the door with Android, we thought this is potentially one of the answers.” T-Mobile did not name a successor to Brodman in its announcement. The Wall Street Journal, which first reported Brodman's departure, said marketing executive Andrew Sherrard will serve as his interim replacement. The collapse of the AT&T buyout last year gave T-Mobile the spectrum and money it needed to finally move forward with LTE, and in February the company announced it would begin rolling out the new network in 2013. Last month, T-Mobile rolled out new ads as part of the lead-up to a brand re-launch this fall. The "Alter Ego" advertising campaign replaced the girly ensemble of its perky brand ambassador with a leather motorcycle outfit to symbolize the "speed and capabilities" of its network. The company's overhaul has also meant layoffs. In March, T-Mobile said it would cut 1,900 employees and close call centers in six states. More job losses could be in store as the company moves to "restructure and optimize" some of its other operations by the end of June.