There are hundreds of C-suite shakeups every day across industries. It can be easy to miss these moves — and the awesome opportunities that come with them. In particular, new decision-makers (especially CMOs) often signal large-scale sweeping changes within an organization. Rebranding! New website! Request for proposal!
First-time marketing executives and new hires are the top triggers for agency changes, media spending shifts, and new martech investments. New hires evaluate these areas and begin making adjustments within a 3-12 month window. From a prospecting perspective and with such a short turnaround, it’s crucial to stay up to date on any new CMO hires or promotions, and have pitches prepared to stay one step ahead of the competition.
Guild Mortgage hired Adam O’Daniel as its first-ever CMO in November 2023. O’Daniel most recently served as marketing SVP of Open Mortgage and is responsible for marketing, communications, and increasing brand awareness. Guild Mortgage’s target demographic is Gen-Xers and Millennials.
Guild Mortgage will likely:
Digital and social insights (digital ad spend, effectiveness, impressions, and performance)
Agency analysis: CMO hires are the number one sign of upcoming agency appointments, but Winmo has not confirmed any current agency relationships for Guild.
Cohesity — the online software that “focuses on secondary storage needs” — recently lost its CMO, Lynn Lucas, who is now the CMO of Pure Storage. She was responsible for growth, product, corporate, communications, brand, partner, and field marketing. Around the same time, Cohesity promoted Amith Nair to marketing SVP — who appears to be the company’s top marketer. Cohesity’s target demographic is businesses that need data protection services.
Cohesity will likely:
Digital and social insights (digital ad spend, effectiveness, impressions, and performance)
Agency analysis: Get in touch with the new marketing VP to see if he plans on outsourcing any of his duties. Cohesity does not currently work with any agencies.
Verizon has filled the CMO vacancy we told you about when Diego Scott stepped down in May. Leslie Berland will take over on January 9th, 2024. Berland joins from Peloton where she held the same title and is responsible for global brand strategy, activation, creative, consumer insights, media, and strategic partnerships. Verizon’s target demographic is Gen-Xers and Millennials with a male skew.
Verizon will likely:
Broadcast insights (TV ad creative spend, effectiveness, impressions, and performance)
Digital and social insights (digital ad spend, effectiveness, impressions, and performance)
Agency analysis: CMO hires are the number one sign of upcoming agency reviews, so get in touch now to be top-of-mind. Current roster:
As stated above, Peloton lost its CMO, Leslie Berland, after less than a year in the position. Berland is now the CMO of Verizon. Peloton has not yet announced a replacement. The brand’s target demographic is Gen-Xers and Millennials.
Once it hires a new CMO, Peloton will likely:
Broadcast insights (TV ad creative spend, effectiveness, impressions, and performance)
Digital and social insights (digital ad spend, effectiveness, impressions, and performance)
Agency analysis: Start working on your pitches so that you are prepared to reach out as soon as Peloton finds a new CMO. Current roster:
Fanfix — the content platform for creators and fans — hired Loren Piretra as its first-ever CMO, effective November 2023. Piretra most recently served as creator and marketing VP of Playboy. As CMO, she is responsible for marketing, media strategy, brand positioning, and engagement with Fanfix’s target demographic of content creators, influencers and Gen-Zers.
Fanfix will likely:
Agency analysis: Contact the new CMO to see if you can pick up some Fanfix’s business. Winmo has not confirmed any current agency relationships for the company.