Ocean Spray Partners With Ripley’s, Debuts 500-Pound Can Of Cranberry Sauce

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Ocean Spray wants to remind consumers that cranberry sauce plays a “big” of a part in holiday traditions, so it unveiled a very big can of sauce in Times Square. For the next three weeks, visitors to Ripley’s Believe it or Not! can take a photo and join a social media conversation about their holiday feasting habits.

The giant can of Ocean Spray cranberry sauce debuted on Thursday at the Ripley’s Believe it or Not! Museum in New York. Prominently displayed in the lobby, this colossal can weighs in at 500 lbs and stands three feet high by two feet wide. Guests are invited to interact with the can by stepping onto the platform and taking photos.

The attraction is made of real cranberry sauce and was assembled in Kenosha, Wisconsin with the rest of Ocean Spray’s products. The brand says that it could feed over 3,000 guests and boasts 57,000 individual cranberries inside.

Canned cranberry sauce is a staple of American holiday cooking. Ocean Spray cited an unknown study in which 76 percent of Americans serve store-bought cranberry sauce at Thanksgiving instead of homemade. Nearly three-quarters prefer their sauce served in the shape of the can and just over half use the imprinted can line as a slicing guide.

Ocean Spray is inviting consumers to share their holiday dinner traditions on social media, especially details about how they consume their signature berries. The brand is asking whether consumers use the can lines embedded in their jellied sauce as a slicing guide or if they just scoop it. Fans can answer #CanLines or #CanScoop on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. The “winner” will be announced by Ocean Spray on Thanksgiving.

Google recently released a visual trends about which holiday foods are searched for most often by US state. When it comes to cranberry sauce, New York is #20 on the list, making this activation a timely one for brand awareness. Cranberry sauce is most popular in Alaska, North Dakota, New Hampshire, Delaware and Kansas, at numbers one through five, respectively.

HBO, Netflix, 20th Century Fox Among Top Honors At Clio Entertainment Awards

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Creative marketing efforts for brands like 20th Century Fox, HBO and Netflix were honored at The Clio Entertainment Awards Thursday night. From Blu-ray package takeovers to experiential activations, these campaigns stood out for creativity, innovation and for capturing the public’s attention in entertaining ways.

20th Century Fox: Deadpool 2

Twentieth Century Fox was named Studio of the Year due in no small part to their ongoing (and unusual) Deadpool 2 marketing efforts.

“The Ultimate Anti-Marketing Campaign” was honored for the studio’s theatrical partnerships to help launch Deadpool 2 into the public conscious. The studio took home Clio Grand awards for its Bob Ross parody, “Paintings,” Blu-ray package takeover “Photobomb” and a San Diego Comic-Con toilet seat cover that said, “This is all Fox could afford!” Twentieth Century Fox and its agency partners also received a Clio Grand honor for its 30-second trailer called “Holy $#itballs.”

Astonishingly, the studio was presented with a Clio Grand award for every Deadpool 2 campaign entered.

If garnering audience and media attention is a reason for winning, it’s no wonder that 20th Century Fox took home the top honors. Marketing for its Deadpool sequel has including everything from coloring pages to a Blockbuster store, and they’re not done yet. The studio will release Once Upon a Deadpool for a limited theater engagement this holiday, providing teenagers and their families with a PG-13 cut starring Fred Savage.

HBO: Westworld

HBO took home a Clio Grand for its SXSW experiential marketing campaign that dropped guests into a 90,000 square-foot ‘wild west’ town. The experience was littered with Easter eggs designed to promote Westworld‘s second season.

Decorated, detailed and staffed by 66 actors, the secluded Westworld SXSW activation gained so much attention that the campaign earned 1.9 billion impressions in social media and news coverage. Tickets sold out in just two minutes.

Westworld easily became the most talked-about activation at the show. AList was in attendance and caught up with HBO’s director of program marketing and strategy.

“There is a lot of fertile ground with Westworld,” Steven Cardwell told AList. “The universe of the show makes it a marketer’s dream to further build it out and engage fans. We’re going beyond the impression of a traditional advertisement at SXSW. It’s about creating a true experience that brings impact and buzz for us.”

Netflix: Netflix is a Joke, Stranger Things

The popular streaming platform took home three Clio Grands in 2018.

When Netflix wanted to tease its new comedy line-up, it used cryptic billboards that said simply, “Netflix is a Joke.” The guerrilla marketing campaign had consumers wondering whether it was an ad or an attack. The truth was revealed at the Emmy Awards when Netflix debuted a series of ads in which stand-up comedians were inserted into popular shows like House of Cards, Stranger Things and Orange is the New Black. Both campaign elements—the billboards and subsequent TV spots—took home Clio Grands.

Another campaign winner was for the second season of Stranger Things. Netflix wanted to reach audiences in Brazil, who still hadn’t caught on to the show’s phenomenon. The company transformed its channel into one hour of free, ’80s-themed TV that included a free episode of Stranger Things and faux commercials that told viewers how to sign up on devices of the era.

Dubbed “Stranger Broadcast,” the TV takeover was a partnership with Brazil’s second-largest network, SBT. Additional commercials promoted fake products related to the series, such as bicycles and a “Walko Talko” and a documentary that mashed real news footage to imply chupacabra sightings were, in fact, the Demogorgon from Stranger Things.

See the full list of winners here.

California Dreamin’ VP Jonathan Bishop On Regulation And Big Soda’s Cannabis Ambitions

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Cannabis is poised to become a $50 billion industry in the US over the next decade, but as start up California Dreamin’ soon learned, marketing their low-dose cannabis soda isn’t as easy as one might think. Strict, yet vague regulations prevent the brand from using traditional marketing techniques or tech stacks that many take for granted—forcing its VP of marketing, Jonathan Bishop, to get creative.

Though his official title is vice president of marketing, Bishop does a bit of everything at California Dreamin’ from recruiting talent to design and even a little coding. He sat down with AList to discuss the challenges and opportunities of launching a cannabis brand at the time when the industry is young but booming.

You have some background in B2B. How was the transition to B2C with this new start-up?

I tend to be a consumer that always pays attention to different marketing campaigns in general, it’s just something I’m passionate about. The whole B2B to B2C thing wasn’t as much as a shock. In previous start-ups, we’ve had to move fast, it’s very competitive, [you work] long hours, crazy things happen and you have to adapt. It’s nothing compared to this job. I’ve had to re-learn all that and adjust my limits just to be able to handle all the changes I come across [such as regulations].

The harder transition has been going from a non-regulated industry to one that is very much regulated. They have these strict rules [about cannabis] but they’re also very vague. There’s a lot of gray areas to deal with.

How do you market with the restrictions?

There’s what you’d expect in a regulated industry, like restrictions on marketing to people who are under 21. We have to have channels that have 70 percent or above users that are 21 and over. That shuts certain things off.

Advertising out of state is problematic, though. When we look for different options, especially in advertising, there are certain tools like geofilters that we have to have otherwise we can’t consider that channel.

Outside of that, the regulatory environment is changing. Next year we’ll have a lot more solidified and a lot more permanence which will be great because I can build off that. But certain things are happening like next year, it looks like it will be illegal not only to hand out free product samples but free anything. Our current campaign includes a free shirt, so if that regulation stays in place, I have to figure out something else. Maybe it would work to charge them a dollar to satisfy the requirements, but that does change the nature of the campaign.

How does regulation impact personalization?

It makes it hard. We currently maintain retail relationships so we’re only selling through licensed retailers in California like dispensaries and delivery services. They own the customer relationship, however. It’s actually very hard to get any kind of data out of these retailers. A lot of times we’re just waiting for them to place an order again before we know if something’s actually sold, as ridiculous as that sounds.

We’re looking at direct to consumer next year. That’s where I think we’ll have a lot more opportunities for personalization because we can capture email addresses, our website experience will be more personalized, etc.

Your current campaign targets Baby Boomers. Why did you choose this demographic?

Our main audience is millennials and we’re not deviating from that focus, but boomers are very friendly as a group to cannabis. Their usage is increasing every year and a lot of them have better attitudes around [cannabis] because they grew up around it.

But the products today are very, very intense so it’s kind of a scary thing. There’s still that stigma with dispensaries. For us, [having a low dose product] it’s a valuable market to work with. It’s also super valuable for these dispensaries that don’t do much boomer marketing if any.

Where do you find marketing inspiration?

The industry still has a lot of growing up to do—it’s still not very professional in many ways. There are different things I wouldn’t look at [for inspiration] but at the same time, these are people who know the rules. It’s almost a head start. If I see a tactic I like outside of the industry, I’m not sure if that’s going to fly legally.

A lot of inspiration does come from outside the cannabis industry. Diet Coke actually has an interesting new campaign—this tagline that “I drink Diet Coke because it makes me feel good.” It’s such a nice, simple way to say what we’re trying to get across. We talk about getting high, but the problem is that people equate that with being drunk or wasted. There isn’t this gradient in terminology between “I was kinda high” and “I was really stoned.” Trying to find that balance is important.

Speaking of Coca-Cola, what do you think about big brands jumping into the cannabis market?

It’s good and bad. The good stuff is that it validates things and helps normalize and gets people talking about cannabis. One of the things about the industry is that there are a lot of people that helped build it up and I worry that a lot of them will get pushed out when a big company comes in. I’m not exactly sure how to deal with it except for the regulations being set up to give these smaller shops a chance to get solidified before the bigger companies come in.

CBD is another thing that’s blowing up. If Coke doesn’t do it, I expect another big brand to get into it soon.

Facebook Releases TikTok Competitor; Snapchat’s Cheaper AR Tier Attracts Brands

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This week in social media news, Instagram updates three shopping features, Facebook expands its career offerings and cancels its connected TV ads, Twitter considers an edit function and Snapchat gets creative with Bitmoji.

Also, Snapchat celebrates friendship and Instagram tries its hand at pop-up shops. Pinterest handles friend activity more like Instagram, Facebook woos teenagers with an imitation of TikTok and thanks to a lower price tier, more brands can take advantage of AR ads on Snapchat.

Facebook Releases Lasso App To Compete With TikTok

Facebook quietly launched a new app this week called Lasso.

Why it matters: Apparently determined to have a finger in every social media pie on the planet, Facebook isn’t about to ignore a popular app like TikTok. The lip-syncing video creation app may also help Facebook win back favor with teenagers.

Details: On Lasso, users can record themselves dancing and lip-syncing to music and create short clips similar to Vine. The app’s launch makes sense, considering Facebook’s ongoing commitment to engagement through video.

Snapchat Lures Smaller Businesses With $50 AR Tier

Once $500,000, Snapchat Lenses proved too expensive for most brands. As Digiday reports, lowering the price has opened the platform to a much wider range of marketers and their agencies.

Why it matters: Snapchat introduced a new $50 tier that includes a 10-second AR ad sandwiched between Discover content. Ever since the more affordable tier was introduced, more brands have been able to afford the lucrative product.

Details: While not all AR campaigns have proved successful, a number of creative agencies told Digiday that the lowered price point creates new opportunities.

“500K stills gets you a national slot on the carousel, but not everyone has that money,” Frank Shi, co-founder of agency Paper Triangles. “The difference is huge. It allows us to sell marketing plans and ideas to our clients who before might have ignored Snap because of price.”

Facebook Patent Would Serve Ads By Analyzing Family Photos

A new patent filing by Facebook would allow the site to gather more in-depth information about a user’s entire family by analyzing photos and targeting subjects as a group.

Why it matters: The patent description is fairly vague, but the idea is that Facebook could better deduce the size of your household, marital/parental status, etc. to better serve ads. Facebook can already deduce a lot based on what a user uploads, such as relationships people list on their profiles, shared life events, etc. The company frequently files patents, but it doesn’t necessarily mean the technology would be put to use.

Details: As reported by The Verge, Facebook filed a patent last May that describes an algorithm for discerning families based on photos. In one example, a man posts multiple pictures or appears in multiple posts with the same two females. Based on one of his own captions, “My angel,” the algorithm deduces that the younger female is his daughter and the older one is his wife.

Instagram Adds New Ways To Shop And Save Wishlists

Just in time for the holidays, Instagram has introduced three new ways for users to browse and purchase items from brands on the platform.

Why it matters: According to the National Retail Foundation, US consumers are poised spend record highs this holiday season, to the merry tune of up to $721 billion. Instagram has done a steady rollout of ecommerce features, but these new ones are timed just right for impulsive spending.

Details: Three new features have rolled out to Instagram: Shopping collections, shopping on business profiles and shopping in feed videos. Shopping collections work much like a wish list, in that users can save a product tag to their collection for later. Instagram is also testing a redesign of the Shop tab on business profiles that displays all items for sale in one location. Brand videos are another way to spend this holiday. Users can tap the shopping icon on a video to reveal featured products and learn more about them.

Facebook To Shut Down Connected TV Ad Network

Facebook will stop selling ads inside OTT apps by January of 2019, Digiday reports.

Why it matters: Smart/connected TVs will account for 70 percent of the television segment in 2018, according to IHS Markit. As there are no shortage of connected TVs, Facebook shutting down the program after just two years indicates a lack of interest from marketers or other, underlying problems.

Details: Publishers using Audience Network began to notice that Facebook had stopped filling their OTT apps’ inventory in the last month. A Facebook spokesperson confirmed that connected TV ads will be discontinued.

“We worked with a small set of publishers to test monetizing their connected-TV apps with ads from Audience Network and ultimately decided not to move forward with the concept,” a Facebook spokesperson told Digiday.

Facebook Takes On LinkedIn With Education Portal, Mentorships

Facebook introduced “Learn with Facebook,” a portal for career-based education courses similar to (although much smaller) than LinkedIn.

Why it matters: Facebook says that a million jobs have been secured through its platform and that not to be fooled by the humble beginnings of its learning modules. It previously committed to training 1 million people and small businesses in the U. in digital skills by 2020. The site has “more ambitious” plans for Learn with Facebook, but for the entire platform as well. As evidenced by its VR, dating and video efforts, Facebook is diversifying with the hope of longevity.

Details: Learn with Facebook debuted with 13 modules designed to teach career-based skills such as social media marketing. In addition, the company has expanded Mentorship and Jobs features. Would-be mentors can now make their own matches and employers can now post jobs on Groups where they are members.

Twitter Hints At Edit Button

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey admitted that they are considering an edit button for tweets, but it would have to be done right.

Why it matters: Twitter users have long asked for a way to edit tweets, if not only to correct grammatical errors. While Dorsey conceded this function would be nice, he has been “rethinking” the entire way Twitter works and so it’s probably a low priority.

Details: During a talk at the Indian Institute of Technology in New Delhi, Dorsey told the audience: “We have been considering [an edit button] for a while,” but added that it needed to be done “in the right way.”

Snapchat Announces Bitmoji Stories, Merchandise

Bitmoji, the custom characters users display on Snapchat and connected apps can now be used to create Stories in the style of an animated webcomic. In addition, these characters can be printed on merchandise such as t-shirts, bags and even shower curtains.

Why it matters: According to Apple, Bitmoji was the top-downloaded app of 2017. Snapchat may not be profitable yet, but it certainly has one thing going for it—users love those Bitmoji. Offering them on merchandise and in custom Stories will leverage the characters’ popularity, encouraging users to share their custom avatars in even more places, including IRL.

Details: Snapchat is rolling out a new feature this week called Bitmoji Stories. Available on the Discover Page, these animated pictures insert a user’s cartoon likeness and customizes the scene based their activity in Snapchat. Bitmoji is already available to use in a number of apps outside of Snapchat, but now users can have their characters printed onto merchandise in the Snapchat store. The selection is similar to what you’d find on a site like Zazzle or Cafepress, ranging from apparel to phone cases and home decor.

Snapchat Rolls Out ‘Friendship Profiles’

Friendship Profiles will allow users to access a collection of saved messages, images, etc. in one place.

Why it matters: Snapchat was born out of the idea that messages disappear, but users can save elements of those chat sessions like links, images and video. Being able to access them as they relate to a certain Snapchat friend allows the platform to associate itself with lasting relationships instead of fleeting conversations.

Details: Snapchat users will be able to tap on a user’s Bitmoji to see a Friendship Profile. Here they’ll find all the elements they’ve saved over time. The feature will “slowly” roll out to global users in the coming weeks.

Instagram Hosts London Pop-Up Shops

Last month, Instagram invited six small businesses to participate in a pop-up shop in London.

Why it matters: Facebook and Instagram are experimenting with the idea of taking small businesses into the physical world. Even direct-to-consumer brands are opening stores to be where the consumers are, so it makes sense to test the waters for its more popular online partners.

Details: Instagram invited Rixo London, Never Fully Dressed, Haekels, Scamp and Dude, Carrie Elizabeth Jewelry and Oh Squirrel to London, where the small businesses were treated to a pop-up shop experience and a panel to discuss finding success on the platform.

Pinterest Friend Feed Updated To Mimic Instagram

The latest update to Pinterest’s mobile app includes a redesigned friend feed that trades a grid of images for a single column of posts.

Why it matters: When it comes to following friend activity on social media, copying Instagram isn’t the worst idea. The main app functions the same, but the redesign allows users to get a bigger, closer look at what their friends are doing on Pinterest.

Details: Pinterest’s friend activity feed has been streamlined down to one scrolling column. The update mimics Instagram’s format but otherwise works the same. Users can still tap on a red “Save” button below an image to save it to a board or tap on the image directly to be linked out to a piece of content.

Editor’s Note: Our weekly social media news post is updated daily. This installment will be updated until Friday, November 16. Have a news tip? We’re looking for changes to and news surrounding social media platforms as they relate to marketing. Let us know at editorial@alistdaily.com.

 

This Week’s Exec Shifts: Formula E Names CMO; Postmates Hires Pinterest Brand Leader

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This week’s executive moves include a new SVP for Postmates, a CMO for Formula E and Poshmark appointed the company’s first chief marketing officer. Also, a former NFL wide receiver heading Jordan’s global sports marketing efforts and StarHub’s VP of digital transformation finds himself taking on the brand’s marketing duties.

Check out our careers section for executive job openings and to post your own staffing needs.

Formula E Appoints Chief Marketing Officer

The ABB FIA Formula E Championship has appointed Jerome Hiquet as chief marketing officer. Hiquet most recently served as a board member of the New York Hub of the Marketing Society and the CMO of Tough Mudder, an endurance event series. He brings nearly two decades of experience in marketing and event planning to the position. In his new role, Hiquet will lead Formula E’s mission to introduce more consumer-facing activities.

Alejandro Agag, founder and CEO of Formula E, said: “It’s with great pleasure that I welcome Jerome as chief marketing officer and the newest member of the senior management team at Formula E. The ABB FIA Formula E Championship continues to attract top talent across each aspect of the business—both on and off the track. Jerome has an abundance and array of experience—matched with equal levels of ambition to help drive the sport forward.”

Pinterest Veteran Becomes Postmates SVP

Eric Edge, formerly of Pinterest, joined Postmates as senior vice president of brand and communications. Edge’s appointment came back in September according to his Linkedin. At Pinterest, Edge served as head of global marketing communications for just over two years.

We interviewed the marketer back in June at Cannes Lions, you can see his interview here. Edge brings over two decades of marketing experience to the delivery brand, having worked previously at Facebook and Instagram.

Unilever Veteran Joins Renault As VP Of Marketing

Renault has appointed François Renard as global marketing director. Most recently, Renard served as vice president of marketing for personal care at Unilever, where he had previously worked 20 years in both directing and management roles. In between, he became the CEO of Kate Somerville Skincare.

In this new role, Renard will be responsible for strengthening brand awareness of the automaker’s brands, products and services while accelerating digital transformation.

Blue Apron Chief Marketing Officer Exits

Direct-to-consumer meal kit brand Blue Apron announced that around 100 employees would be laid off amid profitability struggles. Chief marketing officer Jared Cluff has also exited. In a filing, Blue Apron said that it was terminating its chief marketing officer but in an interview, the company’s CEO Brad Dickerson said Cluff left to pursue other opportunities.

Poshmark Appoints First CMO

Poshmark, an ecommerce company that provides a social platform for consumers to buy and resell clothing, has appointed Steven Tristan Young as the company’s first chief marketing officer. Young comes to the company from GrubHub where he was the VP of growth, having worked his way up from director and senior director of customer acquisition and brand marketing. Prior to that, Young worked for a number of years at DIRECTV and American Express.

Manish Chandra, founder & CEO of Poshmark, said of the appointment, “We’re thrilled to welcome Steven, who stood out as a seasoned and passionate marketer with a proven track record of scaling high-growth companies, and we look forward to his leadership and expertise over the coming years.”

Pure Global Cannabis Names VP, Sales And Marketing

Ross J. Hendry has joined Pure Global Cannabis as vice president of sales and marketing. Hendry brings over a decade of alcohol beverage industry experience and most recently served as commercial director of International Canadian spirits at Corby Spirit and Wine.

“I am delighted to welcome Ross on board at such an important stage of market development,” said Malay Panchal, CEO of Pure Global. “Ross brings with him years of experience and leadership in market strategy, innovation, and brand advocacy, and he will invigorate Pure Global’s ability to deploy our growing range cannabis consumer products for the nutraceutical, and health and wellness segments to meet the needs of the emerging Canadian and expanding international markets. Ross is the final foundational pillar for our team, on which Pure Global can continue to build a scalable customer-centric business.”

Jordan Appoints Global Head, Sports Marketing

Nike’s Jordan Brand has named Anthony Dicosmo its global head of sports marketing. Dicosmo has worked for the last 11 years at Nickelodeon, where he most recently served as senior vice president of sports marketing and development. Prior to that, he served as manager of special projects for Spike TV—spearheading strategic partnerships with local government and community organizations, as well as minor league baseball to generate local market promotional events and screenings.

As a former NFL wide receiver, Dicosmo brings a wealth of insider knowledge to his new role at Jordan.

Crankbrothers Appoints Global Marketing Director

Crankbrothers has hired Megan Tompkins as its new global marketing director. Tompkins was most recently the publisher of Bicycle Retailer and Industry News, where she led the magazine’s expansion into digital publishing. She also served in sales and marketing roles at Shimano and Specialized. She currently sits on the board of the Bicycle Product Suppliers Association.

In her new role, Tompkins will be responsible for developing the global marketing strategy, managing brand communications, and overseeing PR, sponsorships and events.

William Hill Appoints Global Brand And Marketing Director

Bookmaker William Hill has hired Charlotte Emery as its new global brand and marketing director.  Emery fills the role left by Kristian Welch who exited the company this past summer. Prior to joining William Hill, Emery served as British American Tobacco (BAT) brand director for just over six years. Her career spans over a decade with marketing leadership roles at Bacardi, Twinings and Premier Foods.

Fox Searchlight Exec Becomes Bron Studios’ New CMO

Cassandra Butcher has been appointed chief marketing officer for Bron Studios. Butcher joins the studio from Fox Searchlight, where she served for over 10 years as vice president of national publicity. She was a producer on Sony’s Front Runner, starring Hugh Jackman. Prior to that, she was a unit publicist and publicity consultant for multiple studios including Fox, Lionsgate, Screen Gems, MTV Films and Paramount Pictures.

Speaking on the new hire, Bron Studios co-founder Brenda Gilbert said: “[Co-founder] Aaron [Gibert] and I and the entire Bron team are thrilled to welcome Cassandra to the company. She will further cement our position as a strong partner to filmmakers and with distributors. She brings so much experience and vision to Bron, as well as a work ethic and passion that’s exceptional.”

Tourism Toronto Names EVP, CMO

Jon Mamela has been appointed the new executive vice president and chief marketing officer for Tourism Toronto, effective January 1, 2019. Mamela joins Tourism Toronto after five years with Destination Canada as SVP and CMO. Prior to that, he held a number of marketing and sales positions in the travel sector including Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, Fairmont Hotels and Resorts and Travel Alberta, as well as in the consumer packaged goods industry with Procter and Gamble.

“Jon is a true leader in destination marketing in Canada. His experience and success building national marketing programs—and expanding those programs into international markets and through new strategies and technologies—will help us inspire more travelers and drive more business to Toronto in the years ahead,” said Ms. Bélanger.

StarHub Shifts Marketing Duties To VP, Digital Transformation

Amid shifts and layoffs at Singapore-based telco brand StarHub, VP of digital transformation Rod Strother has taken on new duties to handle and head up the brand and marketing communications teams. He will be working with StarHub’s current ad agencies and has a team of approximately 25 reporting to him, Marketing reported. Prior to his time at StarHub, Strother served as director, digital and social centre of excellence at Lenovo.

Former ESPN Exec Joins Kolkata Knight Riders

Kaustubh Jha has joined Indian Premier League franchise Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) as head of marketing. He comes with over a decade of experience in partnerships, content marketing and campaign management. Most recently, he headed marketing operations for ESPN in India, including the launch of ESPN.in and ESPN Films. Prior to ESPN, Jha was part of the marketing, business and consumer insights team at MTV India.

Speaking on the new hire, Venky Mysore, CEO and managing director of KKR, said, “We are delighted to have Kaustubh on board to lead the marketing and fan-building initiatives of Knight Riders, which is not only the leading brand in IPL but through our presence in CPL and other initiatives around the world has genuinely become a global brand.”

Former KFC CMO Joins UK National Lottery Parent

Camelot UK, the operator of the UK National Lottery, has appointed Jennelle Tilling as a non-executive director. Tilling served as the global chief marketing officer for KFC from 2013-2017. Following her time at Yum! Brands, Tilling founded a marketing consultancy firm and will continue to serve on the advisory board for Butchie’s.

Concord Music Promotes, Hires For Co-Heads Of International

Concord Music has promoted Rebecca Berman to senior vice president and co-head of international. Berman has led Concord Music’s international marketing efforts for more than a decade and is credited with having a hand in the global success of artists such as Paul Simon.

Michael Nance, former executive vice president of global for Warner Bros. Records, will serve as co-head of international alongside Berman.

Nance, who comes to Concord Music after 25 years at Warner Bros. Records, where he most recently served as EVP Global.

In their new roles, Nance and Berman will focus on expanding Concord Music’s global infrastructure as well as crafting global sales and marketing strategies for artists across its labels: Concord Records, Fantasy Recordings, Fearless Records, Loma Vista Recordings and Rounder Records.

Speaking on the promotion, Concord Music chief label officer Tom Whalley said: “Both Michael and Rebecca’s proven track records of global artist development will uniquely strengthen Concord Music labels’ ability to grow their respective artists’ careers. Having them join together to run our international marketing teams will position our artists for greater worldwide success. I look forward to working with both of them as we continue to build upon our global opportunities.”

Editor’s Note: Our weekly careers post is updated daily. This installment will be updated until Friday, November 16. Have a new hire tip? We’re looking for senior executive role changes in marketing and media. Let us know at editorial@alistdaily.com.

Job Vacancies 

Global Head of Brand Marketing Uber Eats San Francisco, CA
VP, Marketing & Communications Boingo El Segundo, CA
VP, Originals Marketing Starz Los Angeles, CA
VP, Marketing, Brand & Customer Strategy Banana Republic San Francisco, CA
Head of Marketing, Stephen Curry Under Armour Baltimore, MD
VP, Marketing Strategy Operations Paramount Pictures Hollywood, CA

Make sure to check back for updates on our Careers page.

Marketers Increasing Spend On Stories, Amazon Ads This Holiday Season

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In a report by Kenshoo and ClickZ, holiday spending plans were analyzed to see where marketers’ priorities actually exist and how they are changing this year.

Google, Facebook and Instagram, remain at the top of the list in terms of spending, said the marketers surveyed. Both Google and Instagram were up from 2017, while Facebook had a slight dip of -3.4%.

The biggest jump comes from YouTube, up 7% from last year. Which falls in line with trends, according to eMarketer, “YouTube will generate $3.36 billion in net US video ad revenues, up 17.1% over last year.”

Other formats like Amazon Ads and Instagram and Snapchat ‘Stories’ are on the rise.

“Advertisers are starting to notice and aren’t letting the Stories opportunity slip by. 38% of brands state that they have included Facebook Stories in their holiday marketing plans and 37% have included Instagram Stories, making these two of the most popular new advertising opportunities for the 2018 holidays,” the report says.

Amazon ads, the third biggest digital ad platform after Facebook and Google, are very much considered insurgent in the digital advertising world. It’s no surprise then, that this holiday season marketers will be increasing their Amazon ad spend.

“Advertising on Amazon will increase significantly over the 2018 holidays compared to 2017… According to ClickZ data, for those who do plan to advertise on Amazon this holiday season, advertising during special occasions seems to be a top priority. Brands see Amazon ads served to shoppers in closer proximity to their final purchase click as the perfect place to boost revenue when those shoppers are in a buying mood for the holidays.”

According to analysts, Amazon’s ad platform will surpass both Google and Facebook in revenue by 2021.

ClickZ and Kenshoo’s report is based on a survey of more than 300 marketers. Participants were asked to identify where their brands will be spending money this season, how it compares to 2017 and what new media formats are being applied.

Intel VP Alyson Griffin: “I’m Laying An Umbrella Story For Broad [Brand] Awareness”

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Intel is undergoing a transformation. For half a century, the brand has maintained a reputation for its computer processors. As the tech giant emerges from its chrysalis a provider of everything from AI to 5G, it leaves Intel’s marketing team with a challenge that, ironically, can’t be solved with technology alone.

Alyson Griffin, Intel’s VP of global brand marketing, sat down with AList to explain this dynamic shift and how one of humanity’s oldest practices—storytelling—is helping to advance technology.

What challenges do you face as Intel repositions itself as a brand?

We just celebrated our 50th anniversary this summer. From an outbound marketing perspective, we were tied very explicitly to a B2C motion and our PC

for say, the last 47 of those years. The management team understood that while the PC market is still critically important, we’re growing as a company toward a more data-centric part of our business.

There are these territories [5G, AI, VR, etc.], where compute power and heavy performance and power are critical but they weren’t places where we were talking about ourselves externally.

How do you shift focus without sacrificing what Intel is known for?

We still do have a very big marketing focus not only directly from Intel but with our OEM partners on our PCs whether it’s gaming, PC innovation, etc. The good news is that we still have that and do that with our own dollars as well as those of our partners. What we’re doing is expanding the aperture of the Intel brand and my role is to go think about business transformation examples that inspire or have human interest and impact.

Intel doesn’t have an awareness problem anywhere in the world. What we do have is a relevance change. People are unsure about how and where we’re relevant beyond the great stronghold we have from a PC perspective. In order to move this to a data-centric, more business [focus] we’re looking for these really great stories.

How do you use storytelling across B2B and B2C marketing strategies?

The strategies align. For us, our single-minded brand proposition is making the impossible possible. From a brand perspective, we’ve pivoted to demonstrating these transformational solutions that have human impact and interest that are AI for good, etc. where you capture the consumer’s imagination.

To get into the nuts and bolts of our strategy here, I’m laying an umbrella story for broad awareness and interest that has technology pillars that actually can be pulled through all the way down to demand gen because I’m talking about a solution that’s real, current and on the truck today. I can do the baton toss, if you will, to my counterparts in the business unit marketing team.

The pivot happens when we get an interesting and broad enough story that can pass very easily to the business units who can pivot to their target and bring it to life.

[For example], Intel is restoring the Great Wall of China. They came to us for computing power but in talking with them, Intel realized that they could solve multiple problems.

[Griffin explained that they use drones to survey the wall and create 3D models. AI analyzes the visuals and helps anticipate needs, calculating down to the millimeter.]

Even if you aren’t interested in Intel or tech… say you’re a business that [can’t imagine] what Intel would be doing beyond a PC, we’re trying to paint an image of all these possibilities and demonstrate with real technology solutions that are available in the market of how businesses or organizations can rethink what’s possible.

How has your job changed over your career?

I started in the early ’90s at a PR firm so I worked with reporters all the time. My job was to stand at a fax machine—I have to explain to my children what the heck that is—and fax 500 press releases to various reporters because there was no consolidation. All we had to do back then was have a price and a speed [of a new computer] and it would 100 percent get covered because it was so amazing.

Part of the challenge for me over the years is that I can’t just call up any old reporter and say, “it’s five dollars less and 10 times faster, go write about it.” I’ve had to get more creative about storytelling that includes some kind of technology angle. My world has changed dramatically since I first started.

Where do you find inspiration?

I’m inspired by the stories of our customers, to be honest. I work closely with the sales team and hear amazing stories about things like precision medicine and curing cancer. There are so many things that our customers and partners are doing and it’s exciting.

It’s like a buffet before me and I get to pick one, focus on it and build out a great story. I think about our target and how I make it exciting and accessible and real and inspirational for the world. I have to say that I get a lot of personal satisfaction out of that.

Subaru Launches ‘Share The Love’ With Podcasts, Video Series

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Subaru of America launched its 11th annual “Share the Love” event on Thursday with a marketing campaign that focuses on its accomplishments so far. In addition to a round of TV spots, Subaru will use a branded video series and podcasts to share inspiring stories.

Each holiday season, Subaru America hosts a “Share the Love” event. For every new car lease or purchase, the manufacturer will donate $250 to one of several charities of the customer’s choosing. This year’s event will run from November 15 to January 2.

But, what’s most interesting about this year’s campaign is that Subaru is producing a branded video series and collaborating with a well-known podcast. For the video series Subaru partnered with media company ATTN: to cover topics centered around the event’s four core partners (National Park Foundation, Make-A-Wish Foundation, Meals On Wheels and ASPCA) and the “ripple effect” of positivity through helping others.

Five “Share the Love” commercials have been produced for TV and social media that thank customers for participating and highlight the program’s accomplishments thus far. Each spot highlights a different charitable organization that benefited from “Share the Love” and the impact it has on the community.

A spot called “Silent Awe” tells consumers that over 100 national parks have been supported through donations to the National Park Foundation, driven home by visuals of a little girl exploring the woods with her grandmother.

In “Becoming A Hero,” a child’s desire to become a fireman is granted through the Make-A-Wish Foundation, which has fulfilled 1,800 requests through the “Share the Love” event thus far.

In addition, Subaru will participate in a series of episodes on the Science Vs podcast, where local retailers will explain how participating in “Share the Love” has impacted their individual communities. Podcasts have grown into a powerful form of media for brands. US ad spending for podcasts is expected to reach $659 million by 2020, according to eMarketer.

According to Subaru’s Q3 investor call, earnings dropped 22 million YoY—even so, some of this downturn can be attributed to rising consumer interest in used cars and the increasing price of new vehicles.

CMOs Find Relationship Marketing Strategy Hindered By Data Management

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Fostering customer relationships is, unsurprisingly, a priority for today’s chief marketing officer. A new study by CMO Club reveals pain points in data management and a lack of custom integration.

CMO Club commissioned a study by Selligent Marketing Cloud that focused on consumer-first martech. A survey of 69 CMOs, including those from BBVA Compass, Office Depot and others, found that data providers and marketers aren’t always on the same page. The results of this study were published in a guide called “Consumer-First MarTech: Using Consumer Insights To Unify Marketing Technology Decisions.”

Relationship marketing was named either the most important or one of the most important team functions by 62 percent of CMOs. Personalization plays a vital role in this effort, and two-thirds say that speaking to customers in a more relevant way is a top automation goal for 2018.

In order to accomplish this, CMOs rely on their martech stack but cite frustration. For example, 42 percent said that customer data management is the most difficult element of the customer relationship marketing process.

Working with the “big five” marketing automation vendors doesn’t necessarily alleviate problems, either. In fact, 47 percent of users had issues with data compared to 25 percent of marketers using other vendors.

CMOs cite a lack of custom integrations as a major complaint regarding the “big five” vendors. Fifty-seven percent of marketers rated these vendors “below average” at custom integrations and just over half (54 percent) rated them “below average” at custom feature development.

For this reason, a trend has emerged among some of today’s leading marketers. They refuse to box themselves into one martech solution or simply decide to build their own. The CMO Club report offers three case studies in the report that show how companies CRM use differs.

Office Depot uses a hybrid approach to customer support that integrates legacy and new technologies to achieve the desired result.

“In our case, we combine best-of-breed technologies that are available across the marketplace, and we don’t tend to buy into any specific ecosystem because we feel it’s limiting and frankly, full of risk,” explained Office Depot chief retail officer Kevin Moffitt, who runs digital marketing in addition to ecommerce.

Luxury jewelry brand Tacori stopped using cloud service providers altogether and is building its own CRM in order to stay agile in a changing consumer environment.

“It lets us stay really nimble, it lets us stay within budget, it lets our team stay intelligent instead of having to outsource subject matter experts,” said Tacori SVP of marketing and PR Michelle Chila Adorjan. “And quite honestly, because technology changes, what happens right now is going to be very different from six months from now, and will be different 18 months from now. It lets us be a little disruptive as a smaller player.”

CMO Club’s report echoes sentiments expressed in a recent study by the Harvard Business Review (HBR). While 58 percent of respondents named CRM as one of the top three technology investments for their organizations, only 36 percent report significant returns.

Diversity Marketing Valued By Global Marketers, But Not Often Practiced

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Global marketers tend to agree that using diverse model images helps a brand’s reputation, according to new data from Censuswide and Shutterstock. Those who put this philosophy to use, however, varies by generation. Younger marketers more likely to choose a diverse representation in campaigns than their older counterparts.

Censuswide surveyed over 2,500 marketers from Australia, Brazil, Germany, US and UK in October. Each professional was asked about how they made visual decisions for imagery in their campaigns within the last year. For the past two years, Shutterstock has conducted research on marketers’ use of imagery beginning in the UK (2016), followed by Australia, UK and US in 2017.

Marketer attitudes around diversity in campaigns varies by generation and region, the study found. For example, Brazilian marketers used more images of non-professional models and gender-fluid, non-binary, or androgynous models in their campaigns.

The same goes for Generations Y and Z marketers, who had used more images featuring diverse models within the last year as compared to Generation X and Baby Boomer marketers.

Despite the nobility these actions may imply, marketers believe they are expected to use more diverse representation. This was especially true among Gen X and millennial (Gen Y) marketers, at 91 and 92 percent, respectively.

Older generations don’t feel the same pressure, it seems, less than a quarter of Baby Boomer marketers have started to use more diverse images in the last year.

This includes racially diverse models (16 percent), same-sex couples (12 percent), transgender models (six percent) or people with disabilities (12 percent). Five percent of this group have started using gender-fluid, non-binary or androgynous models in the last 12 months.

However, Gen X and Y talk a lot of diversity but haven’t followed through as much as you might expect—especially when it comes to representing gender-fluid and transgender models. Despite strong feelings about representation, less than 20 percent of these generations began using such model images in the last year.

One reason for this could be a simple lack of confidence in the C-suite. Among US marketers, for example, over half admitted company concerns that gender-neutral advertising would impact the bottom line.

There is one thing that most marketers agree on, however, and that’s a need to eliminate gender stereotypes. The UK enforces strict policies about gender stereotyping in advertising and several marketers agreed with the practice. In fact, a majority of marketers in Australia (73 percent), U.S. (72 percent), Brazil (67 percent), and Germany (60 percent) agree that regulation similar to the UK’s ASA Gender Stereotyping rule should be standard practice in their countries.

“There’s no doubt that advertising and marketing visualize much of what we believe to be true in the world, and it has tremendous power to further influence and shape our beliefs,” said Shutterstock. “To that end, the visuals in campaigns representing people, society, and culture require thoughtful consideration.”