Vital Farms Appoints Kathryn McKeon As Chief Marketing Officer

This week in leadership updates, Vital Farms names Kathryn McKeon chief marketing officer, Audacy, Inc. hires Adriana Rizzo as senior vice president of consumer marketing, Downlite appoints Jannice Cameron as vice president of marketing and more.


Vital Farms Promotes Kathryn McKeon To Chief Marketing Officer

Vital Farms has elevated Kathryn McKeon to chief marketing officer.

McKeon assumes her new role after having served in numerous positions at Vital Farms since 2016 including brand manager, director of marketing and vice president of marketing.


Audacy, Inc. Scouts Adriana Rizzo As Senior Vice President Of Consumer Marketing 

Audacy, Inc. has appointed Adriana Rizzo as senior vice president of consumer marketing. 

Prior to this, Rizzo was vice president of marketing for Discovery+ where she focused on brand strategy, performance marketing, and acquisition and subscriptions.


Downlite Hires Jannice Cameron As Vice President Of Marketing

Downlite has named marketing veteran Jannice Cameron as its newest vice president of marketing.

Cameron joins after having served as chief marketing officer at Himatsingka.


Vinik Sports Group And The Tampa Bay Lightning Names Matt Corey Chief Marketing Officer 

Vinik Sports Group and The Tampa Bay Lightning have appointed Matt Corey as the organization’s new chief marketing officer, according to NHL.com.

Previously, Corey was the PGA Tour’s chief marketing officer.

Video Will Account For Over Half Of All Programmatic Display Ad Spending In 2022 – A First In The US

Video ad spending continues to grow, as does its share of total programmatic ad dollars. In 2022, eMarketer anticipates video will comprise over half (51.1 percent) of all programmatic display ad spending for the first time in the US.

In 2019, programmatic video ad spending reached $26.24 billion and accounted for 42.8 percent of total programmatic digital display ad spending. This year, programmatic video ad spending will reach $62.96 billion: a roughly $11 billion increase from 2021.

The amount of money US advertisers spend on digital video programmatic will exceed that of linear TV ad spending in 2023, according to eMarketer. About 90 percent of all digital video ad dollars will transact programmatically from now until 2025.

Fueling programmatic video ad spending is connected TV (CTV), which in 2022 will represent over 20 percent of total programmatic video ad spending and 10 percent of total programmatic digital display.

In 2019, CTV programmatic display ad spending reached $3.44 billion and accounted for 5.6 percent of total programmatic digital display ad spending. This year, CTV programmatic display ad spending will jump 39.2 percent from 2021 at $14.33 billion and will comprise 11.6 percent of total programmatic digital display ad spending.

EMarketer also forecasts programmatic will comprise 75 percent of US CTV display ad spending this year given it included YouTube—advertising for which is sold through automation—in its CTV definition.

DraftKings Promotes Stephanie Sherman To Chief Marketing Officer

This week in leadership updates, DraftKings elevates Stephanie Sherman to chief marketing officer, Shondaland announces two executive promotions, Kind Healthy Snacks names Kelly Solomon global chief marketing officer and more.


DraftKings Elevates Stephanie Sherman To Chief Marketing Officer

Ahead of Super Bowl 56, DraftKings has promoted Stephanie Sherman to chief marketing officer, reports Adweek.

During her two-year tenure as the service’s senior vice president of marketing, Sherman led DraftKings through its first Super Bowl ad last year which made in-app engagement spike.

Sherman has twice been named one of the most powerful women in sports by Adweek.


Shondaland Announces Two Leadership Promotions

Shondaland has elevated Chris Dilorio to chief marketing officer. Dilorio previously was chief strategy and business development officer for Shondaland.

The company also promoted Alison Eakle to chief content officer, TV and film. Eakle accepts the new, expanded position after serving as Shondaland’s executive vice president, head of creative development.


Hubble Names Elliot Baldini Chief Marketing Officer

Hubble has tapped longtime marketing executive Elliot Baldini as chief marketing officer.

Baldini joins Hubble from School of Rock where he most recently was chief marketing officer.


Kind Healthy Snacks Appoints Kelly Solomon As Global Chief Marketing Officer

Kind has hired Kelly Solomon to lead its global marketing efforts, according to Food Business News.

Solomon previously was senior vice president, consumer marketing, at Mac Cosmetics.

Logitech Calls On Next-Gen Creators To Challenge The Status Quo

In today’s ever-growing digital, world fame has many faces. Logitech’s latest campaign “Defy Logic” is a testament to the importance and influence of creators. Together with Grammy-winning singer, songwriter and self-love advocate Lizzo, the Swiss-based brand is inviting the next generation of creators to challenge the status quo and rethink how they work, create and play.

The campaign’s 90-second anthem video, set to a snippet of Lizzo’s new song “Special,” shows how popular creators including NFT artist Defaced, comedian and chess champ Elsa Majimbo and 15-year-old fashion designer and entrepreneur Kheris Rogers are pushing the boundaries in their respective fields using Logitech’s new digital pen and gaming keyboard.

In the video, a Met Gala-ready dressed Lizzo introduces the viewer to a whole new digital world through her Logitech StreamCam Webcam. In one scene, beauty influencer Bretman Rock hosts a livestream as the words “This is a full-time job” appear. When live code artist and producer DJ Dave is shown coding via her Logitech keyboard, the brand reminds us that, “This is an instrument.” And as TSM gaming creator Danucd competes during an esports tournament, Logitech says, “This is an athlete.”

“As the lives of our consumers and customers evolve, so does their mindset. Defy Logic celebrates everyone courageous enough to challenge the old logic of the past and enables those who prove that passions can turn into careers, careers don’t require offices and art doesn’t require a canvas,” said Najoh Tita-Reid, global chief marketing officer for Logitech.

The “Defy Logic” campaign will run across cable, connected TV, online video, out-of-home and on digital and social platforms.

According to Logitech’s research, Gen Z are expressive, style-conscious and live life by their own rules. Some of the company’s latest products feature a retro feel and fun colorways to appeal to the young generation. For example, its new wireless Pop Keyboards include keys that tap into the addictive typing ASMR phenomenon, five of which are programmable emoji keys. The Logitech Pop Mice features comfortable buttons and shortcuts for muting your mic, snipping your screen and sending emojis.

What Facebook’s Gen Z Exodus Means

The average age of Facebook users has started to decrease yet teens continue to leave the platform—a trend it won’t be able to reverse this year, according to eMarketer.

Between 2020 and 2025, the firm estimates Facebook will lose 1.5 million teen users. Among internet users between 12 and 17 years old, only 35.3 percent will use the platform this year. Less than a third of this group are anticipated to use it in 2024.

By 2023, there will be 34.7 million Gen Z and just 33.1 million baby boomers who use Facebook in the US—a gap that is and will continue to widen through 2025. Aging, eMarketer notes, is the key driver here: as Gen Z grows up, some will join (or rejoin) Facebook while baby boomers are also growing older and aging out of social media.

Regardless of how Gen Z and baby boomers interact with the platform, its main users are millennials and Gen X users, who together now account for more than half of the platform’s user base.

Facebook will have gained roughly 9 million users in the US between 2020 and 2025—more than enough to counter the platform’s loss of teen users and maintain its penetration rate among internet users into 2025.

Unpacking The Growth Triple Play With McKinsey’s Biljana Cvetanovski

Biljana Cvetanovski is a partner at McKinsey & Company and leads their marketing and sales practice in the UK, Ireland, and Israel.

In this episode, Biljana and I discuss a recent report that McKinsey shared called “The Growth Triple Play—Creativity, Analytics, and Purpose.” During our conversation, we break down the report and discuss how, when combined, those three core elements create outsized results for companies.

Biljana says she has an “impatience for impact and growth” and shares how others can pave the path for growth in their organization.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

  • The types of investments and capabilities needed to deliver on growth
  • Why companies should focus on the growth triple play
  • How purpose is defining a lot of what marketers implement

Key Highlights

  • [01:20] Getting her start in trades
  • [03:50] A “random walk” through academia
  • [08:56] McKinsey’s research on growth, creativity, analytics, and purpose
  • [13:15] Combining all aspects for marketing success
  • [17:02] Integrating talent in the conversation
  • [19:23] Deepening the idea of purpose and what it means
  • [21:25] How marketers need to work differently with the growth triple-play
  • [23:20] What marketers need to be implementing immediately
  • [25:48] What marketers should be learning more about
  • [26:22] The biggest threat and opportunity for marketers today

Resources Mentioned:

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Alan B. Hart is the creator and host of “Marketing Today with Alan Hart,” a weekly podcast where he interviews leading global marketing professionals and business leaders. Alan advises leading executives and marketing teams on brand, customer experience, innovation, and growth opportunities. He has consulted with Fortune 100 companies, but he is an entrepreneur at his core, having founded or served as an executive for nine companies.

Direct Marketers Prefer Email Over Social Media

Direct marketers continue to prefer email for reaching consumers despite several social media alternatives available, according to a study by the Association for National Advertisers (ANA).

The ANA’s “Response Rate Report 2021: Performance and Cost Metrics Across Direct Media” found that email was the most popular direct medium across business-to-consumer, business-to-business and hybrid campaigns with an average usage of 82 percent among marketers. 

Other direct mediums marketers use include social media (74 percent), paid research (51 percent), digital display (42 percent), direct mail (38 percent) and SMS (18 percent).

Though email has maintained its popularity among direct response media, it saw a 6 percent decline since 2018 as social media use increased by 17 percent, according to the same ANA study conducted three years ago. 

Still, as observed in the most current study, email surpassed all other forms of media in marketers’ plans for the near future as 53 percent reported having strategies to increase its use in 2022. 

Fifty-two percent of respondents said they have plans to use paid search while 50 percent said the same for social media and SMS.

Additionally, letter-size direct mail—the most traditional method studied—actually outperformed all other alternatives for impact with a 112 percent return on investment, followed by SMS (102 percent) and email (93 percent).

ANA’s response rate report findings are based on an online survey it conducted among 581 marketers between February and July of 2021.

Adidas And Prada Launch Collaborative NFT Art Project

Joining forces to tap into the virtual and augmented reality of the metaverse, Adidas and Prada have announced the launch of an NFT project that enables fans to contribute to a large-scale digital artwork and earn some money for their involvement. 

Dubbed “Adidas Originals For Prada Re-Source,” the activation invites fans to work on a digital piece inspired by Adidas’ and Prada’s new Re-Nylon collab, a collection of high-end athletic wear made in Italy with recyclable materials.

Starting January 24, anyone can register with a digital wallet and contribute an anonymous image, which the brands suggest should capture something meaningful that demonstrates what play means to them. Adidas and Prada will select 3,000 at random to mint their submission as an NFT, free of cost.

Digital artist Zach Lieberman will compile the 3,000 tiles using openFrameworks—the open-source creative code library founded by Lieberman—into a single mosaic NFT overlaid on an Adidas for Prada campaign image. The NFT will be auctioned on SuperRare from January 28.

Adidas and Prada will split the proceeds from the auction sale. Nonprofit Slow Factory will receive 80 percent, Zach Lieberman, 5 percent, and shared between all participants who created a tile (after auction fees), 15 percent.

To sign up, users must complete a verification challenge then enter an 18+ waitlist, which will determine access to the randomized raffle to receive an invitation to mint.

Prada is far from alone in venturing into this new, virtual world of luxury that promises to help win over young consumers and capture lucrative sales. Burberry set the stage when it teamed with Mythical Games to launch an NFT in their flagship title, Blankos Block Party. A few months later, Balenciaga and Fortnite created virtual clothing and accessories for avatars as well as physical merch. 

Recently, Gucci announced a collection of NFTs with Superplastic, a global toy and digital collectible company. Balmain and Barbie debuted a collaboration comprising a ready-to-wear and accessories collection and a series of exclusive NFTs, the latter marking Barbie’s first foray into the digital art space. Gap also just revealed its first collection of NFTs in partnership with artist Brandon Sines, giving customers the opportunity to own a limited edition, collectible Gap hoodie.

TikTok Starts Testing Paid Creator Subscriptions

This week in social media news, TikTok and Instagram have started testing support for paid subscriptions, YouTube shuts down original content group, Meta announces new artificial intelligence supercomputer and more.


TikTok Tests Support For Paid Subscriptions

As part of its latest creator monetization effort, TikTok is examining the option for creators to charge subscriptions for their content through a series of limited, temporary tests. 

Why it matters: The popular short-form video app says it’s seeking new ways to “bring value to [its] community and enrich the TikTok experience.” Should the new feature become widely available, TikTok will effectively increase its competitive advantage over Twitch, the only other major social media platform whose streamers regularly receive a substantial portion of income via paid subscriptions. 

The new feature may also prove beneficial given that several of the other key players in this space such as YouTube and Instagram pay content creators out of the companies’ own pockets—something TikTok also began doing in 2021 with a $200 million fund.

The details: Not much is known about the new trial period or how it may eventually be implemented given that TikTok declined to share additional details. News of the trial run comes shortly after the platform confirmed its testing of an in-app tipping feature that allows creators to accept money from fans outside of TikTok Live streams, and just one day after Instagram launched subscriptions in the US with a handful of creators who are now able to offer subscribers exclusive Live videos and Stories. Both TikTok’s and Instagram’s new subscription features follow Twitter’s September launch of “Super Follows” – its own version of a paid subscription service.


YouTube Scales Back Originals Division As Susanne Daniels Exits

YouTube has announced it will officially stop producing original shows. According to chief business officer Robert Kyncl, the decision came as a result of global head of original content Susanne Daniels’ resignation and the fact that YouTube’s rapid growth has brought with it new investment opportunities elsewhere, for example with the Creator Shorts Fund, Black Voices Fund and Live Shopping programming.

Why it matters: YouTube Originals was the platform’s attempt at venturing into the subscription-streaming business. After pivoting in 2018 and selling or killing off a number of original shows and movies, YouTube began to focus more on unscripted fare. Now, it will have the ability to invest in other initiatives that can make a greater impact on even more creators.

The details: YouTube has been producing originals for about six years. With Daniels stepping down from on March 1, Youtube will only be funding programs that are part of its Black Voices and YouTube Kids funds.

According to Kyncl, YouTube’s Partner Program has seen tremendous growth for ad-revenue sharing with 2 million participants. This opportunity to invest in other creators and ventures that show promise is more valuable to YouTube than its original shows and movies have proven to be.


Meta Announces New Artificial Intelligence Supercomputer

Meta (Facebook) has revealed its new supercomputer, the AI Research SuperCluster, the result of a two-year joint effort between Facebook’s AI and infrastructure teams and the company’s partners, including Nvidia, Penguin Computing and Pure Storage. Meta said it’s currently using the invention to train AI models in natural language processing and computer vision for research.

Why it matters: Jerome Pesenti, vice president of AI at Meta, said the supercomputer is being used for research purposes, with the objective of feeding it troves of data to build AI models that can think like a human brain and understand subtleties. This will come in handy as Meta builds a 3D multi-sensorial experience for its metaverse, which will require AI agents in the environment that are relevant to users, and as Zuckerberg told WSJ, “enormous compute power.”

The details: According to Meta, its new AI supercomputer houses 6,080 Nvidia graphics-processing units, putting it fifth among the fastest supercomputers in the world. And by mid-summer, when the AI Research SuperCluster is fully built, it will house about 16,000 GPUs, becoming the fastest AI supercomputer in the world.

Pesenti said products won’t likely arise from AI Research SuperCluster for years.


Instagram Launches Test Of Creator Subscriptions In US

As part of an initial test, Instagram’s latest monetization feature, Subscriptions, will be available to a handful of US creators who will be able to set a monthly price of their choice, unlock a “subscribe” button on their profile and offer a variety of benefits to their subscribers.

Why it matters: In 2020, Facebook launched Subscriptions and based on strong creator feedback, Meta said it’s ready to bring the model to creators on Instagram, enabling them to earn a recurring monthly income by giving them access to exclusive content. 

The details: Among the benefits creators using Instagram Subscriptions can offer followers are Subscriber Lives, where creators can broadcast exclusive Lives and allow subscribers to engage more deeply. Subscriber Stories will enable creators to create content solely for subscribers, allowing them to share exclusive content and to use interactive story stickers with their most engaged followers only. Subscriber Badges will place a badge next to comments left by subscribers to enable creators to easily identify them.

The 10 creators who will be part of Instagram’s early test include: @alanchikinchow, @sedona._, @alizakelly, @kelseylynncook, @elliottnorris, @jordanchiles, @jackjerry, @bunnymichael, @donalleniii and @lonnieiiv.


Pinterest Finds Men Plan To Spend More In 2022

According to Pinterest’s latest study, men are setting big goals for the new year and are actively planning to invest the time and money necessary to achieve them. Its research shows 75 percent of men will spend more this year to bring their goals to fruition.

Why it matters: Pinterest’s research found that men are highly brand conscious and willing to spend more on brands they know or trust, so it pays to reach them early and often. They convert quicker too, conducting fewer searches before making a purchase. More than any other factor, finding the right item is the top reason men say they had a successful shopping experience, said Pinterest.

The details: Eighty-five percent of men who use Pinterest say the platform feels personalized to them and 80 percent say shopping on the platform leads them to something unexpected that surprises and delights them.

To connect with these shoppers, Pinterest suggests brands plan their strategy for reaching men around pivotal times in their lives including seasonal holidays, cultural events and big life moments. It also recommends showing how your latest products can help them try new hobbies or have more fun in 2022.

Trend Set: The North Face x Gucci

Ayzenberg Junior Strategist Ashley Otah recounts this week’s trends.


The North Face x Gucci

Tapping talent. Gucci and North Face add a TikTok trainspotting enthusiast for a freshly dropped fashion partnership. 21-year-old, Francis Bourgeois, rose to fame during lockdown after sharing videos of himself enjoying trains and trainspotting around the UK. Celebrities, brands, fans, and the like kept tabs on the ferroequinologist and his adventures. Ultimately, the trainspotter made his fashion debut for the two brands’ second collaboration. While curating partnerships or campaigns, brands should be proactive but cognizant of brand tenants, ensuring that all involved are aligned.

Kidfluencers

Kidfluencers, or kid influencers, are the terms used to describe the next generation of online personalities. The demographic is getting younger, raising concerns about the protection and long-term psychological ramifications. In addition, the ecosystem shifts as young users turn to mobile screens to stay up-to-date with ‘kid-driven’ content. Although the topic has been labeled as “something too early to be examined fully,’ understanding that kidfluencers are kids should be top-of-mind as the future and safety of children are paramount.

Non-Alcoholic Drinks Market

The Non-Alcoholic Drinks market is expected to grow annually by 5.5 percent, with the most revenue generated in the United States. Brands are tapping into this booming market with seemingly similar minimalist branding. The branding aligns with consumer trends such as nostalgia, asymmetry, and even anti-ads. Meeting consumers where they are with differentiators in saturated markets comes with trial and error, but it remains necessary for brands to cut through the noise.

Out-of-Home

What dreams are made of. Twitter is lauded for the rollout of its Out-of-Home campaign featuring celebrities taking to the app to manifest their dreams. From Toronto, Chicago, Houston, and more, many of the billboards popped up in respective hometowns of some of the celebrities. The Out-of-Home vertical is something not to be dismissed, as its advertising revenue increased by 38 percent in the third quarter of 2021 compared to the previous year. It is forecasted to be the second-fastest ad channel in 2021. The Piccadilly Circus Digital Billboard also shows that the digital ad format is another notable space to watch.

Peloton

Breaking a sweat. Peloton, the American exercise and media company is tackling the future of its bikes, treadmills, and other offerings. The shift comes as the world reemerges and uncertainties continue. The brand, which carved out a lane for itself, has a cult following, and even crowd favorite instructors, is finding itself in a new spot. The current situation reinforces that even with solid strategies and tactics, being flexible and catering to the right audiences can reshape the brand’s trajectory.