This week's member exclusives: How Fernando Machado ’s long tenure at Burger King ‘absolutely broke the trend ’, how to leverage your brand on Amazon and more

This week, Digiday+ members received exclusive access to the latest Marketing Briefing where senior marketing editor Kristina Monllos examined Burger King CMO Fernando Machado's departure, the end of mobile advertising as we know it and more.

Members were also able to access the industry insights, insider quotes, key takeaways and more from our recent virtual course, Amazon U: Advertising Beyond Search.

Get a preview of what happened on Digiday+ this week and subscribe below for unlimited access to this content, exclusive analysis, premium research and much more.

Marketing Briefing: How Fernando Machado’s long tenure at Burger King ‘absolutely broke the trend’

By Kristina Monllos

It’s rare for a CMO to stay with a company for more than a few years. Case in point: Marketing leaders spend just 41 months on average in the role, according to 2020 research data from executive recruitment firm Spencer Stuart.

That’s why Fernando Machado’s departure from Burger King, after nearly seven years, to be the chief marketer at Activision Blizzard, is so notable. Machado’s unusually long tenure at Burger King allowed him to become a champion of zany, oddball marketing. Machado had worked his way up to global chief marketing officer for Restaurant Brands International (Burger King’s parent company) and chains including Popeye’s and Tim Horton’s — which helped him become one of the most beloved CMOs in the industry.

“When you look at it compared to the rest of the c-suite, the CMO is the least-tenured c-suite officer,” said Jay Pattisall, principal analyst at Forrester. “Fernando absolutely broke the trend with quite a long run. He is an exception.”

“When you look at it compared to the rest of the c-suite, the CMO is the least-tenured c-suite officer,” said Jay Pattisall, principal analyst at Forrester. “Fernando absolutely broke the trend with quite a long run. He is an exception.”

Few CMOs are given the freedom to work with agencies to come up with creative campaigns that resonate quite like Machado’s Moldy Whopper or Whopper Neutrality work. Doing so likely only comes with tenure and trust earned in a long-standing working relationship not only with other c-suite execs but agency partners, according to industry observers and agency execs. (Of course, not all of Machado’s Burger King campaigns were hits; most recently, a tweet highlighting International Women’s Day work was deleted after facing backlash.) With many CMOs only in the role for an average of 41 months, it’s uncommon to attribute breakout work that helps grow a brand to the position.

Quote of the week

“Personal data that somebody is opting to give us is [better quality information] than making assumptions based on who visits the website, goes to a makeup foundation page and then we retarget them.”

— Marnie Levan, Maybelline vp of integrated consumer communications, told Glossy beauty reporter Emma Sandler on the importance of loyalty programs and the need for first-party data.

Subscribe to Digiday+ below to access the full briefing.

Amazon U: Advertising Beyond Search Recap: How to leverage your brand on the e-commerce giant

By Iain Shaw

The events of 2020 set Amazon up for a year like no other, and the company strengthened its grip on the retail and e-commerce sectors accordingly. The e-commerce giant’s net sales grew a whopping 38% year-over-year. Of course, that effect was reflected in a triumphant year for Amazon’s advertising business, which topped $20 billion in revenue last year. In the fourth quarter alone, the company reported fourth-quarter ad revenues of almost $8 billion, a 64% year-on-year improvement.

Brands are more aware than ever that whether they sell on Amazon, leveraging a presence on the platform can contribute enormously to their broader success. How they achieve that is an ever-changing question.

That’s why Digiday Media’s “Amazon U: Amazon Beyond Search” event brought four industry insiders together to share current best practices, case studies and tips on how to make Amazon work for your brand in 2021. This was the first of three events focusing on different parts of the Amazon ecosystem.

The takeaways will be different for every brand. If you’re newer to Amazon — or simply behind the curve — your action plan may revolve around optimizing your presence and getting to grips with the full scope of what the Amazon ecosystem has to offer. From there, you’ll want to develop an Amazon-specific ad strategy that you can iterate as you measure, learn and retarget. If Amazon is already an integral part of your mix, pay attention to the insights our speakers shared about the new opportunities that are emerging within Amazon, and how their tactics and recommendations may shift in the year ahead.

Price Glomski, evp of digital commerce at PMG, noted that many marketers and advertisers have a love-hate relationship with Amazon, but while there’s always cause for frustration, he said there’s a lot to be excited about right now. With an enormous user base, Amazon already offers dependable display formats and an array of exciting emerging solutions from OTT and Twitch to shoppable Amazon Live streams, dynamic e-commerce ads and voice actionable ads. That portfolio is only going to grow, so get your brand on the front foot and ready to embrace the ever-evolving Amazon juggernaut.

Overheard

“Make sure that you’re enforcing competitor arbitrage … protect your own product by going in targeting your own ASINs and products. That is an easy win, it’s inexpensive and it converts.” – Price Glomski, EVP of Digital Commerce at PMG

Sponsored display product targeting gives your brand an opportunity to compete toe-to-toe for consumers’ eyeballs by placing your ads on your competitors’ PDPs. But if you’re not careful, your competitors will do the same to you. Fortunately, you can shut down the possibility of losing consumers to this kind of leakage by occupying the ad space on your PDPs with your own ads. “Defense is the new offense,” Glomski said.

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