Infographic: Summer Vacations Are Back (on a Budget)

It’s officially summer, according to the calendar, but is summer officially back? Data from GroundTruth, a data analytics and media company, shows visits to American tourist attractions were up 187% in May compared to the same month last year. Likewise, trips to national landmarks and concert venues have also increased. “The growth in these categories,…

It’s Not Hype to Call the OXO Salad Spinner Revolutionary

Twenty-five years ago this month, a revolutionary new machine for the home appeared, capable of generating an impressive 1,100 revolutions per minute. Absent any other details, one might venture it’s an exercise bike. Or perhaps a washing machine or a DVD player. It’s none of those things, actually, though the washing machine comes closest. In…

The Brand Home Is the Flagship Store’s Next Evolution

Brand experiences go through hype cycles like any other marketing strategy. There was the era of the flagship store, when the likes of Nike, Apple and Topshop blazed a trail of destinations that heightened the shopping experience. Then the pop-up merged brand and retail to provide entertaining, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it occasions to wow customers. Now, we have…

Small-Business Marketers Invest Big in AI and Automation

Big business-to-business firms often get their hands on artificial intelligence first, but their smaller counterparts need the technology just as much. A report from data and analytics firm Integrate found that 38% of b-to-b marketers are facing budget cuts in 2023, while 40% are eliminating staff. While those budget cuts are decreasing field and event…

Why Marketers of Color Are Quitting Their Jobs

Ample research has documented the importance of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) for business. We know that marketing organizations and creative agencies with diverse workforces enjoy better business performance, innovation, creativity, and decreased attrition and related hiring costs. Yet three years since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, a period marked by ambitious DEI pledges…

Publishers Turn to Livestreaming to Once Again Tap Video Budgets

As linear television viewership continues to decline, advertisers’ appetite for reaching live audiences has only grown in proportion. To capitalize on this opportunity and tap into lucrative video budgets, publishers including Cond? Nast, Penske Media Corp. (PMC) and Overtime have all recently launched or expanded their livestream video capabilities. The uptick of interest in the…

Walmart CMO William White Keeps the Essential Retailer Relevant

After seven years leading marketing for rival Target and a prior tenure at Coca-Cola, William White joined Walmart in May 2020 at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. It would be a baptism of fire for any professional, but the veteran marketer mined his CPG and retail experience to help his new company navigate unknown…

UPS’ Kevin Warren Transformed the Stodgy Brand Into Something ‘Unstoppable’ 

When Kevin Warren took on the role of UPS CMO in 2018, he faced a head-scratcher of a problem. The company was losing market share with small- and medium-sized businesses despite their dependence on a shipper like UPS. Warren’s team surveyed customers, including a persona test, and discovered that customers pegged UPS as an older,…

Molson Coors’ Michelle St. Jacques Revived Coors Light and Elevated Creative Effectiveness

Imagine walking into the first day of your new role as a CMO to find your biggest rival has used a Super Bowl ad to declare war over … corn syrup. That was Michelle St. Jacques’ introduction to Molson Coors in 2019. Navigating the great corn syrup marketing kerfuffle of 2019 didn’t deter St. Jacques…

Microsoft CMO Chris Capossela Is a Master at Navigating Technology Upheaval 

If you’d been lucky enough to catch Bill Gates on the talk circuit in the 1990s, you might also have noticed a fresh-faced assistant at his side, often carrying a canvas bag stuffed with books about everything from China to the U.S. military to how to improve your bridge game. That tenderfoot was Chris Capossela,…

Her Entire Career, Lego’s Julia Goldin Has Mastered Building Brands, Brick by Brick

The first-ever Lego toy might be unrecognizable to current players: It was a wooden duck, fashioned in a workshop opened by Danish carpenter Ole Kirk Christiansen in 1932. The plastic brick–now the cornerstone of the brand–wasn’t introduced until 1949. Today, Lego is known for the colorful bricks that generations of children have spilled onto their…

HP’s Vikrant Batra Prioritizes Building the Tech Brand, Not Just Selling Product

As an undeniable authority in the tech and printing space, HP doesn’t have to worry about raising consumer awareness. Since stepping into his global CMO role in 2018, Vikrant Batra has instead focused on uniting a diverse catalog and consumer base under a central message. Whether HP is selling 3D printers to global companies or…

Shannon Ryan Shines at Telling the Stories of Disney’s Top Storytellers

If you’ve seen a marketing campaign from Disney in the last few years, chances are Shannon Ryan has had her hand in it. Since she joined the company in 2019, Ryan’s marketing purview has expanded to include ABC Entertainment, ABC News, Freeform, Onyx Collective, Disney Television Studios, Disney Branded Television, National Geographic and Hulu’s overall…

JPMorgan Chase CMO Carla Hassan Fuses Customer-Centric and Values-Based Marketing

Understanding customer use cases is a core part of a marketing strategy, but JPMorgan Chase CMO Carla Hassan is the rare Fortune 500 executive who can recall these kinds of customer success stories offhand. This is because Hassan’s imperative is customer centricity. Much of the work she’s done on behalf of the brand centers on…

The Social Element’s Tamara Littleton Pioneered Remote Work Before It Was Cool

In 2002, Tamara Littleton founded her agency, Emoderation, to help brands create communities online. That was before the era of MySpace, when the most popular social media platform was Friendster. “It was the dot-com boom days,” Littleton recalled. “I was working in content and communities, and I had a vision about that. I felt very…

Infographic: When Brands Speak Out, Many Consumers Are Skeptical

In recent weeks, Target and Bud Light have faced significant backlash for marketing or merchandise that supports LGBTQ+ individuals. After backpedaling on their positions–Bud Light put two marketing executives on leave; Target stopped selling certain LGBTQ+ items–the brands upset a whole other segment of the population, who called them out for shallow advocacy. Considering these…

How Timberland Went From Dirty Work Boots to Hip-Hop Drip

For the last two decades, London’s iconic Phonica Records has been the place for vintage vinyl fans who’ve devoted their weekends to bin diving. But in November 2018, shop visitors had an experience that went well beyond LPs on markdown. -A door at the back of the store opened into a tunnel lit with purple…

Off the Clock: Iris North America CEO Ian Sohn Runs Marathons to Unplug

Nearly a decade ago, agency vet Ian Sohn began transitioning into leadership roles, a career shift that also ushered in increased stress and anxiety. So he started running as a way to unwind. What began as small-distance running five days a week soon turned into half marathons of 13 miles, and eventually full marathons covering…

Gen Z Looks For LGBTQ+ Brand Allies to Stand Tall, Not Buckle Under Pressure

Each February since 2017, the National Hockey League has touted its “Hockey Is for Everyone” month, focusing on DEI initiatives. Anheuser-Busch InBev has claimed in its corporate diversity, equity and inclusion statement that “a future with more cheers is one where everyone belongs.” And Target touts on its website, “Being true to yourself and your…

Keke Palmer Spent 20 Years Cultivating Creative Control. Now She’d Rather Share It

Wearing an ankle-length dress and a glossy updo while posing outside her Los Angeles home, Keke Palmer decides that intermissions are for entertainment. In the quiet moments between takes of her Adweek photo shoot, Palmer belts out Destiny’s Child lyrics for a skeleton crew of photographers, stylists and assistants. With these impromptu concerts, it’s as…