Everyone’s all over this story about Pepsi CMO Dave Burwick leaving the company. There’s little elaboration given from the company, but CEO Massimo d’Amore‘s quotes in AdAge sort of say it all.

“As CMO of North American Beverages, Dave shepherded the re-launch and re-branding of the entire Pepsi trademark while ushering in the ‘Refresh Everything’ campaign,” Massimo d’Amore, PepsiCo Americas Beverages CEO, said in a statement. “We regret to see him go, but we respect his desire to fulfill his career aspirations in general management elsewhere.”

PepsiCo saw a 9% drop in profit at the end of 2008 and a 2% drop in sales in Q2 2009. Our first (and the most obvious) thought about Burwick’s departure: the campaign that was meant to bring sales up didn’t, so now it’s someone else’s turn.

A particularly interesting point: d’Amore was a big proponent of the branding changes from the onset. Not sure about Burwick.

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