Uber hired a former top marketing exec at Instagram who helped launch Stories

Greg Sandoval/Business Insider

Marketing exec Taj Alavi has joined Uber as senior director and global head of marketing solutions.
Alavi most recently was Instagram’s head of global brand marketing and led the Facebook-owned app’s big recent campaigns that launched Instagram Stories and IGTV.
Instagram is currently hiring a global VP of marketing that will report to Facebook CMO Antonio Lucio.

As Uber tries to rebuild its damaged reputation, it hired former marketing exec from Instagram who spearheaded several of the Facebook-owned app’s biggest product launches in recent years.

Uber tapped Taj Alavi, formerly Instagram’s head of global brand marketing, as senior director and global head of marketing communications, an Uber spokesperson confirmed. She started this week and reports to Uber’s chief marketing officer Rebecca Messina, who joined the company in September from liquor brand Beam Suntory.

Instagram and its parent Facebook did not respond to press inquiries.

At Instagram, Alavi led marketing for some of the app’s biggest launches as Instagram blew past Snapchat in user numbers and features. She started at Instagram in 2015 and launched the first global campaign for Instagram Stories in 2017 that included billboards, out-of-home placements and digital. More recently, Alavi oversaw Instagram’s marketing that supported IGTV, Instagram’s year-old feature for long-form video.

"I’m honored to be joining Rebecca Messina and the entire Uber team to tell the next chapter of the Uber story," Alavi wrote in a LinkedIn post announcing her new job. "Over the past three years, I built and led Instagram’s brand team as we launched Instagram Stories, IGTV, and brought the warmth and community of Instagram to over one billion people. I am so proud of the great work my team and I did at Instagram and grateful for everyone’s continued support. I look forward to continuing to work with many of you in my new role."

According to her LinkedIn, Alavi left Instagram in December and has since taken on advisor roles at Nike and computer science company Scaled Influence. Before joining Instagram, Alavi worked in marketing roles at Intuit, The Clorox Company and Johnson & Johnson.

Earlier this week, Instagram posted a job for a global VP of marketing that "will lead the consumer marketing organization within the brand’s high-performance, high-creativity, highly collaborative global environment." The role will also work to "evolve the marketing function from performance-focused to a more even balance of brand-led and performance marketing." The role will report to Facebook’s CMO Antonio Lucio.

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