Don’t Touch That Dial: AM/FM Radio Is Still Safe For Marketers

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It’s no secret that digital is moving in on terrestrial radio. A recently published report by Musonomics claims that the medium will be dead within a decade thanks to a myriad of factors that range from smart speakers to Gen Z preferences, but Nielsen and the National Association of Broadcasters disagree. Should marketers be worried about advertising on AM/FM stations? Let’s take a look at the data.

Trust In Traditional

Consumers like and trust traditional advertisements more than digital, according to a study by MarketingSherpa. Out of the 2,400 US consumers interviewed, 71 percent say they usually trust radio advertising when making a purchasing decision. In fact, the top five most-trusted types of advertising were all traditional, including television and print.

Unaided brand recall is five times higher for those on the air than brands not advertising on AM/FM radio, according to a study by Local Ad Recall. Fielding 27 local ad recall studies with 8,377 consumers, the company also found that 78 percent of respondents trust on-air personalities like a friend.

While streaming music integration is commonplace for modern vehicles, Edison Research reported that 90 percent of commuters still listen to AM/FM radio. If given only one choice of audio to listen to, 43 percent of the total sample would choose traditional AM/FM radio. To underscore the point, when BMW and Tesla removed or disabled the AM radio function in some of its electric models, there was a considerable backlash from consumers.

“For any doubters out there, AM/FM is here to stay and has a larger than some may expect listening base,” Henry Bzeih, managing director of connected and mobility for Kia Motors America told Insider Radio in an August 2017 interview. “Therefore, until we see a different trend, we will protect the tuners in our head units for terrestrial radio.”

Yes, Young People Are Still Listening

Nielsen’s latest Total Audience Report 2017, Q1 data shows that Gen Z spent over 35 hours per month listening to AM/FM radio and 88 percent of Gen Zers use terrestrial radio each week.

In fact, the report finds that AM/FM radio reaches 88 percent of Generation Z in the US each week and 93 percent of millennials.

“Nielsen data affirms radio’s continued vitality,” a spokesman from the analyst film told Variety. “In the face of a constantly shifting media landscape, radio continues to have the broadest weekly reach among all media.”

Nearly 88 percent of Americans between the ages of 12-17 turn to radio each week, and they spend nearly 10 hours a week listening to local radio, according to the Radio Advertising Bureau.

It Pays To Tune In

It’s not enough to know that consumers still tune in, so let’s take a look at how ad spending performs in terms of ROI.

Nielsen’s sales effect study found that radio exposure led to a significant return on advertising investment for department stores, mass merchandisers, home improvement stores and quick-service restaurants.

Department stores saw the highest return of $17.00 to $1.00 and experienced a 10 percent increase in sales. Mass merchandisers saw a $16.00 to $1.00 return. Home improvement stores experienced a $9.00 to $1.00 return while the return for quick-service restaurants was $3.00 to $1.00.

According to Media Ecologist Jack Myers’ 29th Annual Marketing & Advertising Data and Spending Forecast, radio revenue will increase from $15.9 billion in 2016 to $17.8 billion in 2020. Terrestrial radio is expected to see a 12.3 percent increase in ad spending over the next three years. Its total share of the ad revenue pie will grow from 2.8 percent to three percent by 2020.

It sounds like radio isn’t going off the air anytime soon.

Spotify Goes ‘Upstream’ With Brands For New Podcast Series

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In yet another attempt to diversify its offerings as they prepare to go public later this year, Spotify has announced “Upstream,” an original podcast centered around one-on-one conversations with brand executives focusing on the future of their industries.

The first seven episodes are already available on the “Spotify for Brands” platform and feature discussions on open-ended questions facing the economy at large with such influential figures as Mark Thompson, CEO of The New York Times Company, Jon Iwata, IBM’s chief brand officer, as well as leaders from brands like Dropbox and Airbnb.

Spotify’s chief marketing officer Seth Farbman hosts the show, which is the company’s first foray into the swiftly growing podcast market. As high as 10 percent of American adults have downloaded and listened to a podcast in the past month, a growing trend that the music-streaming service hopes to capitalize on.

“It’s never felt more vital to talk about culture: where it’s headed, and what it means for all of us,” Spotify wrote on its site.

Launched in July, Spotify for Brands is a service that provides marketing insights based on user data. With 75 percent of Spotify’s revenue going to licensing deals with major records, the shift to original content could see the brand achieve higher profit margins.

Apple has so far dominated in the podcast market, forcing other brands that break into the audio game to play ball. However, as other services have started hosting popular shows as well, Apple’s market share has declined recently from 70 percent to just 55 percent.

https://www.facebook.com/SpotifyBrands/videos/512167332509081/

Air New Zealand Flies Across The Globe With A New Spokesbird

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Air New Zealand is enticing travelers and selling the qualities of the country with a new video-led global marketing campaign.

For “A Better Way to Fly,” the brand got creative with its communication through “Pete,” a CGI character inspired by New Zealand’s national bird, the kiwi. The emblematic creature is voiced by New Zealand actor and Jurassic Park star Sam Neill.

“With any campaign, we start with understanding the market, the insights and what some of the barriers are. For us, distance is a barrier. People have a perception that it’s a really long way to fly to New Zealand. People weren’t really familiar with the product and the services we offered,” Jodi Williams, general manager of global brand and content marketing, told AListDaily. “We always look at how we can bring a story to life. An animated character is a really great way to engage audiences across any age. They can get away with saying a lot of things and add humor.”

The 77-year-old brand has previously enjoyed success with a CGI goose and, believe it or not, safety videos. It stuck with a similar formula with the animated, free spirit of Pete, a wingless kiwi-turned-spokesbird who can’t fly, but still holds his homeland up high.

In the video series, the animated birdbassador’s job is clear—sell consumers on the journey through New Zealand tourism and the brand’s in-flight perks of premier dining, wine and plush business cabins.

For the launch of its three-year campaign, a celebration took place in Culver City, California earlier this month. The airline tapped award-winning chef Michael Meredith and New Zealand-bred celebrities such as supermodel Rachel Hunter, rugby player and Game of Thrones actor Joe Naufahu and singer Gin Wigmore to share stories about the land of the long white cloud. Bottles of premium New Zealand wine endlessly flowed across the foyer and surely helped change consumer perception about Oceanian travel.

“New Zealand has some of the most gorgeous landscapes in the world, and an amazing culture and tradition,” Hunter told AListDaily. “It’s a diverse place filled with happy people. As soon as you get off the plane, you can immediately feel it.”

In addition to its celebrity spokespeople, the airline carrier had experiential tech stations for guests to get a better understanding of the country, including a Microsoft HoloLens demo of in-flight options, a VR demo and a conversation with Sophie, the artificial brand ambassador. However, the chatbot Oscar, which launched earlier this year, did not make the trip.

The global campaign was launched in North America and will emphasize gaining consumer awareness, specifically in California and Texas. Over the next six months, it will hit second legs in Canada, Europe, China, Japan and South America. It’s the first time the carrier has taken a single approach across markets around the world. The carrier will be activating a multi-level marketing strategy and campaign with a “hero, hub and help” approach, Williams said.

The “hero” is the initial piece of content that’s designed to drive awareness and cut through the market. The “hub” layer tells more specific stories of Air New Zealand’s product and services. The final stage of “help” entails detailed information that potential consumers would want to know before making a purchase decision.

“You get awareness driving down to relevance. We actually overlay our content marketing strategy over the purchase funnel,” Williams says. “People like and adhere to the domestic travel experiences. Air travel doesn’t have the best reputation, so we asked, ‘How do we communicate that Air New Zealand is a great premium product and service?’ When people are going through the purchase-decision process, they often have four-or-five destinations in mind. For us, people first need to consider the destination—so it’s about selling New Zealand and Australia—and then hopefully have them to fly with us.”

Through June this year, 325,000 visitors arrived in New Zealand from the US—a 26 percent increase year-over-year, according to TNZ Active Considerer Monitor and TNZ arrivals data. Williams says research indicates 27 million Americans are interested in holidaying in New Zealand, which means huge potential for them to further tap into demand.

Considering its geographic location, Air New Zealand has to leverage platforms like WeChat and Weibo just as much as Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat via paid media across digital and social to get the message out.

 

“It really becomes quite a complex campaign. You end up with a big content matrix, where you’re looking at every channel. That’s the sheer growth of channels that we’re seeing across marketing,” Williams says. “Ultimately, we hope that we’re keeping it entertaining, engaging and simple for the consumer as we try and get those key Air New Zealand messages conveyed.”

Williams said that if they were launching a marketing campaign three-to-five years ago, they’d have a 90-, 60- and 30-second ad. Now they end up in the neighborhood of 30 pieces and complement them with other strategies.

“We do a lot in influencer marketing and give them a very specific job to do,” Williams said. “There are some smaller elements to this campaign. Our focus is definitely on paid, getting reach and really working on social and partnerships in order to extend that reach. We’re a small airline, and therefore the approach we take to marketing can often be quite innovative, quirky and different in order for us to get that cut-through and extend reach.”

“A Better Way to Fly” is ultimately banking on equity the brand has built with its popular safety videos. Since 2009, the airline has produced 15 separate installments starring the likes of Betty White, Chrissy Teigen, Cuba Gooding Jr. and Katie Holmes.

“Safety videos were very boring and functional before us,” Williams says. “We turned the category on its head and people started to pay attention. We now have over 108 million views on our safety videos. Customers are still enjoying them and asking when the next one is coming out. We’re very proud of that—it does a fantastic job for us. It’s gone from being a safety video to a global marketing campaign. The value it gives us far exceeds any kind of traditional advertising that we do.”

Williams says finding the balance between being cheeky, entertaining and informative is critical to maintaining brand relevancy. 

“Your brand needs to keep moving. You have to actively manage your brand. You need to be aware of your customers and their changing needs. You need to be real, genuine, open and honest,” she says. “I think that Air New Zealand has always been like that. We have a real authenticity to our brand. We’re very fortunate that we have this mix and can still be a little cheeky.”

Oculus, YouTube, NBC Hire New Senior Marketing Leaders

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Oculus has brought on executive Rebecca Van Dyck as their newest chief marketing officer, according to Business Insider and TechCrunch.

Van Dyck previously worked for Facebook as vice president of consumer and brand marketing, and before that was senior marketing director at Apple. Van Dyck will be replacing Liz Hamren, who left Oculus in April to join Microsoft’s VR project.

YouTube has created a new position—vice president of brand, media and experiences—and tapped Tom Blessington for the role. Beginning in mid-September, Blessington will oversee brand strategy and marketing campaigns across all of YouTube’s revenue streams. Previously, Blessington was managing director at Wieden + Kennedy Portland, a job he has held since 2006.

NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises has named Karen Barroeta as their new senior vice president of marketing and creative of Telemundo Networks.

Prior to her new position, Barroeta held the role of senior vice president of marketing and creative for NBCUniversal International Networks Spanish Latin America, where she oversaw marketing communications efforts for the Syfy, E! Entertainment and Telemundo Internacional channels.

VidCon, host of the annual online video conference in Anaheim, California, has appointed company founder Hank Green as chairman of the company, and Jim Louderback as CEO. As chief executive, Louderback will focus primarily on growing the conference year over year.

Both men have worked at the company for some time—Green from the beginning in 2010 and Louderback as editorial director for the last three years. Prior to that, Louderback was CEO of online video network Revision3 and general manager of Discovery Digital Networks.

Jodi Allen has been hired by Hertz Global Holdings to serve as their newest chief marketing officer. Additionally, Murali Kuppuswamy has been brought on as executive vice president and chief human resources officer. The car-rental conglomerate, which owns the Hertz, Dollar and Thrifty brands, reported a loss of $474 million last year, a trend Allen and his cohorts hope to reverse.

Prior to her latest position, Allen has been general manager for P&G’s hair care division for the past three years, and before that was general manager for P&G brand and marketing in North America, overseeing a $4 billion media budget. Kuppuswamy previously held the role of chief human resources officer for Baker Hughes before it was acquired by General Electric.

Green Man Gaming has appointed Paul Turner as executive vice president for performance marketing. In the role, Turner will be responsible for driving international traffic to the PC-game distributor’s storefront, increasing revenue, and managing merchandising.

“Paul’s 15 years’ experience at the forefront of digital marketing innovation working in forward thinking industries including online gambling and digital retail is a highly valuable addition to our Executive team as we ramp up our internationalization plans,” said Paul Sulyok, CEO and founder of Green Man Gaming.

Most recently, Turner held the title of head and marketing director of online sports-gambling site Sporting Index, where he led efforts to rebrand the company and launch their mobile site.

Closing out a contentious selection process that has gone on since Uber CEO Travis Kalanick left the company in June, the ridesharing service has finally selected Dara Khosrowshahi as their latest CEO.

Khosrowshahi beat out candidates like former General Electrics CEO Jeffrey R. Immelt and HP Enterprise CEO Meg Whitman for the position. Khosrowshahi will attempt to turn the company around after numerous controversies regarding sexual harassment and criminal business practices.

Prior to his new role at Uber, Khosrowshahi was president and CEO of Expedia, a job he has held since 2005. He is also on the board of directors for The New York Times Company.

Twitter has a new leader of its human resources team, expanding the role of CMO and head of communications Leslie Berland to include the new title “head of people.” The position has been empty for nearly six months, after Renee Atwood left the company in February.

Alongside Berland, Jennifer Christie has also been brought onboard to Twitter’s HR team as vice president of human resources.

Before joining Twitter, Berland held the position of executive vice president of global advertising for American Express, as did Christie, who was senior vice president of human resources at the credit card company.

(Editor’s Note: This post will be updated daily until Friday, September 1. Have a new hire tip? Let us know at editorial@alistdaily.com.)

Job Vacancies 

Head of Brand Marketing Eventbrite San Francisco, CA
Director, Marketing Razer USA, Ltd. Irvine, CA
Director, Digital Marketing Warner Bros. Entertainment Group Burbank, CA
Director of Strategy, Marketing Starbucks Seattle, WA
Director, Marketing Sony Music Entertainment New York, NY
Brand Manager BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment America Inc. Santa Clara, CA
Director, Product Marketing Facebook Menlo Park, CA
Sr. Product Marketing Manager AT&T El Segundo, CA

Make sure to check back for updates on our Jobs Page.

Google Is Issuing Refunds For Fake Traffic, Steps Up Its Transparency

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As Google issues partial refunds to victims of ad fraud, a lack of transparency in the programmatic ad industry has been called into question once again. The company is still recovering from brand safety concerns on YouTube and to add insult to injury, Google’s refunds are being issued just months after the company received its “Certified Against Fraud” seal from The Trustworthy Accountability Group (TAG).

Google’s parent company Alphabet Inc. is not only reimbursing select marketers costs but Google’s director of product management, Scott Spencer told The Wall Street Journal, they’re developing a tool to provide more transparency moving forward.

“When people talk about [ad fraud], there’s a big specter to it and a big concern about invalid traffic in digital,” Spencer said. “It’s not that large in terms of a percentage of what people are buying, but it can be a little bit scary to buyers, and our goal is to remove that to improve the trust overall in the ecosystem.”

Forrester estimates that ad fraud cost marketers $7.4 billion in 2016 and if not addressed, could grow to $10.9 billion by the year 2021. This aligns with the 2016 ANA/White Ops Bot Fraud study, which estimated that advertisers lose $7.2 billion per year globally to bot-generated, non-human traffic. That’s the same amount that Proctor & Gamble spent on advertising last year alone.

Ad fraud occurs when purchased ads are displayed on sites that produce traffic artificially through bots, or when malware programs repeatedly “click” advertisements to simulate engagement. A program called Methbot, for example, siphons between $3 to $5 million in video ad revenue from premium publishers every day by posing as sites like ESPN, Vogue and Fortune. Once marketers pay for ads, the bot creates fake impressions and hikes up the price of CPMs.

Google says it’s “entering discussions” with over 100 exchanges, ad networks and publishers that DoubleClick Bid Manager plugs into—asking them to disclose to ad buyers whether they’re willing to refund the entire media spend if ad fraud occurs. Buyers could then use filters to avoid sources without a refund policy.

This isn’t the company’s first attempts at curbing ad fraud. Google joined the “Ads.txt” project through the Interactive Advertising Bureau in March. The new tool provides a mechanism to enable content owners to declare who is authorized to sell their inventory.

Fraudsters continually adapt to deterrents, and guaranteeing marketers that zero fraud will occur is unrealistic. Efforts being taken by Google and other ad sellers to promote transparency, however, may help heal the wounded ecosystem and put control into the hands of marketers in order to make educated decisions.

‘The Tick’ Returns With Marketing That Captures His Trademark Personality

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The Tick is back in his second live-action comedy TV series, this one available exclusively to Amazon Prime members. The comic-book-hero-turned-TV-star first appeared in 1986. Since then, he became a popular cartoon character in the 90s and the star of a live-action show starring Patrick Warburton (Venture Brothers) on Fox. For the hero’s risky return to live-action—especially in a time when superhero shows are everywhere—Amazon catered its marketing around Tick’s trademark catchphrases and naivete.

Hype surrounding the show includes standard fare such as billboards, teasers and a sponsored hashtag (Tweeting #TheTick will add an image of the hero to messages), but with a twist. For example, billboards were strategically located so that their messages would make the most impact. One located in Los Angeles reads, “You nail the callback, I’ll nail evil,” catering to Hollywood’s huge population of aspiring actors.

While it’s nothing new for a film or show to create specially marked packaging for restaurant promotions, cups from Hardees and Carl’s Jr. include a Snap code to unlock exclusive content. Amazon used Snapchat for a number of promotions, including a sponsored filter that turns users into The Tick. An exclusive game on the app lets users beat up bad guys and features a music track from the show—a cover of Green Day’s “Basket Case” by Bastille.

The Tick lives in a world where superheroes are part people’s daily lives and are loosely regulated. To help immerse fans into his world, Amazon is inviting them to register as a superhero in the AEGIS database—a fictional organization from the series. In addition to creating their own identities and super powers, users can contribute fan fiction, call a special phone number for more information and explore the files of other heroes. Adding backstory to The Tick’s adventures, users may notice some heroes were killed by The Terror—a villain from the show.

Back in the hands of its creator, Ben England (Supernatural, Gotham), the title character of Tick is portrayed by Peter Serafinowicz (Guardians of the Galaxy) in the new series. The series has been a comic book, a cartoon and another live-action show, but the character has always remained larger than life. At San Diego Comic-Con, Amazon took this phrase literally and brought a giant 24-foot replica of the top of The Tick’s head, complete with towering antennae, with them to the show.

Responding to Twitter posts tagged with #TheTickSDCC, along with specific emoji, participants received responses from the official Tick account with videos of the antennae moving in response to the requested emoji (happy, sad, etc.). The 24-foot replica of The Tick’s head was visible from “all major landmarks” at the event, and special access to a lounge was granted to Amazon Prime members.

The Tick takes a slightly different approach than previous iterations, in that the main character is actually Tick’s sidekick, Arthur, played by Griffin Newman (Draft Day). Struggling with mental illness and depression, Arthur is an accountant who suspects that his town is owned by The Terror. Without super powers, he is hopeless to take any action until he meets The Tick and becomes The Moth.

A special live Q&A with Griffin Newman was held on Facebook Live August 21 to delve deeper into the character and what viewers could look forward to on the show.

The first six episodes of The Tick are available now on Amazon Prime, with six more dropping in early 2018.

 

Fake News And Disinformation Are Central To Arcade Fire’s Latest Album Campaign

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Arcade Fire has always been a band with a message, from Neon Bible’s commentary on post-9/11 hysteria to The Suburbs’ criticism of the suburbs. Their latest album, Everything Now, is no different. The indie-rock group has set their sights on the pervasive perversion of branding on the artistry of music, alongside commentary on the instant gratification and lack of verification omnipresent on the internet.

To promote the album, the band wove a bizarre narrative, signing on to a “360-degree arrangement” with fictional company Everything Now and creating a phony social media coordinator, Tannis Wright. While Arcade Fire is no stranger to out-of-the-box promotion for their albums, their pre-release campaigns have never been quite so elaborate or multifaceted.

Here’s a breakdown of their campaign:

Setup

On April 2, 2017, one “Rafael Derras,” likely fictional, created the blog “Arcade Fire Expat.” Nobody noticed.

Phase 1: Teasers

The consumer-facing campaign began on May 31, in much the same manner as their previous album, Reflektor, with posters going up surreptitiously around the world.

However, Arcade Fire added additional layers, creating two new Twitter accounts. The first, @EverythingNowCo, the “official” account for a content marketing company, retweeted a short video featuring a clip from the album’s title track, posted by second new account @AF_0ff1c1al, a.k.a. Masha S—which was designed to look like a Russian spambot.

The band’s official twitter account posted a new logo on the same day:

The band began selling official Everything Now merchandise at the Primavera Sound festival in Barcelona, including a vinyl recording of the album’s title track. Their Instagram account was also wiped, further teasing new content to come.

Finally, YouTube channel Arcade Fire Expat posted a 13-second video containing the opening chords to “Everything Now” and linked to a blog post about a secret show in Barcelona.

Phase 2: Materialist Marketing

On July 1, Everything Now revealed the official Everything Now website and music video, and, in three typo-ridden tweets, announced their new “Content Division” and that their first music signing was “The Arcade Fires.”

Starting June 3, Arcade Fire began manufacturing disagreement with their marketing partner after Everything Now tweeted out the new album’s song titles in anagram form. The band’s official Twitter account responded:

Later that month, infighting continued as the Arcade Fire Facebook page released fake ads for tie-in products and followed up with a new music video on June 16. Everything Now responded the same day, calling the release “a clear sec. 9 violation.” Six days later, the Arcade Fire Facebook page was updated:

https://www.facebook.com/arcadefire/posts/10155192754285225

The post also includes an updated music video for “Creature Comfort,” which includes “fun fact” overlays and eventually advertises products to tie in with each track on the album, poking fun at commercialism in modern music.

The band’s promotional efforts begin in earnest here, posting an announcement of a limited-edition fidget spinner. The band’s Twitter account continued to announce fictional tie-in products for the next month, causing a stir when involving actual brands.

Revealing the true message behind the campaign, the Arcade Fire Twitter account posted about how  “shady” the music business has become, calling out other band-brand partnerships as hypocritical and contradictory with their art form.

Phase 3: #FakeNews

On July 1, the Arcade Fire campaign pivoted away from its ironic commercial approach, “turning over” the reins of its Twitter account from Tannis Wright to Sarah Huckabee Sanders and mocking Donald Trump’s comments on the size of his inauguration crowd.

Beginning on July 14, the band began a widespread disinformation campaign, creating slightly altered versions of popular websites, including “Entertainment Weakly”, “StereoYum,” “Billlboard,” “Fact Company” and “The Hollywood Reported,” all spinning the same plausible meta-commentary about the commercialization of music as relates to their album’s rollout.

Controversy about the fake news strategy reached a head when screenshots of an announced dress code (“HIP & TRENDY”) for a pre-release concert of the album were published on Brooklyn Vegan, leading to backlash, a statement from the band on the lack of a dress code and a scanned “fax” from Tannis Wright:

All this led to a final clarifying post on The Sharables: an interview with the infamous and elusive Tannis Wright, wherein all of the controversial statements and false information are blamed on the (fictional) social media intern, adding further layers of falsehood.

Results

The album released on July 28 to 100,000 week-one sales, enough to put it at number 1 on Billboard’s top 200 albums, which would certainly indicate the success of the campaign. However, as The Outline points out, the band hit the figure partially because they packaged a copy of the album with every concert ticket sold. Additionally, the band is bigger than it’s ever been, but their last album, Reflektor, also topped the Billboard 200 with 140,000 first-week sales.

Arby’s, Jack Wills Taps New CMOs

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British fashion retailer Jack Wills has brought on Claire Waugh as their first-ever chief marketing officer. Waugh comes on board after Jack Wills reported their return to profitability this year, after several years of record losses.

“I wanted to hire an inspirational individual to lead our marketing function globally,” said Peter Williams, CEO and founder of Jack Wills. “The caliber of talent which we are attracting at Jack Wills is evidence of the revival of the brand over the past two years and the pace of momentum across the business.”

Waugh previously worked at luxury fashion brand Burberry, ascending to global marketing director for menswear, leather and softs. Beforehand, she spent 10 years at Starbucks Coffee.

Williams also hinted at announcements of future hirings, claiming a “very exciting year” ahead.

Arby’s has a new president and chief marketing officer, tapping Rob Lynch and Jim Taylor for the roles, respectively.

Lynch, who previously served as CMO for the roast-beef specialist chain will retain his title as president of the Arby’s Franchise Association. Prior to his promotion, Taylor held the position of senior vice present of marketing.

The leadership changes come after 27 straight quarters of same-store sales growth.

Mary T. Barra, chairman and CEO of General Motors, has been elected to the Walt Disney board of directors. Barra has held her current position at the auto conglomerate since 2014, prior to which she served as executive vice present of global product development, purchasing and supply chain.

Advertising standards-setting organization the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) has appointed John Frelinghuysen as their new publisher-in-residence. In the position, Frelinghuysen will advise IAB and its Digital Video Center of Excellence on possible innovations in the digital advertising field.

Formerly, Frelinghuysen was executive vice president of digital media for Disney/ABC Television, and before that as senior vice president of strategy for AOL.

“Digital video—with $9.1 billion in US advertising spending in 2016 alone—is perhaps the single greatest opportunity for industry revenue growth, and it is a privilege to team with IAB to spur the medium even further,” said Frelinghuysen. “We need to coalesce around these critical areas in order for video to deliver on its tremendous promise.”

Intel has replaced its departing vice president of their sales and marketing group with Michelle Johnston Holthaus. The change comes after the departure of six upper-level executives leaving the chip manufacturer since 2015, including sales and marketing president Stacy Smith.

Holthaus, who has been with the company since 1996, most recently served as general manager of the PC Client Group’s central marketing and operations division.

Online investment start-up Ellevest has brought on Lisa Stone as chief marketing officer, where she will attempt to expand the brand’s efforts to demystify investing for women.

Previously, she founded BlogHer and served as CEO from 2005 until 2014, when the female-focused blogging platform was acquired by SheKnows Media.

Nestle’s global head of integrated marketing Michael Chrisment has ditched the company, joining French media group Konbini as chief marketing officer.

Working for Nescafe, Chrisment was responsible for shifting the digital side of the coffee brand’s outreach to Tumblr to create a more conversational tone with consumers.

In an interview with The Drum, Chrisment said, “Something is broken in advertising and we can’t do it the same way as before,” a problem he hopes to solve at his new position.

Retail chain Macy’s announced the hiring of Hal Lawton as company president. In the position, Lawton will head efforts to improve data analytics and simplify merchandising organization at the company.

“Hal has deep expertise at the intersection of retail and technology, a diverse set of business experiences that give him a unique perspective, and a track record of successfully driving a change agenda at scale,” said Jeff Gennette, CEO of Macy’s.

Lawton joins the company after leaving eBay North America, where he served as senior vice president. Previously, he spent 10 years at Home Depot, ascending to the level of senior vice president of merchandising, where he established the company’s website.

The Los Angeles Times has replaced its publisher and CEO, installing Ross Levinsohn as the paper’s new leader. Tronc, the L.A. Times parent company, announced that the shift comes with increased investment into the paper to adapt it more quickly to the digital age.

Several senior-level staff members have left the company as well amid the swift changes, including former publisher Tim Ryan, advertising executive Ken DePaola, marketing executive Joseph Schlitz, L.A. Times publisher and editor Davan Maharaj and three other senior editors.

Levinsohn most recently was co-founder and partner at consulting firm Whisper Advisors, and has held senior-level positions at News Corp. and Yahoo, and played an integral role in creating the TV-streaming site Hulu.

Cox Media Group has named a new senior vice present and chief human resources officer in Mary Ellen Marcilliat-Falkner.

A longtime Cox employee, Marcilliat-Falkner most recently led the company’s client-facing HR business team, where she provided consultation services to Cox’s business partners. Prior to the role, she was director of finance operations for the West region.

Jeff Jones joined has tax preparation services company H&R Block as their new CEO, replacing the recently retired Bill Cobb.

Formerly the president of ridesharing app Uber, Jones left the company in March, after only six months in the position. Beforehand, he served as chief marketing officer at Target for four years.

Sports analytics provider Nielsen Sports has promoted Glenn Lovett to the role of global managing director, after his fellow global co-managing director Danny Townsend left the company to become CEO of Australian soccer team Sydney FC.

Prior to his position at Nielsen Spots, Lovett held the position of global president of strategy of sports measurement and evaluation company Repucom, which Nielsen acquired in 2016.

Trisha Espinoza has been promoted by entertainment conglomerate Viacom to head of planning and content strategy for MTV, VH1 and Logo Group.

Espinoza most recently held the position of senior vice present of planning and content strategy for VH1 and Logo, and has previously led programming strategy for BET, NBC and MTV2.

Andrew Hotz has joined production monolith Warner Bros. Pictures as executive vice president of worldwide digital marketing. Hotz will head both domestic and international teams to market and support both Warner Bros. and New Line Cinemas releases.

Prior to this position, Hotz served as head of industry at Google, where he worked extensively with NBCUniversal on digital marketing.

The UK branch of car manufacturer Volvo has appointed Mike Johnstone as their new marketing strategy director. Johnstone will oversee efforts to draw a younger audience to the brand.

Johnstone previously worked as the international director of marketing for Harley-Davidson and head of business customer quality at Skoda UK.

Multinational media conglomerate NBCUniversal has created the position of executive vice present of digital sales and strategy, and has recruited Trevor Fellows to work in the role. Fellows will be responsible for driving revenue across all digital and social media properties.

“As linear and digital media markets converge and viewer consumption patterns continue to change, Trevor will help create the next generation of scaled media opportunities for our marketing partners,” said Linda Yaccarino, chairman of advertising sales and client partnerships. “Trevor has an extensive background in building teams and developing new business models to stay ahead of the industry’s rapidly changing ecosystem.”

Fellows is leaving financial information firm Dow Jones and Company, where he was the executive vice president and chief revenue officer and drove nine consecutive quarters of revenue growth.

Sony Pictures has promoted Jaime Blanc to senior vice president of marketing, advertiser sales. Blanc has been with Sony for four years, and has previously held positions at New Line Television, Plum TV and Martha Stewart Living.

Esports company ESL has hired Jonas “bsl” Alsaker Vikan as their new global tournament director. In the role, he will oversee the organization and execution of all of the company’s esports tournaments, including ESL One and ESL Pro League.

“We are excited to welcome Jonas as the new tournament director to our product team,” said Ulrich Schulze, senior vice president of product at ESL. “With his extensive expertise in the esports industry, resulting from a variety of job experiences, Jonas embodies the natural fit we were looking for.”

Vikan most recently was a journalist for the Norwegian paper Andresseavisen and has worked in the esports industry as a competitor, a team leader, a desk host and a general manager of the team Berlin Allianz.

(Editor’s Note: This post will be updated daily until Friday, August 25. Have a new hire tip? Let us know at editorial@alistdaily.com.)

Job Vacancies 

Head of Brand Marketing Eventbrite San Francisco, CA
Director, Marketing Razer USA, Ltd. Irvine, CA
Director, Digital Marketing Warner Bros. Entertainment Group Burbank, CA
Director of Strategy, Marketing Starbucks Seattle, WA
Director, Marketing Sony Music Entertainment New York, NY
Brand Manager BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment America Inc. Santa Clara, CA
Director, Product Marketing Facebook Menlo Park, CA
VP, Brand Marketing MGM Resorts International Las Vegas, NV

Make sure to check back for updates on our Jobs Page.

YouTube’s Complicated Relationship With The Music Industry

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At the staggering rate in which Google’s video streaming site flags copyrighted music, one would assume the two of them were fast friends. However, YouTube’s global head of music, Lyor Cohen, says there is a disconnect—something he intends to fix.

“I get why some in the music industry would be skeptical of their relationship with YouTube. They were late to the subscriptions party and YouTube’s focus for many years was largely just on ads,” Cohen wrote on the YouTube blog. “While they have been at subscriptions for a year, and the numbers are very encouraging, YouTube must prove its credibility when it comes to its ability to shepherd their funnel of users into paid subscriptions.”

YouTube may be struggling with credibility with marketers—particularly when it comes to brand safety—but the site is already proving its credibility to consumers. Sixty-eight percent of the total US population has used the video portal to watch music videos or listen to music, according to Edison Research. In 2015, YouTube reported that 25 percent of American adults call YouTube their top source for discovering new music.

YouTube Red has merged with Google Play Music to create a single offering, but its success will rely on both brand awareness and partnerships with the music industry itself. Speaking on a panel at the New Music Seminar conference in New York, Cohen—a veteran of Def Jam and Warner Bros. Records—said, “In my mind, the missing piece on building these businesses is collaborating with the [music] industry, and not just making deals and going away and seeing how it works.”

Despite music’s popularity on the site, music industry executives see YouTube as a threat to its sustainability—creating what Frances Moore, chief executive of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) calls a “value gap.”

She said that the biggest threat for continued growth is “a growing mismatch between the value that user upload services such as YouTube extract from music, and the revenue returned to those who are creating and investing in music.”

In IFPI’s annual state of the industry report, Moore said, “The whole music community is uniting in its effort to campaign for a legislative fix to the value gap and we are calling on policymakers to do this. For music to thrive in a digital world, there must be a fair digital marketplace.”

Some 900 million people use services such as YouTube and pay around $553 million to rights holders in revenue. By contrast, according to IFPI’s “conservative estimates,” the much smaller base of the 212 million users of licensed audio subscription services (both paid and ad-supported) such as Spotify and Apple Music paid more than $3.9 billion last year.

Cohen understands the concern but hopes to correct misconceptions during his time at YouTube.

“Critics complain YouTube isn’t paying enough money for ad-supported streams compared to Spotify or Pandora,” he said. “I was one of them! Then I got here and looked at the numbers myself. At over $3 per thousand streams in the US, YouTube is paying out more than other ad-supported services.”

While music executives dismiss Cohen’s claims as “fake news,” YouTube says knowledge is power.

“The real solution here is data transparency,” a YouTube spokesperson told Music Business Worldwide. “This can be achieved if labels and publishers offer artists and songwriters direct access to YouTube Analytics.”

From Conception To Consumption, VR Is Creating New Kinds Of Creators

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Virtual reality is creating a whole-new perspective on film making, from conceptualization to consumption. Hollywood has portrayed the science fiction technology for decades, but now it’s real-world adoption offers immersion into film worlds like never before.

In 2018, legendary filmmaker Steven Spielberg will bring Ernest Cline’s novel Ready Player One to the big screen. While the on-screen story is fictional, Spielberg hopes that someday, it won’t be.

“We’re never going to be totally immersive as long as we’re looking at a square, whether it’s a movie screen or whether it’s a computer screen,” Spielberg said on a 2013 panel for the future of entertainment at the USC School of Cinematic Arts. “We’ve got to get rid of that and we’ve got to put the player inside the experience, where no matter where you look you’re surrounded by a three-dimensional experience. That’s the future.”

VR filmmaking is still in its infancy, leaving the trail wide open to be blazed by anyone brave enough to do so. Independent filmmakers are answering the call for innovation, and the Tribeca Film Festival this year introduced a showcase of VR experiences across the world.

Thanks to VR, directors are able to step inside massive set environments before they’re built. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story was the first to utilize this technology.

The film’s writer, Gary Whitta, described the experience to AListDaily. “The director and I would walk inside the rebel base in virtual reality and he would say things like, ‘Can we make this corridor a little bit longer?’ Or ‘can we make sure that this wall can pop off so we can shoot it from the side with the camera?’ And they would say ‘yes.’ So we walked around the set of the film before it was built, which was incredible.”

Of course, VR content means a potential for VR advertising, as well. Branded VR and 360-degree content has become a common means for film promotion, and often uses the same actors, sets and CGI assets for continuity. Such was the case for Suicide Squad 360, Alien Covenant: In Utero and The Mummy: Zero Gravity Stunt VR.

In a study testing the effectiveness of marketing in VR, brand recall was at least eight times more effective and resulted in double the intent to share.

The fact that Netflix is the most-used VR app shows that consumers are willing to watch videos in a virtual environment. As with traditional TV, this holds tremendous potential for traditional advertising.