ANA Masters of Marketing

ORLANDO—Not that long ago, in-house agencies were where “old creatives went to die because they were done with the advertising industry. That has definitely shifted,” says the VP and COO of 140, Verizon’s in-house agency. Now, because in-house talent at companies like Verizon are in close in proximity to corporate leadership, among other factors, “that […]

ORLANDO—Speed and innovation have become the main ingredients for success in the beverage industry, including such staples as beer. But it all starts with listening to consumers first. “I like to think about the CMO as actually the chief consumer officer. So I guess marketing people should always be the people with the best knowledge […]

ORLANDO—Johnson & Johnson believes its marketers need to be better scientists, storytellers, strategists and socializers, according to Head of Marketing Excellence Denis Sison. “Talent is critical to the journey of transformation for marketing these days. As we all know, many of our organizations have been disrupted and are all undergoing transformation to drive growth,” Sison […]

ORLANDO—Although the U.S. Navy isn’t your typical consumer brand, it’s in the lead generation business nonetheless. And because its target audience consists mainly of the Centennial Generation, 70% of its media is spent in the digital realm. That age cohort, consisting of those born between roughly 1995 and 2008, has been the subject of focus […]

ORLANDO—The latest report on marketers taking certain activities in-house as opposed to using agencies comes as both sides need to produce more growth and profits. “Everybody’s under pressure at the same time,” observes MediaLink Chairman and CEO Michael Kassan. Noting margin inadequacies at agencies and profit-and-loss challenges at marketers, it’s logical to take a close […]

ORLANDO—Burger King has more than 17,000 restaurants around the world. “So imagine each of them is kind of like a small company” guided by three principles: getting the basics right, ensuring guest friendliness and using technology to help people engage with the brand, says Global CMO Fernando Machado. “We put a lot of effort on […]

ORLANDO—Given the huge increase in customer-retailer interaction sparked in large part by technology, it’s not enough to be Chief Marketing Officer at Sam’s Club. “Marketing’s just a piece of it,” says the company’s Chief Member Officer, Tony Rogers. “The nature of the relationship between consumers and retailers has changed so dramatically over the years.” Whereas […]

ORLANDO—For marketers looking to take back control amid a tsunami of change, it all starts with attracting the right talent. “Talent is the most important asset that we all have, including American Express. And it’s precious,” says Elizabeth Rutledge, CMO of the financial services provider. “You need to nurture it and you need to sort […]

ORLANDO—It’s not just advertisers that are in the business of balance as they try to figure out where to allocate their media spending. Consumers are seeking the right mix of ad-free and ad-supported video—an exercise that could get even trickier if, or more likely when, more providers adopt the latter option, according to A+E Networks’ […]

ORLANDO—The latest Association of National Advertisers survey regarding in-house agencies at marketers shows they have grown in use to 78% of ANA members in 2018 versus 42% in 2008. To the president and CEO of the 4A’s, which represents outside agencies, numbers don’t represent the entire range of attributes that agencies bring to the table […]

ORLANDO—Driven by advances in data-driven targeting, political advertising on local cable television is soaring in advance of the mid-term elections. To FreeWheel’s Joy Baer, it’s a microcosm of what lies ahead for all advertisers. “Emotions are running high. The good news is spend is running very high as well,” already surpassing spending in the 2016 […]

ORLANDO—With 1,800 stores, Target’s biggest challenges don’t include size. “We’re big. We have scale,” says CMO Rick Gomez. The trick is to seem small as the chain expands and tries to provide a singularly unique shopper experience on the ground and online. It’s a situation that many retailers would love to find themselves in, Gomez […]

ORLANDO — Put 200 of the world’s leading senior marketing decision makers in a room and what do you get? An agenda for the future of the craft. At a gathering in Orlando, Cannes Lions and the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) convened more than 200 chief marketing officers to inform how a new CMO […]

ORLANDO — These days, there isn’t a big brand that doesn’t profess “sustainability” to be a key goal. But is a passion for good things any more than a marketing stunt? To Brad Hiranaga, sustainability is anything but. In this video interview with Beet.TV, the chief brand officer of breakfast cereal maker General Mills says aiming for […]

ORLANDO — If only there were an instruction manual for everything. Like many marketers, Rahul Malhotra wishes there were one for brands. He is the head of brand strategy and stewardship at Shell, one of the largest oil companies – in fact, one of the largest companies of any sort – in the world. In this video […]

ORLANDO—Trying to guess what Progressive’s chameleon-like character Flo might morph into next is harder than winning the Power Ball lottery. It’s all about taking marketing risks because Progressive is “not like your father’s insurance company,” says CMO Jeff Charney. Suitably, Charney’s presentation at the recent Association of National Advertisers Masters of Marketing conference was titled […]

ORLANDO—Lack of scale has been a common excuse to avoid trying to reach TV viewers using dynamic devices to view content on the big screen in their living room. But with set-top box VOD and OTT viewing soaring, it’s time for advertisers to “catch up to that viewership,” says FreeWheel’s James Rothwell. “I think we’re […]

ORLANDO — Once upon a time, a marketer spending millions on a TV campaign had to wait until its conclusion before digesting the results and tweaking the mix on the next buy. But A+E Networks is now letting ad buyers recalibrate the mix mid-campaign. The TV channel operator earlier this year began offering performance-based guarantees […]

ORLANDO — After a spate of controversies in the last couple of years, ad agencies are enduring choppy waters, as many brand clients look use software, for themselves, to execute some of the traditional functions of their agencies. A recent Association of National Advertisers (ANA) survey showed 35% of marketers expanded their in-house media buying capabilities […]

ORLANDO — If there is one kind of publisher that knows a lot about people, it must be a genealogy site. Ancestry lists more than 20 million members, all desperate to build connections with relatives – living, deceased or as-yet unknown. It’s all about reducing the boundaries between people. But there is another kind of […]