Table of contents for November 25, 2019 in Adweek

SET THE TONE—BOTH INTERNALLY AND EXTERNALLY CMO—it’s not just marketing. It’s marketing, media, communications, content, analytics and insights—and also thought leader within the organization. Having all of those functions under one CMO is helpful, but it also puts that CMO into a position where you’re influencing internal behavior, culture, employee retention, the vision of the company. Because you’ve got a lot of the tools, you’ve got the consumer touch points. That’s the expectation—that you are going to set the tone and the emotional connection to the fan and the consumer, so you need to be doing that internally as well. TAKE AN UNTRADITIONAL APPROACH We know our fans had consumed the sport in a fairly traditional way. We have great media partners and we have a great live event experience,…

More shoppers will buy from DTC brands. Purchases are expected to grow in the next few years as Americans cut down on traditional retail in favor of direct-to-consumer companies—especially in health, wellness and beauty (35%). Diffusion’s annual Direct-to-Consumer Purchase Intent Index revealed consumers are still committed to buying from DTC brands, but maintaining their attention is more competitive than ever. “As we enter 2020, the initial fascination with DTC brands has worn off, and they can’t rest on their laurels,” said Kate Ryan, U.S. managing director, Diffusion. “Both DTC and legacy brands must constantly continue reinventing themselves to exceed the new expectations digital native brands have created for American consumers.” But the lines are starting to blur between what differentiates a DTC brand. Right now, it’s anyone’s game, Ryan said.…

If someone tells you they’re “on” meth, you’d be justified in being concerned—and quite a few people are concerned about South Dakota. The state’s new antidrug campaign uses some eyebrow-raising double meaning with its slogan, “Meth. We’re on it.” Created by Minneapolis agency Broadhead, the campaign sparked a quick wave of skeptical commentary in social media. The governor has so far defended it. “South Dakota’s meth crisis is growing at an alarming rate,” Gov. Kristi Noem said. “This is our problem, and together, we need to get on it.”…

JOHNSON & JOHNSON Alison Lewis spent six years with the CPG giant before her departure was announced. J&J explained the lack of a successor by saying it had “established a new business model that streamlines priorities,” which the company did not elaborate on further. UBER After less than a year with the company, Rebecca Messina became the second CMO from Uber to leave the company in 12 months. In her absence, Uber’s marketing, communications and policy teams were brought under Jill Hazelbaker, svp of communications and public policy. MCDONALD’S Global CMO Silvia Lagnado will be replaced by two senior-level vps in marketing technology and global marketing. DIANA PEARL IS A SENIOR WRITER AT ADWEEK, WHERE SHE COVERS BRANDS. PREVIOUSLY, SHE WAS A WRITER AND REPORTER AT PEOPLE MAGAZINE. @DIANAPEARL_…

Let me tell you what’s modern in our world: fear. A fear of losing jobs, of becoming irrelevant before retirement, of suddenly questioning the purpose of our existence as an industry. Consumers may have realized they can do without us, and that epiphany poses a frightening, almost paralyzing reality. That is, unless we prepare. Having trained in martial arts my entire life, I learned to use pressure to focus, drawing from deep memories and recent experiences to get out of trouble, come out alive and maybe even win. Like a flash in martial artist and actor David Carradine’s Kung Fu series, the flourish of punches and kicks the world keeps throwing at us compares to my recent experiences as a Cannes Lions juror over the last three consecutive years. Each…

The cable news networks are already focused on elections again, even though the 2019 races have barely ended. That’s because for outlets like Fox News Channel, CNN and MSNBC, presidential elections—like the upcoming 2020 race—present a unique opportunity to expand their audiences and attract Americans seeking information on the candidates as they prepare to head into the voting booth. After the ratings and ad revenue windfalls they enjoyed in 2016, the networks are looking to build on those numbers in 2020. The 2016 presidential race propelled all three cable news networks to what, at the time, was each of their most watched years ever in prime-time total viewers (though Fox News and MSNBC topped those numbers in 2018). Fox News’ audience jumped between 29% and 42% year over year in…

With 180,000 real estate agents who are more familiar with building codes than computer code, Keller Williams Realty was looking for a way to compete with tech-focused startups like Redfin and Zillow. Luckily for the 35-year-old realty company, it didn’t need to teach every agent a bunch of new computer skills. Instead, it found the answer in a homegrown app that automatically learns how to recognize the characteristics of a home or property from video footage shot by visiting agents. The app then turns that info into a searchable, automatically generated listing page. The backbone of this system is a tool called Google Cloud AutoML, which is aimed at helping a wide range of industries automate machine learning models like the ones used for Keller Williams’ Keller Cloud. “As KW…

Prepping for the most significant new product launch in 30 years at Popeyes, Bruno Cardinali traveled to the chain’s Louisiana home turf, steeping himself in the area’s famous Cajun cuisine and hospitality. Cardinali, who joined as head of North American marketing in March, says he wanted to “get to know the heritage and core values of Popeyes and define where we want to go from there,” ahead of the August drop of the company’s first chicken sandwich. His goal, ultimately, was to use his field-trip research to help turn an underdog cult favorite into a national power player, challenging entrenched, deeper-pocketed rivals and spreading its hard-core fans’ devotion to the masses. “This brand has huge potential,” says Cardinali, noting that the New Orleans experience set the table for what came…