Hey, Chief
There’s been a major downgrade, if not borderline disappearance, of the CMO role atop many top brands.
But the job is morphing, not going away.
Take Hinge’s Chief Marketing and Communications Officer Tamika Young, who insisted on adding the “comms” element to her remit when she was promoted last year, The Wall Street Journal reports.
“It’s not just about engagement metrics or advertising campaigns anymore,” Young said. “You’re looking to build trust with these audiences, and a lot of that really stems from the messaging.”
The communications job once existed on the periphery, but has taken on more importance in recent years. Companies like Uber and Hasbro have bumped up comms leaders to presidents and CEOs of whole business units. While Gap, Chanel, Peloton, State Farm, Accenture and Reddit have all recently hired their first-ever communications chiefs.
When Chanel named Ruth Warder, a PR agency vet, as its first global comms chief last year, it cited her skills managing “an increasingly complex and fragmented communications landscape.”
Comms professionals are also adept at anticipating how marketing campaigns could misfire. So by promoting them, instead of comms cleaning up the mess, they are tasked with preventing brand mishaps.
Hot Desking
Speaking of the C-suite.
The Trade Desk’s corner offices are starting to look like a revolving door.
Last week, the company announced it had settled on Nick Olmstead as CFO who will join in July. He’s the third CFO in the past calendar year (not counting two separate interim CFOs).
Now The Trade Desk is on its third CRO in a year, too. Anders Mortensen, who started in January this year, departed after seven months on the job, Adweek reports. He had taken over after the departure of Jed Dederick, a long-time TTD leader (and its representative to the Google ad tech antitrust courtroom). The new CRO, Vivek Kundra, is moving over from the COO role.
Another C-suiter, strategy chief Samantha Jacobson, joined OpenAI (a connection investors likely view as a good thing for TTD), while former CMO Ian Colley now holds the same position at healthcare-focused DSP DeepIntent.
The shuffling also doesn’t count important exec departures like Jud Spencer and Ben Sylvan, previously TTD’s VP of data partnerships and now head of connected media at Keurig Dr Pepper.
Three board members have also left since March.
Shop O’Clock
RFP? More like RFT (Request For TikTok).
Over the past year, TikTok has gained traction as a “named channel with a committed budget” in RFPs. This puts TikTok more squarely alongside the likes of Amazon and Walmart, Digiday reports – and for good reason. Brands with $30 million or more in annual revenue saw 97% year-over-year growth on TikTok Shop, and a nearly 80% increase in transaction volume.
TikTok – especially TikTok Shop – offers lower CPMs than other social news, according to Shamsul Chowdhury, SVP of paid media at Zeno Group. Plus, it reaches a younger audience.
Acadia, an agency that manages Amazon and Walmart strategies for mid-market and enterprise brands, has seen three RFPs in the past six months that specifically name TikTok Shop. That had never happened before.
“This is the start of a signal,” says Acadia CEO Jared Belsky.
The next step is to figure out who should be in charge of a brand’s TikTok Shop: the agency or in-house marketers.
But Wait! There’s More!
ChatGPT ads have reached the UK – but in order to see personalized ads, users have to opt in. [Digiday]
Artists (and marketing creatives) are making “anti-slop” art to rebel against AI. [The Guardian]
Meanwhile, AI might be shielding millions of working Americans who struggle to read at a functional level. [Axios]
Marketing consultancy Accenture Song acquires creator marketing agency Whalar for an undisclosed price. [Adweek]
You’re Hired!
Kantar hires Martina Suess Cromer as SVP of North America marketing and head of global brand and communications. [Adweek]
