Association of National Advertisers

ORLANDO — Ad-tech is nice, but it is also a distraction and now it’s time for marketers to refocus on business fundamentals. That was the message from the leader of an umbrella group representing tens of thousands of US brands, as his own conference got under way this week. Bob Liodice, CEO of the Association […]

CANNES—A year after the Association of National Advertisers joined forces with the Cannes Lions festival to help “marketers take their industry back,” they were back at Cannes to refine their priorities going forward. The joint CMO Growth Council initiative has boiled those priorities down to improving marketing academia, “upskilling and reskilling” marketing personnel and how […]

ORLANDO—Although the practice of marketers taking certain functions in-house as opposed to paying external agencies has been gaining traction in recent years, it’s a trend that has flown under the radar. Including at the Association of National Advertisers, which just concluded its first-ever event devoted exclusively to in-house agencies. “The in-house agency phenomenon is something […]

ORLANDO—Video game giant Electronic Arts didn’t decide overnight to buy media in-house across more than 40 countries. Building an in-house capability can start with baby steps, dipping your toe into the waters and, along the way, nurturing your talent so as to avoid “tissue rejection,” says EA Global Head of Media Belinda Smith. After buying […]

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—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—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—Marketers need to find the nexus of performance marketing—“a bunch of clicks and data and sets”—and the big, thematic and typically slow-moving ideas that have long characterized brand marketing, according to the CMO of Clorox. “I’m going to suggest that we have to figure out how to pull them both together around one consumer in […]

ORLANDO—FreeWheel’s DRIVE is a new suite of advanced advertising solutions designed to provide the “missing link” to reaching OTT and VOD viewers: holistic measurement. By partnering with Nielsen and its Digital Ad Ratings (DAR), buyers can apply age and gender targeting and/or measurement and guarantees to advanced TV campaigns. “We’re trying to put this all […]

PepsiCo is using the #SeeHer Gender Equality Measure as both a qualitative and quantitative tool to more accurately portray girls and women and help validate some of its budget and media decisions. “We’ve been using it much, much more the last two years across our organization and across a wide variety of brands,” says Global […]