B2B Opps: Square's CMO departs amid spend declines (Score 31)

Sales lead: Watch this company closely as a CMO hire will affect its marketing strategy & agency roster. 

• Square lost its CMO, Lauren Weinberg, after five and a half years.
• Weinberg is now the chief marketing & revenue officer of Quickbooks.
• She was responsible for global marketing, creative strategy, budget, and customer acquisition.
• We will be sure to update you as soon as a replacement is announced. 

Target demographic: Businesses that need financial services

Once it hires a new CMO, the company will likely:

• Ramp ad spend back up
• Experiment with different ad channels
• Review the agency roster

Broadcast insights (TV ad creative spend, effectiveness, impressions, and performance)

• YTD spend: Square has not aired a national TV ad so far this year after spending about $50.6k in this channel during the same time period of 2022. 
• 2021-2022 spend: Full-year spend plummeted from $3.6m in 2021 to $50.6k in 2022. 
• 2022 ad programming: It placed ads during programming such as America's Morning Headquarters, College Basketball, Gilmore Girls, Swamp People, and Squawk Box. 

Digital and social insights (digital ad spend, effectiveness, impressions, and performance)

• YTD spend: Square spent nearly $56m on digital display ads YTD, a 14% decrease from $65.2m spent in this channel during the same time period of 2022. 
• YTD data: 9b impressions via Instagram (39%), Facebook (31%), desktop display (17%), YouTube (7%), desktop video (3%), and mobile display (3%). 
• 2021-2022 spend: Full-year spend increased by 12% from $73.6m in 2021 to $82.7m in 2022. 
• Ad location: It placed 86% of these ads directly onto sites such as instagram.com, facebook.com, youtube.com, yahoo.com, and espn.com. It placed 14% of these ads through multiple indirect channels onto sites such as yahoo.com, signupgenius.com, zillow.com, kohls.com, and weather.com. 

Additional channel insights  

• Vivvix: Square also invests in OOH and local broadcast.

Agency analysis:

• Opportunity: Start working on your pitches so that you are prepared to reach out as soon as Square names a replacement. 
• Current roster:
  • Wavemaker: media AOR