Innholdsfortegnelse for July 2023 i Adweek

Holding companies are taking a strategic approach to using generative artificial intelligence internally and with clients—which has already led to winning business and forging enterprise partnerships. Ogilvy Paris won two clients in the past month thanks to its AI Lab, an internal committee dedicated to driving AI expertise so brands can create more impactful campaigns. In June, Ogilvy introduced the AI Accountability Act to enforce transparency in AI-enhanced influencer content with the hashtag #poweredbyAI. Omnicom’s AI policy led to its partnership with Microsoft, integrating OpenAI’s GPT models with the Omni Assist tool, a virtual assistant helping with tasks like audience insight and campaign planning. Employees aren’t permitted to present work solely produced by generative AI to clients, unless it’s a direct partnership on specific AI initiatives. At Havas, its Play, Don’t…

With health and wellness on everyone’s minds more than three years after the Covid-19 outbreak, consumers continue to pour money into the category. According to McKinsey & Company, people now spend an estimated $1.5 trillion globally each year on products and services designed to make them feel better—and they’re only expected to spend more in the future. The situation presents plenty of opportunity for companies like Bayer, the 160-year-old German manufacturer behind brands such as Aleve, Claritin and Alka-Seltzer, but also more challenges due to an increase in competition. This is where creativity becomes crucial. Thankfully, Patricia Corsi, chief marketing and information officer of Bayer’s consumer health division, is no stranger to harnessing inventive ideas that make shoppers stop and pay attention—even if that means dealing with a bit of…

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 brand. As the company’s president of marketing for Disney Entertainment Television, she oversees the campaigns for more than 500 titles, including hit shows like Only Murders in the Building, Abbott Elementary and The Handmaid’s Tale. Between the pandemic, her ever-increasing duties and the unexpected shifts in CEO (from Bob Iger to Bob Chapek in 2020 and then back to Iger again last November), “a lot has changed in such a short amount of time,” said…

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 territory. Because Walmart is an essential retailer, its stores remained open throughout lockdowns, but online sales became a bigger priority, too. In White’s first year, ecommerce sales shot up 79%, buoyed by the launch of Walmart+, the retailer’s Amazon Prime competitor. Considering that 37 million people shop in Walmart daily and 90% of Americans live within 10 miles of a chain, White has ensured the brand stays relevant while driving meaningful connections with the people…

It’s no secret that we are very fond of awards here at Adweek. And while they are each important and impactful in their own way, one clearly stands above them all: our Brand Genius awards, which highlight 11 marketing leaders at the very top of their game who are finding innovative ways to connect with consumers in even the most challenging of times. For this year’s Brand Genius class, we decided to shake things up a bit and raise the bar for excellence by spotlighting marketers who have demonstrated proven success over the past several years, not just the last 12 months. (We also partnered with Brand Finance, which provided additional data about how our honorees have enhanced their respective companies’ bottom lines.) Also new this year, we included our…

They’re the result of sustained brand-building efforts mixed with just the right amount of performance marketing. While a new chief marketer can have an immediate impact, the effect they’ll have on a brand is often seen over time. That’s why this year’s prestigious Brand Genius awards are honoring a group of top marketers who have delivered long-term success for some of the world’s leading brands. Adweek selected 11 marketing decision-makers across sectors like tech, entertainment, logistics, beauty and insurance. They’ve transformed their respective brands over the past five years, entering them into cultural conversations to strengthen existing relationships with consumers while also courting new ones. For the first time, Adweek also honored a Lifetime Achievement Brand Genius winner, Julia Goldin, for her longtime success with The Lego Group. And we…

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 customers, and specifically the small-business owners and entrepreneurs who rely on the financial institution for backing. That includes Access Trax, a company founded by Kelly Twichel that makes outdoor experiences accessible for people with disabilities. “It’s incredible, and when you talk to her, you can’t help but, as a marketer, want to tell more of these stories,” said Hassan of Twichel and her company. “It’s not just the nonprofits that are doing good. It’s small…

Ramon Jones has followed his company’s “Nationwide is on your side” jingle-turned-mantra throughout his 23 years with the insurance brand, but didn’t begin actively defending the thesis until six years ago when he switched from Nationwide’s operations side to marketing. His career evolved from working in a call center as an underwriter and hearing people on the other end of the line dealing with catastrophe to taking the CMO chair in 2019 and trying to build public trust just before the world plunged into a pandemic. “It’s a noble cause,” Jones said. “We’re trying to be there and be our best for people when they’re having a difficult time.” Though Jones has never worked with an agency or in another company’s marketing department, his hours spent with claims representatives, salespeople,…

‘THE SPECTRUM OF OUR BUSINESS IS HUGE, BUT TELLING A STORY ON INNOVATION WITH A SUSTAINABLE IMPACT IS A CRITICAL BRAND-BUILDING COMPONENT FOR US.’-VIKRANT BATRA 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 lightweight laptops to college kids, Batra has led the brand in crafting a stronger central story around tech access and equalization. “The spectrum of our business is huge,” he said, “but telling a story on innovation with a sustainable impact is a critical brand-building component for us.” Batra, who is…

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 July 1998, American shoppers first laid eyes on the OXO salad spinner. Hang on. Weren’t salad spinners in stores before then? Indeed, they were, starting with the Moulinex Salad Dryer. But as we know, invention and innovation are two different things. Or, as OXO vp of marketing Nicole Rivera explained to Adweek: “The salad spinner has been around since the early 1970s—but no one ever really got it perfect.” Plenty have tried: Mueller, Cuisinart and KitchenAid…

Chief marketers have gained a lot of ground in being recognized as growth leaders within their organizations, but there’s still work to do. To address this gap, we are introducing Marketing Vanguard by Adweek, a platform expressly built to respond to the realities that C-level marketing leaders experience every day, spanning specialized content, a podcast series and the new Marketing Vanguard Awards. In an era marked by technological and societal upheaval, companies need the creativity, innovation, adaptability, empathy and storytelling capabilities that often only CMOs can bring. We will go deeper in supporting that unique cohort to help them continually redefine marketing practice and leadership, guide them in their current efforts, and assist the next generation of leaders.…

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 Condé Nast, Penske Media Corp. (PMC) and Overtime have all recently launched or expanded their livestream video capabilities. The uptick of interest in the technology—by no means a new medium—comes as the boundaries between linear, digital and social video continue to blur, and the ecosystem grows more fragmented. As a result, scaled, live viewership has become increasingly rare. Livestreams offer advertisers access to live audiences, for only a fraction of the cost of traditional and connected television inventory. According to Borivoj Ivanovic, the director of marketing at video monetization platform Brid.TV, livestream ads bought via open exchange typically fetch…

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 the metaverse, with all the freedom and creativity of figuring out how to show up in the virtual world. All these brand experiences still have their roles to play and are continuing to evolve to meet new consumer needs. But alongside them, there’s a new trend emerging that should be given more consideration: the brand home. These are spaces not purely about the transaction, product or service, or the fleeting Insta Story, but about lifting…

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 bedroom floors, building from their imaginations. But Lego is also a line of theme parks, a film franchise, video games, a reality TV competition, a kids TV series, a magazine, apps—and soon, a metaverse experience. That willingness to pivot and reinvent itself for 91 years has helped make Lego one of the most beloved brands in the world. It has also been the guiding principle of The Lego Group’s chief product and marketing officer, Julia…

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, stodgy man with a comb-over drinking scotch. Warren knew his problem, and he had his work cut out for him. After all, the survey showed traits most brands would dream to have: reliability, integrity, responsiveness. “When you get the voice of the customer, when you’re trying to drive change, it’s amazing how impactful that is,” Warren said. Five years later, Warren has transformed UPS, helping it shed its outdated image and drive its 2022 revenue…

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, just a few years out of Harvard, and working “the first job I’ve ever had outside of my family’s restaurant,” as he recalled. Was there coding? Yeah. Program management? That too. But it’s that heavy bag of books Capossela remembers the most. Gates’ “curiosity to learn and understand the world around him was a mind-blowing revelation to me,” Capossela said. “It made me say, ‘Wow, I should be more curious to learn about systems I…

Soyoung Kang didn’t have a big marketing or media background when she was hired as chief marketing officer of skin care and beauty brand Eos five years ago. What she did have was a successful track record in retail for brands like Victoria’s Secret and Bath & Body Works. Nonetheless, Eos gave Kang the marketing keys to the company, and she essentially learned on the job. Since then, she has taken a small challenger brand that had one key product—a colorful, spherical lip balm—and has grown it into a company that now features a full line of skin care, beauty and shave products that is a huge hit with younger generations. Kang and the Eos team made their mark through taking chances on new, largely social marketing techniques, which led…

Despite its reputation as a haven for live music, the city of Austin, Texas, had arguably not produced a proper pop musician until Jesús Acosta took the stage as Sobbrs in late 2016. At the time, the city had cultivated a thriving atmosphere for psych-rock foursomes and singer-songwriter soloists. But Acosta, now the senior art director at creative agency Conscious Minds Studios, found himself nearly alone in his efforts to bring a more expressive sensibility to the scene. While working by day in a series of art direction and graphic design roles, Acosta spent the next four years developing his craft as a musician, simultaneously nurturing the nascent pop scene in the city. By the time he moved to Los Angeles last year, the musical landscape of Austin looked radically…