Innholdsfortegnelse for November 14, 2022 i Adweek

Thanksgiving is still more than a week away, but many retailers have gotten a jump on Black Friday sales, offering big deals earlier than usual. Not to be outdone, we also have an incredible value offering for you this week: two huge award packages in a single issue! We are spotlighting the Most Powerful Women in Sports and Adweek 50, two gargantuan features that together make this not only the largest issue of 2022, but also the biggest of the last several years. There are so many things I love about 2022’s Most Powerful Women in Sports lineup, which was curated by senior TV reporter Mollie Cahillane—who hosts Adweek’s terrific weekly Most Powerful Women in Sports podcast—and senior story editor Nicole Ortiz. But I was most impressed by its unprecedented…

Whether or not agencies will continue to be selective during the present economic downturn is “the million-dollar question,” Paull said. But he’s sure agencies are now seeking larger, more secure bets as the market contracts, suggesting they’re still carefully vetting RFPs. Pitching costs can run between $100,000 and $300,000 depending on their scale, the consultant said, a high price to pay with a possible recession on the horizon. “It’s a little bit like a Las Vegas casino. They want to be placing the most sure bets they can. I think, prior to the pandemic, the mindset was about achieving quarterly goals and just securing any kind of revenue you could,” said Paull. “Now I think there’s a bit more nuance to it because the talent resources aren’t there the way…

FY 2021 REVENUE: $386.1 MILLION Since joining The Trade Desk a little over a decade ago, Dederick has developed the company’s sales strategy, including its go-to-market mission, messaging and organization. His leadership has led to a customer retention rate of more than 95% annually for the last eight years for the demand-side platform. The relationships built on trust that Dederick has established with the company’s biggest global clients, such as Procter & Gamble and Unilever, have driven a significant shift in ad spend, especially on connected TV, to The Trade Desk’s platform over the past few years. The company’s estimated revenue is $386.1 million, according to its 2021 earnings report, up 28.2% from the prior year. According to The Trade Desk, 80% of Fortune 500 CPG brands including Mastercard and…

FY 2021 REVENUE: $256.7 BILLION Conversations around privacy have taken a front seat in the digital advertising world, and cookie deprecation tends to lead that conversation. As the lead of the product management team that’s responsible for ad privacy at Google, Temkin drives Google’s advertising privacy and trust product strategy, focusing on delivering privacy-first monetization technology and policy, including privacy regulations, kids and ads, user-facing ad controls and experiences. Prior to Google, Temkin ran product management and design at Brave Software. He’s been a software developer, a two-time company founder and an engineering and product leader at small and large tech companies, including Apple and AOL, and has had 11 softwarerelated patents issued.…

EST. FY 2021 REVENUE: $113 MILLION (PER R3) Women are woefully underrepresented in cannabis, especially its C-suites and ownership ranks, yet they’re the driving force in “making things happen” in the booming industry, Livengood said. That insight sparked Pax’s spring campaign (which was stunning enough to pass for a Vogue fashion spread) that celebrated unsung heroines like budtenders, activists, influencers and educators. The work, with Livengood as the handson creative force, aimed to draw more women into the space, reflect the growth in female consumer demos and further break down stereotypes. While Livengood has overseen the first-time expansion beyond vapes into consumables, she also spearheaded a recent rebrand that took Pax from “a tech-heavy, intimidating persona into one that values transparency and offers accessibility,” she said. Forging closer ties with…

FY 2021 REVENUE: TRIPLED ITS 2020 REVENUE, WITH CURRENT COMPANY VALUATION OF $110 MILLION With the pandemic bringing a new set of difficulties, such as how to approach workplace culture in a work-fromhome era, supporting a company through growth and change is crucial. For Willis, the focus has always been building a community within the agency and working toward a better work environment. “It’s less about what inspires me and more about who inspires me,” Willis said. “We are driven by a sincere desire to change the way work works, and change it for the better.” With that in mind, We Are Rosie’s partnership with Align Capital Partners (ACP) in December 2021 provided Willis the opportunity to double her team in the first half of 2022, as she was promoted…

EST. FY 2021 REVENUE: $62.2 BILLION (PER R3) Amazon made waves this year with the successful rollouts of its new retail tech, Just Walk Out, and Amazon One, which uses biometrics such as a palm print to complete transactions rather than a traditional payment method. Kumar—formerly the ecommerce giant’s vp, physical retail and technology for almost a decade—spearheaded the efforts, leading to 90 Amazon Go, Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods locations with fully functional Just Walk Out technology across the U.S. and U.K. and 135 stores that are Amazon One-enabled. “Even though we wanted to add convenience to the shopping experience, we actually subtracted things, like the checkout, the lines and the time spent in-store,” he said. These tools have also been introduced to third-party retailers in high-traffic areas like…

FY 2021 REVENUE: INCREASED 400% YOY Launching a tech company during the pandemic was a risky bet that’s paying off for Cart.com, which expects to generate more than $150 million in revenue this year. The firm, which helps brands build and scale their ecommerce businesses, has benefited from Bhushan’s background in marketing and engineering. With her support, Cart.com recently debuted two new solutions: Cart Unified Analytics, which consolidates data from multiple sources to provide brands with a holistic view of their inventory, fulfillment metrics and marketing performance; and Cart Channels, which helps marketers expand and oversee product listings through one interface. As Bhushan put it, “Our data scientists work in lockstep with marketing leadership to bring forward best-in-class solutions that allow brands to make data-driven decisions on how to maximize…

EST. FY 2021 REVENUE: $32 MILLION, PRIOR TO DECEMBER 2021 ACQUISITION BY UNITED TALENT AGENCY (PER R3) Few new ad networks have captured the attention of the advertising industry as quickly as retail media, a channel predicted to net $101 billion in revenue this year. Sharp identified the potential of retail media early in her career, putting her firm in a position to work with seven of the top 10 retailers in the country and eight of the top 10 global CPGs, such as Unilever and Walgreens. Media strategy now represents one of the fastest-growing and most lucrative areas of expertise for MediaLink, and the channel has only just reached its infancy. “We’re taking equal parts data, experience and instinct to leap with our clients in driving meaningful growth, and…

FY 2021 REVENUE: INCREASED 7% YOY For Rodriguez, helping brand partners effectively connect with Hispanic and Latinx consumers is at the core of her career. As head of strategy, Rodriguez takes pride in preserving Alma’s history of influencing clients and partners to reach those consumers in a more impactful way. Rodriguez’s exhaustive efforts include resetting how Latinx consumers are segmented and reached through media, and she has also driven the agency’s growth by bringing on six new brand partners, including Intuit QuickBooks, TJ Maxx/Marshalls, Rockstar Energy Drink and Amazon Prime Video. The agency is also projected to achieve 7% growth in revenue from 2021 to 2022. “Changing minds about what segment marketing is and can be, while getting creative ideas into the market that consumers see themselves in (or see…

FY 2021 REVENUE: $2.047 BILLION What is a five-letter word for masterstroke? Games, at least for The New York Times, fits the description, as under Knight the channel has emerged as a linchpin in its larger digital subscription strategy. Knight drove the publisher to acquire Wordle, an overnight sensation that brought tens of millions of new users to The Times, and now more than 2 million people have linked their Wordle game to a New York Times account. Alongside Spelling Bee and the iconic Crossword, the Games division of The Times has helped the publisher develop a daily habit in millions of subscribers, a key factor in retention and the envy of its peers. As The Times increasingly looks to its non-news products like Games to bolster the value of…

FY 2021 REVENUE: $23.2 BILLION Since joining McDonald’s in early 2020, Healan has crafted a more modern, internet-savvy voice for the iconic brand that has helped to earn it a new cultural cachet among younger audiences. With signature meals curated by celebrity diners like Saweetie, Travis Scott and BTS, the fast-food chain’s “Famous Orders” campaign has pulled in new Gen Z customers and won the brand accolades at advertising award shows. Healan also recently spearheaded a collaboration with streetwear brand Cactus Plant Flea Market on an Adult Happy Meal, which led the brand name to trend as a hashtag on TikTok, according to Healan, and sold out at restaurants across the country. Healan said ideas like these have emerged from a culture of taking risks and hearing out bold proposals.…

EST. FY 2021 REVENUE: $5.5 BILLION (PER R3) When San Pedro took over as president of Sonic in 2018, the quick-service restaurant chain was in the process of being acquired by Inspire Brands. Four years later, she has helped lead Sonic in solidifying its brand positioning by increasing its digital and ecommerce business and developing its mobile Order Ahead platform, which gives consumers the ability to customize orders and take advantage of promotional offers. Digital sales make up nearly 20% of the brand’s total sales. According to San Pedro, 2020 and 2021 marked the highest years for sales and profitability numbers in Sonic’s history. The drive-thru spot had U.S. system sales of nearly $6 billion and average unit volume of more than $1.6 million across its 3,500-plus locations. “We’ve been…

FY 2021 REVENUE: $15 BILLION Pagliuca is an ad-tech veteran, beginning her career at the first advertising exchange, Right Media. Named chief activation officer for OMG North America in 2020, she oversees OMG’s digital activation practices, along with product development and evolution, and platform adoption across all media channels. Part of her role is building products and capabilities for clients based on where consumers are spending their time. Several of the businesses Pagliuca incubated and launched in the U.S. include OMG’s influencer marketing practice Creo, its commerce practice Transact and its Google reselling business Trkkn. Those practices have boosted clients’ business results, and OMG recently earned the highest scores in retail and commerce in Forrester’s 2022 analysis of global media management groups. “I have always been drawn to the impact…

Howe left Ticketmaster to become CEO of FanDuel in October 2021, making her the only female CEO in the heavily male-dominated sportsbook sector in the U.S. Howe is one of four women in the company’s nine-person C-suite, and she has led the charge to bring more women into the mix. FanDuel entered into partnerships with the WNBA and multiple-division champion boxer Amanda Serrano, as well as with The Gist and Gaming Society, to make sports betting more approachable for women. The company saw 1 million bets on the 2022 NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball tournament, in addition to increases of 270% in number of bets placed and 101% in total amount of money bet year over year for WNBA betting across all of its retail locations. FanDuel also rebranded former…

Although known as one of the best woman soccer players of all time, with two FIFA World Cup championships, Rapinoe has also been an advocate for gender pay equality, racial justice and LGBTQ+ rights. As a leader in the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team’s equal pay lawsuit against the U.S. Soccer Federation, which was settled earlier this year, Rapinoe’s continued activism both on and off the field has not only garnered her the Presidential Medal of Freedom but is also a driving force behind her latest initiative: starting a new company with WNBA star—and fiancee—Sue Bird. The company aims to provide a creative platform for all voices as she hopes to continue to speak up against mistreatment and disinvestment in the sports industry. “Move together, always. Solidarity has always [been],…

Hopelain leads the brand management efforts of one of the preeminent gaming companies in the world. EA Sports’ FIFA 23 just experienced a record-breaking launch of more than 10.3 million players in its first week of release, an improvement from 9.2 million players for the first 10 days of FIFA 22, while Madden NFL 23 saw a 30% year-over-year increase in games played during its Week 1 launch. “Sports are incredibly powerful, so seeing how new generations are connecting with sports—whether it’s with teams, athletes, brands or games—and our role at EA Sports in that is incredibly motivating,” Hopelain said. EA Sports has made women’s sports a priority, recently including 10 International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) women’s teams and its first female cover athlete, Sarah Nurse, in NHL 23 and…

In April 2021, the Commanders named Dorantes as the team’s coordinator of football programs (similar to a chief of staff role), making her the first Latina to hold that position in the NFL. Dorantes then took every other job the team threw her way, such as joining Tony Casolaro, the team’s chief medical officer, in scheduling Covid-19 tests, running the team testing trailer, managing a midseason outbreak and avoiding fines and game cancellations. Last year, she also sat on a hiring committee that added offensive assistant Tyrae Reid Jr. to the coaching staff and oversaw the team’s Bill Walsh Diversity Coaching Fellowship. This year, Dorantes is developing the team’s Latino employee resource group, SOMOS Commanders, and working on the “My Cause My Cleats” initiative that asks players, coaches and executives…

At the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, U.S. women’s gymnastics found its new star in Lee when the now-19-year-old scooped gold in the all-around event, silver in the team event and a bronze on uneven bars. It’s been quite the 12 months for her since: At the end of 2021, Lee found time to come in at fifth place on Dancing With the Stars. Her sporting success then continued through 2022, with the athlete claiming gold on the balance beam and silver for allaround. She’s also signed on with fashion brand PrettyLittleThing as an ambassador and started at Auburn University as a freshman, where she is competing as a college gymnast. “Competing together toward a common goal, laughing together and building friendships with my fellow students has been so fulfilling. I’m so…

When the first wave of digitally native publishers launched in the early aughts, they initially aimed to attract an audience of millennials by creating content—cat videos, adulting fails, life hacks—that resonated with young adults of the era. Now, more than a decade later, much of that millennial audience has found itself in an entirely new stage of their lives: navigating marriage, parenting and personal finance against the backdrop of a pandemic, social unrest and a faltering economy. Millennials now make up one of every five parents in the U.S., according to Pew Research, and they take up the task while facing a novel set of challenges. As a result, rates of stress among mothers specifically have reached worrisome highs, as 68% say they are experiencing anxiety and 35% labeled their…

Behind every successful brand—and its CEO—stands the person who keeps the organization running smoothly and efficiently. // That’s why we dedicate our Adweek 50 award every year to those working behind the scenes to drive growth in big ways at their respective companies, bringing recognition to those who may be overlooked today but will be running the show tomorrow. // This year, we went beyond the CMOs, CEOs, chairmen and founders of the industry to showcase a host of C-suite and vp-level positions in creative divisions such as culture and capabilities, data privacy, supply and demand, and the electric vehicle ecosystem. In another year of profound change across marketing, media and tech, marketers have turned their creative instincts toward new roles, responsibilities and organization structures, with almost no two honorees…

EST. FY 2021 REVENUE: $35 MILLION (PER R3) With more kinds of media than ever and more constraints on user privacy, the social advertising playbook is being scrambled. Ben-Zvi is helping marketers navigate this changing landscape. He has directed his clients to increase the proportion of their media spend toward TikTok and away from Facebook and Instagram recently (while still keeping Meta media spend up year over year) and to shift away from a purely lower-funnel mindset. “We now build campaigns that aren’t just ‘performance’ in nature, but align more to how users actually shop,” Ben-Zvi said. “In this way, my team often proves the impact of brand messaging/advertising on performance metrics.” As a result of this winning strategy, Tinuiti was the first independent ad agency in North America to…

FY 2021 REVENUE: $28.8 BILLION (YOUTUBE ADS) The creator economy is booming. In order to support next-gen mobile creators and generate ad revenue, YouTube launched YouTube short-form video product Shorts in 2020 under Mohan’s leadership. Two years later, Shorts has amassed 1.5 billion logged-in monthly viewers, averaging more than 30 billion daily views, a four-fold growth from the year prior as of April 2022, according to Mohan. Shorts currently runs ads in its feed, although there is no direct revenue share from these ads at the moment, according to YouTube. However, shoppable video ads will soon run between videos on Shorts next year. Meanwhile, YouTube paid more than $50 billion to creators, artists and media companies in the three years prior to June 2022. “Every day, YouTube supports the creators…

FY 2021 REVENUE: $67.4 BILLION As Disney continues to prioritize streaming, all eyes are on Paull, who oversees Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+ and Star+ globally. Under his watch, the company has grown to more than 221 million subscriptions across direct-to-consumer streaming services. Disney+ has now grown to include 154 markets, 38 languages and 50 currencies, with 84 distribution partners worldwide—and that’s before the platform rolls out its long-awaited ad-supported tier in December. “To be able to lead an innovative, best-in-class direct-to-consumer team and work alongside so many talented and creative colleagues—including our content partners at Walt Disney Studios, Disney General Entertainment and ESPN—is always inspiring,” Paull said. In addition to the growth, the upcoming ad-supported tier and new product experiences, Paull said there’s much more happening at Disney. This includes DEI…

FY 2021 REVENUE: $1.1 BILLION In 2021, for the first time in its history, the WWE topped $1 billion in revenue, following a series of “calculated risks” and “big swings,” according to Zanghellini. That doesn’t happen without the biggest company in wrestling making new friends. Zanghellini’s cohorts at WWE noted he was instrumental in creating partnerships with Blockchain Creative Labs, Candy Digital and Fanatics to push WWE’s NFT strategy, including bundles of NFT video clips sold during events like Clash at the Castle, SummerSlam and Hell in a Cell. With help from Fanatics and a new digital platform, the WWE increased revenue 96% in the second quarter of 2022 as merchandise flew out the door. By making all of those partnerships key to live events, including WrestleMania Day 1 on…

FY 2021 REVENUE: $7.3 BILLION The Clorox Co. is on a mission to collect first-party data on 100 million consumers by the end of its 2025 fiscal year. So far, the California-based manufacturer behind Brita water filters, Burt’s Bees lip balm and Hidden Valley Ranch condiments is around 70% of the way done. That’s thanks, in part, to Chang’s work on making the company’s many products available to sell directly to consumers. In July, for instance, Clorox began selling its disinfecting wipes to consumers through its own website. The move provides the company with an additional revenue channel and also valuable customer insights and information. Chang, of course, isn’t one to take all the credit for herself. As she put it: “One of my greatest sources of joy is helping…

FY 2021 REVENUE: $3.84 BILLION, AS PART OF PARENT COMPANY DENTSU INTERNATIONAL Lawson has taken strides to embed DEI across all areas of the agency. Inspired by Dentsu’s community to make DEI practices more than a box to check, Lawson co-created a Cultural Fluency Practice, a company commitment to be integrated within its strategy department. This practice has not only helped influence both the agency’s clients and its work, but it’s also made DEI a fully integrated business. “The entire purpose of a role like mine is to curate and amplify a safe workplace culture. I can’t do that without the honest feedback of the people that work here,” Lawson said. Most notably, Lawson has also helped develop the Creative Review Council, aimed at double-checking client work for cultural resonance,…

FY 2021 REVENUE: $985 MILLION Reid describes Edelman as “hands down the most entrepreneurial place I’ve worked.” Since becoming the public relations firm’s first-ever global chief experience officer last September, Reid helped launch Pharrell Williams’ creative advocacy agency Mighty Dream. Reid and his team created the name and developed the agency’s visual identity, brand strategy and experience design. “It’s not every day you get to imagine an agency from the ground up, and I still feel so grateful for the opportunity to build that brand,” he said, noting that working on Mighty Dream was the summation of his professional experience, which is exceptionally varied, considering Reid is a former immigration lawyer with experience in education policy, and is now leading a design, creative and technology team. News of Mighty Dream…

FY 2021 REVENUE: $1.9 BILLION As the exec in charge of Roblox’s efforts to formalize advertising on its platform, Sim is one of the leading architects in establishing the norms and best practices that could define a new realm of digital advertising. The Facebook veteran recently led the metaverse platform’s testing of two new ad formats that are slated to officially roll out next year. The push comes as an increasing number of brands are setting up shop on Roblox, creating more demand for new ways to make money from its sprawling virtual worlds. In building those new monetization mechanisms, Sim wants to set standards around data privacy and responsible advertising while avoiding easy cash grabs at the expense of user experience. “As a leadership team, we have been patient…

FY 2021 REVENUE: $10.4 BILLION Lanzi is a retail specialist leading one of the strongest commerce practices in the industry at Publicis. She has driven client adoption of Publicis Groupe’s expanded commerce offering, helped develop the business cases to acquire tech and ecommerce platforms CitrusAd and Profitero, and helped forge a strategic partnership with TikTok, making Publicis Groupe the platform’s founding commerce agency partner. Under her leadership, Publicis’ commerce practice has grown 20% in the past three years. She prides herself on being a connector, leading the U.S.commerce collective, establishing the client commerce advisory board, co-leading innovative partner developments and bringing together brands, retailers and tech players in new ways. “I am inspired by learning new things about people and their brand journeys, how they progress from ‘like’ to ‘love’…

FY 2021 REVENUE: $277.5 MILLION For a sustainability strategy to have any meaning at all, it must encompass all aspects of a business, from ideation to production to marketing to end-of-life. To do that, Kajimura sits down with folks in every corner of the company to ensure that Allbirds’ values are expressed in all its operations. “Climate change is the issue that is most urgent to us,” she said. That shows in the packaging, where Allbirds prints the carbon footprint of each product directly onto the product itself. Last month, the brand announced it had cut companywide carbon emissions by 12% in the first year following the release of its 2020 climate plan, blowing past its own expectations. Allbirds set a goal of cutting its emissions by 50% by 2025,…

FY 2021 REVENUE: INCREASED 35% YOY According to Ribeiro, who is behind Gut’s now-thriving strategy department, the global independent creative agency prioritizes culture and candor. The strategy leader guides the 4-year-old agency’s clients through what he calls a “bravery-based decision making process” during projects. His leadership correlates with the agency retaining all its clients in 2022 and with the five new U.S. accounts it won this year, such as Google Pixel and Visible by Verizon. And Gut’s hot streak is ongoing, since the agency already saw a 35% jump in 2021 revenue compared to the prior year. “Gut was born with a very well-defined culture, and turning this culture from an idea into practice has been one of my most exciting roles at a global level, within strategy,” Ribeiro said.…

After two years of pandemic delays, cancellations and general upheaval, sports—and its rabid fan bases—are finally seeing a return to normal as we close out 2022. With sky-high ratings across all networks, expanding women’s sports leagues and the explosion of sports betting, this has been a game-changing year in the space—with Adweek’s 2022 Most Powerful Women in Sports leading the way. From 95-year-old Maybelle Blair working to build the International Women’s Baseball Center to 11-year-old broadcaster and reporter Pepper Persley breaking down barriers to Dany Garcia relaunching the XFL, these women are redefining the sports landscape and elevating themselves, their teams, leagues, brands and clients. We couldn’t be prouder to honor this year’s group, which includes our cover stars Sue Bird and Sylvia Fowles, who helped shape the WNBA while…

Many journalists know from a young age that they want to pursue a career in the field, but few act on those ambitions with as much as conviction as Persley, an 11-year-old sports reporter and broadcaster whose professionalism and sideline poise have captivated audiences across social platforms and network television alike. This summer alone, she hosted a Title IX panel for Nike, reported courtside for the WNBA Champion Las Vegas Aces and took over the Instagram of the WNBA’s Seattle Storm. Although she has a passion for basketball, Persley also knows her way around the baseball diamond, a skill set that allowed her to report live from the MLB Little League Classic for ESPN in August. Persley, who cites Serena Williams as a role model, has high expectations for the…

A participant in the 2004 Olympics, Johnson was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer in 2021 but returned this year to have a significant impact. Johnson led Google’s efforts in sports partnerships, agreeing to a multiyear deal with the WNBA, making the tech giant the official trends and fan insights and technology partner of the league. Google also has a global partnership with FIBA to air the most Women’s Basketball World Cup games on live television in the U.S., and has expanded and renewed its Google Cloud partnership with the MLB. “We are seeing that investing in women’s sports allows us to deliver on our business objectives, bringing product solutions to women’s sports and connecting more fans to what they love,” Johnson said. WHAT ELSE SHE WANTS ADWEEK READERS TO KNOW:…

This past season, the Atlanta Hawks experienced its biggest year-over-year season ticket member growth. Off the court, the Hawks emphasized work in the community, of which Proctor was a core factor as she prioritized upholding the Hawks’ “True to Atlanta” mantra. The team saw more than 20,000 kids participate in its Junior Hawks Leagues, clinics and summer programs. An author as well, Proctor taught two marketing and branding courses to local entrepreneurs as a part of the Hawks’ partnership with the Russell Innovation Center for Entrepreneurs and was named to the 2022-23 class of the Leadership Atlanta program. According to Proctor, her focus was on “projects around innovation, collaborating with local entertainers and influencers in Atlanta … finding new and unique ways to leverage the Hawks brand to encourage positive…

Before her supposed retirement from tennis this year, Serena Williams had earned 23 Grand Slams and four Olympic Gold Medals, not to mention held the No. 1 rank for 319 weeks over her 27-year career. Besides sports accolades, Serena is busy working on her venture capital firm, of which she said 78% “happens to be companies started by women and people of color, because that’s who we are.” But before all her success, Serena also had a big sister who helped pave the way—or, as Venus Williams wrote in an essay, “show” the way. Venus was the first of the sisters to go pro, the first to see fame and the first Black American woman to reach No. 1 in tennis. Through it all, she was her sister’s champion, helping…

Morgan was in Vegas decades before the Raiders arrived. Hired just after the Raiders fired both her predecessor and their head coach amid scandals, Morgan grew up in East Las Vegas and earned both her undergraduate and law degrees in the University of Nevada system. She brought roughly two decades of legal experience to the position, but spent much of the last year serving as a director for travel company and Raiders stadium namesake Allegiant. When Las Vegas was awarded its first Super Bowl back in December, Morgan was named to the host committee as counsel with the Covington & Burling firm. As the first Black woman to serve as an NFL president, Morgan is directly responsible for ad partnerships, game-day experience at Allegiant Stadium and ticket and suite sales.…

There’s no stopping one of the best hockey players of all time. This year, the four-time Olympian and eight-time world champion became the International Ice Hockey Federation’s all-time points leader at the 2022 World Championship. But it wasn’t always easy for Knight. In a Stop and Shop parking lot back in 2012, her mother suggested she get a job since hockey didn’t pay a livable wage. Instead, Knight became her own advocate, growing her social media presence and locking down partnerships with brands like Nike and Red Bull. She’s on the board of the Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association, founded in 2019, with goals for creating a sustainable professional women’s hockey league in North America and making the sport more inclusive. Knight eventually wants to assemble an all-women’s ownership group…

Weggemann spends a lot of time under water, but in 2022 she continued her career outside the pool, joining NBC as a host on the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Games and growing her production and talent agency, TFA. She returned from the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics with two gold medals and one silver. Since then, she has continued training—namely, for her fourth World Championships—while undergoing IVF. She has been candid in sharing this experience with fans through social media, including her decision to withdraw from the Worlds following an unsuccessful embryo transfer. Now expecting in March 2023, she expresses her pride at seeing that journey through and showing that women in sports don’t have to choose between a career or a family. “My driving motivation is to ensure I utilize my craft…

On a slow night at The Sports Bra, a pub in Oregon dedicated to women’s sports, Julie Haddon is working off the clock. The CMO of the National Women’s Soccer League is peppering pub owner Jenny Nguyen with suggestions about potential future partnerships between the fledgling bar and the NWSL: playoff events, a pop-up at the NWSL Championship in Washington, D.C., an outpost at a new stadium in Kansas City, Mo. Impressed but overwhelmed, Nguyen responds, “It’s just so much in so little time.” But that’s been Haddon’s career: seeing myriad options at once and implementing them quickly. After moving from sports to tech and back again, she views each step as a point connected along a single arc. “I believe in creating your own opportunities and creating a path…

EST. FY 2021 REVENUE: $1 BILLION (PER R3) Even before travel began emerging from the pandemic, IHG’s Kimpton hotel brand, following Reidenbach’s leadership, reached out to guests in their own homes. When travel was locked down, Kimpton offered Spotify playlists and recipes from its restaurants to keep its pent-up customers connected. When travelers began hitting the road again, Kimpton teamed up with Talkspace on guest therapy amenities and brought in Wag! to walk and feed visitors’ pets during their stays. As a result, between 2020 and 2021, Kimpton increased market share 8.4% in its revenue-generating index (RGI) and saw a 25.5% increase in RGI for its groups and meetings, the latter of which accounts for about 25% of the brand’s $700 million in overall annual business. “The art and science…

EST. 2021 REVENUE: $61.7 BILLION AS PART OF PARENT COMPANY BYTEDANCE (PER THE WALL STREET JOURNAL) With its massive audience, videos on TikTok are impacting culture far beyond the small screen and, in turn, giving more people than ever an opportunity to share their ideas. But the fast-growing platform didn’t have a system for attributing where its trends started, leading some creators—and particularly those of color—to not get credit for their own work. Enter Chikumbu, global head of creator marketing at TikTok, who has worked on several initiatives to combat this problem. This year, Chikumbu spearheaded the creation of a new product feature that makes it easier to tag the originator of a trend and launched a campaign to highlight originators’ content, which has received more than 30 million views.…

FY 2021 DTC SUBSCRIPTION REVENUE: $7.7 BILLION Rising through the ranks at HBO for around two decades, Orsi has become a key component of chairman and CEO Casey Bloys’ creative team, and has helped keep the company on its same winning course following last April’s WarnerMedia/Discovery merger. With Orsi as evp of HBO programming, the network received 140 Emmy nominations in tandem with HBO Max in 2022, with series such as The White Lotus and Succession scoring big at the ceremony. Her shows are making a huge splash with audiences as well, most notably Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon, which has received around 29 million viewers per episode since its August debut. The exec said it takes teamwork to achieve such sustained success: “It’s important to me…

FY 2021 REVENUE: $54.3 BILLION (EXCLUDING JVS AND ASSOCIATES) The goal for Creative X, a program Verschoor launched five years ago at the world’s largest brewer, was to take creativity beyond the bounds of traditional media and infuse it into every corner of the company. It was, he admitted, “a big dream,” especially given AB InBev’s “reputation for buying brands rather than building them.” But after he “jumped at the chance” to transform the behemoth’s culture, he’s reaped the rewards with a collective 133 Cannes Lions from 21 brands across 10 countries. Winners have included 2021’s organic farming initiative for Michelob Ultra Pure Gold and an ecommerce platform that kept more than 60,000 Colombian mom-and-pop stores in business during the pandemic. Along with the Cannes 2022 Creative Marketer of the…

FY 2021 REVENUE: $559.2 BILLION “All health and wellness is local, and that has never been more true than the last few years,” said Pegus. Few major corporations are better positioned to know this than Walmart, which has 4,000 store locations in medically underserved areas around the country. Throughout the pandemic, the company has trained more than 15,000 pharmacy technicians to administer vaccines and established more than 600 drive-thru test sites. It’s also partnered with local organizations, school districts and long-term care facilities to provide education and vaccination opportunities for folks living in rural settings, which often don’t have the resources found in big cities. “Meeting people where they are and engaging people about their health has proved an effective strategy Walmart can leverage as it expands care in hard-to-reach…

FY 2021 REVENUE: $820 MILLION, AS PART OF PARENT COMPANY STAGWELL GLOBAL’S INTEGRATED AGENCIES NETWORK Bringing the right kind of talent to an agency’s creative work is a significant and daunting task. But by focusing on bringing in talent with the ability to connect brands and entertainment, Knight knew she had to take it a step further and look for people who not only had fluency in both worlds, but also offered a mix of different backgrounds, passions and personalities. Along with working with clients such as Corona, Nike, Netflix and Chipotle (which earned the agency a few awards at Cannes for Chipotle’s “A Future Begins” campaign), Knight also co-created Nike’s first audio docuseries, “Hustle Rule,” with Waffle Iron Entertainment, a content studio within Nike. The seven-episode series follows inspiring…

EST. FY 2021 REVENUE: $350 MILLION (PER R3) Pelz, who joined the platform in 2021, spearheaded Reddit’s first-ever branded activation, Reddit Explorers Club, at Cannes 2022. The team built a custom venue on the Palais that provided an experiential event to help brands find people on Reddit, a product demo of Reddit’s keyword targeting capabilities that showed how Reddit allows brands to reach people based on the conversations they participate in, topics they search for and research they do on Reddit. The effort brought more than 100,000 active Reddit communities and its marketing value to life via an interactive showcase, content series and industry partnerships. With more than 1,200 in-person attendees, 93% “upvoted” it on Reddit to show their appreciation, and the company got to meet with hundreds of new…

FY 2021 REVENUE: $200 MILLION Since its acquisition by Salesforce founder Marc Benioff in 2018, Time has undergone a digital transformation so rapid the legacy publisher could be easily mistaken for a startup. Krish, who joined the editorial title in 2020 and now serves as the president of digital and chief technology officer, has been instrumental in that effort. Under his leadership, Time overhauled its suite of digital products, increasing digital revenues 30% in two years. He also spearheaded the push from Time into cryptomedia, helping develop the infrastructure behind its NFT initiative, TimePieces, allowing for the creation, sale and display of various covers and digital art sold as NFTs. His commercial vision extends even beyond Time, as Krish played a vital role in the acquisition of Brandcast, which the…

Global head of marketing, action category, Riot Games Director, global brand marketing, research and development, Riot Games EST. FY 2021 REVENUE: $1.5 BILLION (PER R3) Valorant was the most-watched game on Twitch in September 2022, with 127.15 million hours of viewing, up from 92.39 million at the same point last year, according to Twitch analytics platform SullyGnome. Its official Twitch channel reached 9.74 million hours watched in September, thanks to the Valorant Champions Tour esports championship, which took place in Istanbul. Lewis and Hoeft lead global marketing for the first-person shooter franchise and have steered the brand through innovation across different countries and languages. For instance, Riot Games worked with Brazilian artist Daniela Mercury to rerecord one of her original songs as “A Cor da Cidade” for a music video…

FY 2021 REVENUE: $70 MILLION These days, you’d be hard-pressed to find a marketer who doesn’t appreciate the expertise of influencers and content creators. As president of measurement and analytics at groundbreaking influencer marketing agency Whaler, Alushi, who said he’s inspired by “the passion and energy of creators,” could tell you firsthand how valuable they are. In his role at Whalar, he built out a global measurement framework that helps the agency’s partnerships team develop bespoke learning agendas to teach its clients about the benefits of partnering with content creators for marketing, backed up by first-party data and third-party “best-inclass” analytics solutions. Before coming to Whalar in January 2022, Alushi worked at Snap Inc. for three years, running through the roles of global product marketing, measurement and data, head of…

Kraft Heinz had revenue of $26 billion last year, and Becker has played a considerable part in the global conglomerate’s renewed focus since she was elevated to the role in March 2022. Becker helped lead the integration of the conglomerate’s previously independent ecommerce organization into the Kraft Heinz North America zone, the combination of the brand’s U.S.- and Canadabased business units. Becker said the brand wants to have a true omnichannel mindset, bringing its digital and brick-and-mortar teams together to manage its relationships with retailers. The Philadelphia Cream Cheese and Kraft Singles producer saw doubledigit organic net sales growth (10.1%) year over year and 5.2% compound annual growth rate compared to the second quarter of 2019. Becker wants to build consumer experiences that still include the aspects of traditional shopping…

EST. FY 2021 REVENUE: $17.2 BILLION (PER R3) The NFL is in its first season of a new TV rights deal worth $10 billion annually, and the league is seeing immediate impact. Rolapp and his team negotiated the deals across every major broadcast network in a relatively short amount of time, executing a decadelong strategy to increase the ways the NFL engages with fans, including alternate telecasts and the addition of Week 18. Week 1 brought in 121 million fans, averaging 18.5 million viewers, the best for an opening weekend since 2016. But the biggest shift in the landscape is the NFL’s emphasis on streaming, with Amazon Prime Video exclusively airing Thursday Night Football for the first time, averaging 11.9 million viewers in its first three weeks. Expect a whole…

FY 2021 REVENUE: $38.7 BILLION For its Hollywood debut, Sprite Zero Sugar teamed with Marvel’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever for a tie-in that features limited-edition packaging, new TV creative and a QR-activated digital and augmented reality experience, which has logged 2.3 billion paid impressions and 300 million earned and social impressions since its September launch. But the campaign aims to do more than boost box office and soda sales: It’s a portal for young creatives to see how three diverse women helped build the blockbuster franchise. The interactive elements offer video tutorials, pro tips and other exclusive content that up-and-comers “can apply to their unique journeys,” said Chaney, who also handles Fanta, Fresca and Barq’s, among other brands. “We reassured them that by pursuing their passions, their gift might find…

Creative Artists Agency (CAA) Sports She may typically be the only woman in the room, but that hasn’t slowed Dishaw’s momentum since joining CAA Sports in 2009 and ascending to the newly created position of head of baseball marketing and client management in March. Dishaw has personally closed more than 1,000 deals, and in her current role, she leads a team of 10, overseeing all off-the-field business opportunities for CAA Sports’ MLB clients. Within the past year, she helped make Los Angeles Angels’ two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani the league’s most marketed player by securing longterm partnership agreements with companies including Fanatics, cryptocurrency exchange FTX, New Era and Topps, as well as landing him on the covers of GQ and PlayStation’s MLB The Show ’22. Other high points included a seven-figure…

Rising through the ranks of Athletes Unlimited (AU), a network of four player-driven women’s pro sports leagues, Lichtman now serves on AU’s Racial Equity Working Group, which discusses and develops programs for athletes to address issues of equality, social justice and the LBGTQ+ community. Beyond that, becoming chairwoman of the volleyball player executive committee proved to be a significant moment for Lichtman, as athlete representation at the board level is nearly unheard of in professional sports, allowing Lichtman to inspire the next generation to break boundaries—and glass ceilings. “Every day, we do a little bit more to shatter those myths. It won’t be easy, and it won’t happen fast enough, but we have to keep working until we can’t be ignored,” she said. ADVICE FOR THE NEXT GENERATION OF WOMEN…

Chambers knows the WNBA is so important, and she’s making sure the world does, too. Changing the way we all consume and understand women’s sports is a significant but necessary undertaking. As founder of HighlightHER, Bleacher Report’s multichannel portfolio brand focused on female athletes and teams, Chambers has only continued to grow the platform as a testament to the interest in women’s sports, developing meaningful partnerships with organizations such as women’s sports network Athletes Unlimited. As a way to continue elevating women’s sports as a community, Chambers—who coined “The WNBA is so important,” which led to a Twitter hashtag and movement—also released a special-edition Wilson basketball in collaboration with the WNBA in August as a nod to the women’s sports community and nonbinary athletes. “The ball is community. It is…

Effectively serving as the external innovation lab for many preeminent sports leagues and organizations, including PGA Tour, Nascar, WWE, NBC Sports, Sky Sports, The Golf Channel and Comcast Spectacor, Kurath has led the SportsTech accelerator since it was announced at the start of 2020, bringing in its first cohort of startups in 2021. “SportsTech alumni companies have participated in 63 pilots, partnerships and commercial deals with our SportsTech partners. It’s been incredible to work and watch the collaboration between these companies and our partners and see them grow—both during the program and beyond,” Kurath said. The exec is also a member of WiST (Women in Sports Tech), an organization that partners with the NBA, Nike and others to provide access and opportunities for young women to enter in and grow…

For much of the last year, Garcia’s been assembling talent around her various interests to transform dreams into reality—because, she said, “dreams require an all-star team.” With longtime business partner Dwayne Johnson, she turned the twice-dead XFL into a player-development partner for the NFL, stocked it with coaching talent, hosted athlete showcases around the country and announced a multiyear broadcast deal with the Walt Disney Co. and ESPN that starts with kickoff in February. After 15 years of behind-the-scenes angling, Garcia and Johnson also produced Johnson’s new DC superhero film Black Adam, which is chock-full of Garcia Company brands—clothing brands Project Rock and GSTQ, ZOA Energy drink and Teremana Tequila—and got Garcia’s husband, Dave Rienzi, to help build a superhero physique for the role. “Being able to articulate a vision…

Through her 13 years at the helm of UFC’s marketing team, Noland has guided and expanded the mixed martial arts league’s brand to its current status as a globally recognizable icon. In the past year, she updated the organization’s visual identity with a new dynamic broadcast package, social media kit and custom font to further solidify the brand’s distinctive look. “Being able to drive significant shifts in the perception of the sport of MMA and spearhead the evolution of the UFC brand over the past 13 years has been a rewarding challenge and an incredible motivator,” Noland said. During her time at UFC, she has also sought to elevate women’s events to the same standing as their male counterparts, overseeing and promoting the first women’s bouts, championships and events headlined…

Brimmer has made a name for Ally as a champion of women’s sports by putting the brand’s sponsorship money behind its gender equality messaging in significant ways. Under Brimmer’s leadership, the online bank pledged this year to close the gap between its paid advertising spending on women and men’s sports programming over the next five years. Brimmer also worked with partners at CBS and the National Women’s Soccer League to give the 2022 women’s championship game a primetime television slot, a first for the decade-old league. “We used the power of our brand to give these incredible, world-class athletes the platform they deserve,” said Brimmer, who is now calling on other brands and broadcast networks to make similar commitments in order to make real progress toward a more gender-equitable sports…

This year, 19-year-old Gu emerged as a dominant athlete at the Beijing Olympics, bagging a gold medal in big air and half-pipe and a silver in slopestyle. Not content with breaking records to become the youngest-ever Olympic gold medalist in freestyle skiing, Gu was also the first competitor in her field to win three medals at the same Olympics. In January, the California-born skier finished the FIS Alpine Ski World Cup in first position, taking home the crystal globe. She was also undefeated throughout the 2021-22 season and won the FIS World Cup. “By breaking boundaries and records, I hoped to be the representation I wanted to see more of in extreme sports in the hope that maybe one young girl would feel inspired because of me,” Gu said. She’s…

On the evening of March 27, 1930, Hugo Eckener took the rostrum at the National Geographic Society’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., to accept the institution’s gold medal. He deserved it: A few months earlier, the German explorer had piloted the first passenger-carrying flight to circumnavigate the globe. Aboard the Graf Zeppelin, Eckener had flown 21 passengers on the 21,500-mile trip in 12 days. The feat generated plenty of media attention—not least from the Hearst newspapers, which had bankrolled the trip. But none could match the astute and extensive coverage of National Geographic, whose story ran for 36 pages. The periodical was only delivering what readers had come to expect since the first issue appeared in 1888. As the publication of record for the society, the magazine manifested its raison d’être,…

Of all the professional sports to resist the participation of women, few have been as recalcitrant as the testosterone-fueled world of Formula 1 where, to date, only five women have entered a Grand Prix. The dearth can be easily chalked up to chauvinism—but in a sport where maintaining a single car can run well over $100 million a year, another problem for women has been finding sponsors. That’s why it’s worth a hat tip to pioneering driver Desiré Wilson, who overcame both obstacles. The South African racer made the record books by winning the British Aurora F1 Championship in 1980. She also won the confidence, and the money, of Murjani, the apparel colossus that made designer jeans with Gloria Vanderbilt. Murjani pledged to help women succeed in sports—a commitment that…