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☆ Elon Musk’s Twitter Politics Add to Pressure on Tesla’s Brand Image
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( Patrick Coffee | Rebecca Elliott | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +6 min

Self-identifying Democrats in particular have soured on the car maker since Mr. Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion in late October, according to data from research firm Morning Consult. Mr. Musk, who plays a large role in the public image of Tesla and now Twitter, on Nov. 7 urged voters to back Republicans in the midterm elections. Net favorability is the percentage of respondents with positive perceptions of a brand minus the percentage with negative perceptions. Tesla also has millions of active supporters online, as does Mr. Musk. More than 94% of U.S. adults are now familiar with Mr. Musk, up from about 75% one year ago, according to Mr. Marlatt of Morning Consult.

“There’s no such thing as a set forecast right now,” said Sophie Kelly, senior vice president of whiskies at Diageo North America, speaking at the same event. The firm, a unit of Interpublic Group of Cos.’ Mediabrands, cut its growth forecast for next year to 4.8% from an earlier prediction of 5.8% in June. Organic revenue growth is a metric that removes the effects of currency fluctuations, acquisitions and disposals. Airbnb Inc. slashed its advertising spending and invested in brand marketing, lessening its reliance on search-engine marketing. “We knew that people are changing their behavior,” said William White, Walmart’s chief marketing officer.

☆ Not All Retailers Are Overstocked for the Holidays. They’re Discounting Anyway.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-25 | by ( Katie Deighton | Kate Ridley | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +7 min

Many big retailers are discounting heavily and earlier this holiday season to clear excess stock from their shelves and warehouses. But others, with no substantive overhang of inventory, are also offering bigger sales than usual to satisfy shoppers who have come to expect them. “This is more of a reaction to what’s happening in this peak holiday-sales period.”Not all companies are being pulled into the discounting vortex. “We think that’s a good consumer experience.”Catbird, a Brooklyn-based jewelry company, is offering customers up to 20% off during the holidays, the biggest discount of its 18-year history. “No business owner who’s being honest is going to tell you they’re happy to have sales,” she said.

☆ Ads Often Run on Websites That Come With High Carbon Emissions but Low Returns, Study Finds
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( Megan Graham | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +6 min

Marketers are often running digital ads on websites that provide relatively low returns on their investment but generate comparatively high carbon emissions, a new study said. Concerns have been growing in some corners of digital advertising about the industry’s carbon footprint. The business consumes a significant amount of energy, leading to carbon emissions, as many websites trigger automated auctions for various ad spaces every time a consumer arrives on one of their pages. Ebiquity and Scope3 say one way of cutting down on emissions would be to work to keep marketers’ ads from winding up on “made for advertising” sites. Other groups are working on different approaches to measuring carbon emissions in advertising.

☆ Disabled Shoppers Struggle With Inaccessible Self-Checkouts
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-21 | by ( Katie Deighton | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +8 min

Stores’ self-checkout machines can annoy shoppers with error messages about unexpected items in the bagging area and other hiccups. PREVIEWThe problem is spreading as companies continue to install self-service transaction machines around the world, some disabled people and disability-rights activists say. The Baltimore-based organization last year worked with McDonald’s Corp. to upgrade its self-service kiosks so that they could be used independently by blind people. Walmart said its self-checkout system was accessible because staff had been trained to help disabled customers use it. Steps toward potential regulationsThe U.S. is looking into the possibility of creating regulations for the accessibility of self-service checkouts and ordering systems.

☆ More CMOs Are Investing in Their Personal Brands
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( Patrick Coffee | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +8 min

Efforts can include carefully composed LinkedIn posts about everything from corporate leadership to their costumes at the company’s recent Halloween party. Newsletter Sign-up WSJ | CMO Today CMO Today delivers the most important news of the day for media and marketing professionals. “The best way to do that is for them to have their own strong personal brands,” said Ms. Pryor. Other marketing executives are getting help. SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS Should your company’s executives be able to expense ghostwriters for their personal social-media posts?

☆ How CMOs Are Marketing Through a Turbulent Economy
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( Megan Graham | Katie Deighton | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +4 min

CVS Health Corp. has not pulled back on marketing so far, according to its chief marketing officer, Norman de Greve. Newsletter Sign-up WSJ | CMO Today CMO Today delivers the most important news of the day for media and marketing professionals. The Twitter conundrumExecutives also spoke about how they have been approaching Twitter as a marketing platform in the days since Elon Musk took ownership and some marketers began to flee. The company hasn’t been marketing on Twitter in the last quarter but will continue to evaluate it, she said. CVS’s Mr. de Greve similarly said the platform was not a significant marketing tool for the company even before Mr. Musk’s takeover.

☆ Tripadvisor Names Its First CMO Since 2018
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( Patrick Coffee | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +4 min

Tripadvisor Inc. has hired John Boris as its first chief marketing officer in more than four years as the online travel company hopes to serve consumers who are willing to pay more to book flights and hotels. Mr. Boris had been chief growth officer at Australian blockchain gaming startup Immutable Pty. Newsletter Sign-up WSJ | CMO Today CMO Today delivers the most important news of the day for media and marketing professionals. Its marketing expenses rose 58% to $234 million during the same period thanks, in part, to an increase in search-engine marketing, according to the company’s earnings report. Tripadvisor also recently replaced its retiring chief financial officer with Mike Noonan, formerly of dieting app Noom.

☆ Complexity for Marketers Has Meant Opportunity for Ad Agencies
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-14 | by ( Megan Graham | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +7 min

Their performance is striking compared with ad agencies’ plight five years ago: Facebook and Google had established direct relationships with marketers and were winning growing portions of their ad budgets before agencies could even offer their services. Newsletter Sign-up WSJ | CMO Today CMO Today delivers the most important news of the day for media and marketing professionals. PREVIEWSome major owners of ad agencies watched their growth slow or flatten in 2017 and 2018. Agency companies have responded by building practices to help marketers on platforms like TikTok and Amazon. Marketers navigate outside partnersSome major marketers still want to keep a close handle on some of their data efforts.

☆ Analysis: Elon Musk's Twitter faces its 'Titanic' moment as executives and advertisers flee while trolls run rampant
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( Oliver Darcy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

It’s hard to succinctly summarize the absolute chaos that has consumed Twitter over the last 12 hours as Elon Musk continues to wreak havoc on the Silicon Valley company. Bloomberg reported that its advertising chief Robin Wheeler was on the way out. And earlier in the day, we learned that Twitter’s chief information security officer Lea Kissner resigned, as had chief privacy officer Damien Kieran. And given that Twitter heavily relies on advertising revenue, the developments spell exceptionally troubling news for the already-imperiled company. We would once again tell advertisers to jump ship, but at this point, no CMO in their right mind needs that advice.”

☆ Elon Musk Tries to Convince Wary Advertisers to Stay on Twitter
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-09 | by ( Patrick Coffee | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +6 min

That prompted Mr. Musk to say there has been a “massive drop in revenue” in a tweet last Friday. “I understand if people want to, you know, give it a minute and see how things are evolving,” Mr. Musk said. “Obviously Twitter cannot be simply some extension of me, because then anyone who doesn’t agree with me will be put off,” Mr. Musk said. Other potential new features include letting verified subscribers post high-quality videos that are up to several hours long, according to Mr. Musk. Twitter’s pivot toward subscriptions and e-commerce could also help minimize trolls and fake accounts, according to Mr. Musk.

☆ Impossible Foods Hires a Marketing Chief as It Seeks to Win Over Meat Eaters
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-08 | by ( Megan Graham | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +3 min

Alternative-meat maker Impossible Foods Inc. has hired Leslie Sims to fill the newly created post of chief marketing and creative officer ahead of a planned expansion in marketing, the company said. Ms. Sims, currently U.S. chief creative officer at Deloitte Digital, will assume her new role on Jan. 1. Founded in 2011, Impossible Foods sells products including plant-based alternatives to beef burger patties, chicken nuggets and pork. Leslie Sims will become chief marketing and creative officer at Impossible Foods in January. “We’re really going for not being the best plant-based meat—we’re going for being the best meat,” Ms. Sims said.

☆ TikTok Hires Former NBA CMO as Its New Marketing Chief
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-08 | by ( Katie Deighton | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +3 min

ByteDance Inc.’s TikTok named the National Basketball Association’s former top marketer, Kate Jhaveri, as its global head of marketing as the video-sharing platform aims to continue its growth. Ms. Jhaveri will oversee the social-media platform’s consumer and brand marketing, reporting to Vanessa Pappas, TikTok’s chief operating officer, the spokeswoman said. Ms. Jhaveri also will head up TikTok’s marketing to content creators on the platform, and will work closely with Sofia Hernandez, TikTok’s global head of business marketing. Newsletter Sign-up WSJ | CMO Today CMO Today delivers the most important news of the day for media and marketing professionals. Ms. Jhaveri had been chief marketing officer of the NBA from 2019 until August this year.

But the new era at Twitter could also be an opportunity for the company to redefine its brand for the better. But it remains unclear what Twitter under Mr. Musk will actually be, Mr. Calkins said. Twitter before Mr. Musk weathered a number of controversies that rattled some advertisers and users. But this is a potential inflection point for Twitter, Mr. Miller said. “I think the brand is irrevocably damaged, actually, unless and until Musk finds somebody else to run Twitter,” Mr. Kwittken said.

Others have ground to a halt, sending companies back to technology that is less sci-fi, but can be deployed more quickly and cost-effectively. Some companies are satisfied their robots are doing the job. The perils of the outdoors are a big problem for delivery robots, in particular. Some people have also raised concerns that delivery robots could block wheelchair access on sidewalks or otherwise get in the way of humans, leading local authorities to limit or prohibit their use. Toronto, for example, last December banned delivery robots.

☆ Airbnb Says Its Focus on Brand Marketing Instead of Search Is Working
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-03 | by ( Megan Graham | Ceo Brian Chesky | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +5 min

Airbnb Inc. said its strategy of slashing advertising spending, investing in brand marketing and lessening its reliance on search-engine marketing is continuing to pay off. Its marketing spending is now low enough that it doesn’t anticipate drastic reductions even if economic headwinds worsen next year, it said. It has also made deep cuts to its overall marketing spending. “Our brand marketing results are delivering excellent results overall with a strong rate of return, and it’s been so successful that we’re actually expanding to more countries,” he said. But the brand could be tested if its competitors ratchet up spending in a downturn, Mr. Zucker said.

☆ In closed-door meeting, Elon Musk tells 100 top ad execs that he will improve brand safety on Twitter and that he will personally oversee its new video product
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-03 | by ( Lara O'Reilly | Lindsay Rittenhouse | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Elon Musk spoke on Thursday with more than 100 advertisers and ad agency executives in a virtual meeting to reassure them that Twitter will remain safe to advertise on, following his takeover. The Washington Post reported earlier this week that Musk's Twitter is working on a paid-for video feature, in which creators could charge viewers for access. One advertising executive who met with Musk earlier this week said Musk "said all the right things" on the topic of brand safety. Musk had also said that Twitter could be using its data in a more efficient way to improve results for advertisers. General Mills, Mondelez, Pfizer, and Audi all paused ads on Twitter, according to The Wall Street Journal.

☆ Youth was no barrier to success for this founder of a multimillion-dollar startup. She shares 3 tips
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-02 | by ( Goh Chiew Tong | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

But that didn't stop Chrisanti Indiana — who was just 24 years old when she co-founded Social Bella. "You have nothing to lose, that's actually the benefit of starting young," said Chrisanti Indiana, who launched her startup Social Bella when she was 24 years old. Social Bella started out as an e-commerce platform called Sociolla. Social Bella was founded in 2015 by Chrisanti Indiana, her brother and president Christopher Madiam (left) and CEO John Rasjid (right). Social Bella

☆ LGBT Representation in Ads Has Grown, but Many Consumers Find It Inauthentic
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-01 | by ( Patrick Coffee | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +6 min

Still, marketing to LGBT consumers can be tricky due to political tensions as well as consumer skepticism, particularly when big companies roll out Pride Month campaigns in June but are seen as not following through on standing up for LGBT rights. Many marketers still treat LGBT consumers as more of a niche group than they are, some experts said. A 2021 Nielsen survey found that, outside of Pride Month, only 1% of ads included LGBT characters or topics. Harris found that 67% of consumers think Pride Month has become too commercialized. In the Disqo survey, 46% of respondents said advertising already has enough LGBT themes and characters, and some experts think brands might mistakenly conclude that representing LGBT consumers in ads is no longer a pressing issue.

☆ Europe's booming startup scene is taking on Silicon Valley. Five German headhunters share which positions and startups offer the best pay.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-31 | by ( Nina Anika Klotz | Nathan Rennolds | Business Insider Deutschland | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Insider spoke to five experienced headhunters from Germany's booming startup scene about which startups and sectors are offering the highest salaries. He shared the average salaries he said he had seen for early-stage startup roles:Founder : 60,000 — 75,000 euros: 60,000 — 75,000 euros Software developer : 50,000 — 110,000 euros: 50,000 — 110,000 euros Sales : 60,000 — 80,000 euros: 60,000 — 80,000 euros Operations : 45,000 — 60,000 euros: 45,000 — 60,000 euros Product manager : 60,000 euros: 60,000 euros Business development: 50,000 eurosPay at growth-stage startupsJulian von Blücher advises well-funded growth-stage startups on their recruitment. : 70,000 euros base salary and 40,000 euros variable pay, which is compensation that's awarded to an employee based on their performance. Average variable pay as a percentage of total compensation for C-suite positions is 23.5% across all stages and industries, von Hettinga said. "Of that, about half of the variable pay is company shares or share programs."

☆ This millennial took a gamble during the pandemic. Now her startup has raised over $225 million
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-31 | by ( Goh Chiew Tong | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

"A lot of people actually told us that it's a very bold move to actually open an offline presence, while everybody was closing their offline stores [during the pandemic]," she added. But that was a "well-calculated" move for Social Bella, which operates Sociolla. Indiana, the co-founder and chief marketing officer of Social Bella, tells CNBC Make It how she took her Jakarta-based startup to the next level. The makeup junkie realized that in Australia, she had easy access to a wide range of beauty products from international brands. On top of that, the business also operates Soco, which Social Bella says is Indonesia's largest online review service for beauty products.

☆ Twitter's Hunger Games: Elon Musk oversees a weekend of coding sprints, stack ranking, and boot-licking as some employees fight to keep their jobs.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-30 | by ( Kali Hays | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Several Musk allies have been added to a company directory, with Musk being named CEO internally. Elon Musk put Twitter employees to the test this weekend to see who is capable, and willing, of surviving under his new reign. Musk has a 16 year old son, Saxon James Musk, whom he frequently mentions on Twitter, although the Twitter workers have yet to see any confirmation that James Musk is of any relation to their new owner. "This is it," one of the people familiar said, describing the feeling at the company under Musk. Many engineers were tasked over the weekend with "sprints," set periods of time for coding work to be done.

“When something comes up that requires a fast, human, unambiguous action, very few companies are prepared,” said Mr. DiMassimo. “If the talent retains some ownership, then you have to stop making the product entirely instead of just taking their name off,” said Mr. Chase. The offensive behaviors may be specific to the company in question; alcohol brands commonly include contractual clauses forbidding D.U.I. arrests or drunk and disorderly behavior among their representatives, said Mr. Chase. And that is not just because such behavior could occur again, according to Mr. Chase.

☆ Marketers Brace to Defend Their Ad Budgets in an Unsteady Economy
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-28 | by ( Megan Graham | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +5 min

ORLANDO, Fla.—An opening session of a major marketing conference this week included a quick mention of a conversation many industry executives expect to be having soon. As the ad industry braces for whatever broader macroeconomic troubles come its way, its executives expect history to repeat itself: When the economy sputters, companies frequently reduce their ad and marketing budgets. Bob Liodice, chief executive of the Association of National Advertisers, at its conference this week in Orlando. The 4A’s has put together a paper on “recession-profing,” which argues that defending marketing budgets is synonymous with maintaining brand health long-term and keeping customer advocates. The consulting firm Analytic Partners promised during a virtual-only workshop to help marketers defend their spending to the C-suite.

☆ NBA Hires CMO From Paramount as It Pushes Digital Products
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( Katie Deighton | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +2 min

The National Basketball Association named media executive Tammy Henault to be its chief marketing officer as it sharpens its focus on its direct-to-consumer platforms. Ms. Henault joins the NBA after eight years at Paramount Global, where most recently she was senior vice president overseeing consumer marketing for the media company’s streaming platform, Paramount+, and led marketing strategy for its launch. She previously held marketing posts overseeing digital products at New York Times Co. and Time Inc. Newsletter Sign-up WSJ | CMO Today CMO Today delivers the most important news of the day for media and marketing professionals. It also added NBA ID, a free membership program, to its roster of direct-to-consumer subscriptions products.

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