The Digiday Podcast

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'There's no e-commerce point-of-sale': Farmer's Fridge's marketing director Liz Mella hones in on non-traditional tactics Mar 12, 2024

Show notes

For the last few months, marketers and advertisers have finally had to reckon with the fallout of Google’s crumbling third-party cookie amid an increasingly fragmented media landscape. Meaning, targeting and measurement are getting harder to do. However, it’s something Liz Mella, director of marketing for Farmer’s Fridge, has been tasked with working through as the food vending company is without an e-commerce point of sale.

With more than 1,000 locations nationwide in airports, hospitals, office buildings, universities and more, Mella said Farmer’s Fridge's business model has required non-traditional marketing strategies. “We are looking into doing things, like we’re buying media at the exact point of purchase,” she said in a recent interview with Digiday. “But there's no easy, silver bullet approach to this. It's really doing a lot of small things to build the amplifier effect of media.”

On this episode of the Digiday Podcast, we caught up with Mella to talk about Farmer’s Fridge’s non-traditional approach to marketing, measurement and media.

Get more from Digiday with the daily newsletter, sent out each weekday morning. Visit digiday.com/newsletters to sign up.

How Zola CMO Victoria Vaynberg has introduced a new brand to expand its audience Mar 05, 2024

Show notes

Zola isn’t just a website for weddings anymore. Late last year, the e-commerce company went from a one-stop destination for all things wedding to include a new baby registry service, Zola Baby. Typically, a new service comes with renewed customer acquisition efforts. But this latest endeavor has revolved around word-of-mouth as opposed to shelling out ad dollars to find new shoppers, according to Zola CMO Victoria Vaynberg.

The company has experimented with out-of-home advertising in the past and currently has an active TikTok presence to help boost brand awareness. On this episode of the Digiday Podcast, we caught up with Vaynberg to talk about Zola’s TikTok strategy, growth in a new category and navigating today’s ever-changing digital landscape.

Get more from Digiday with the daily newsletter, sent out each weekday morning. Visit digiday.com/newsletters to sign up.

My Code’s CEO says a floor, not a ceiling, has been set by advertisers for multicultural marketing Feb 27, 2024

Show notes

While the recent advertising slowdown has also impacted the amount of money allocated to marketing to media companies created for non-white audiences, Parker Morse, CEO and founder of My Code said that it hasn’t stopped marketers from realizing the value in reaching multicultural audiences.

In fact, while the industry standard is 5% of advertiser budgets earmarked for multicultural marketing, that figure has turned into a floor, not a ceiling, over the past few years, he said, adding that the expectation is that 2024 will see a return to growth in this sector.

On the latest episode of the Digiday Podcast, Morse talks about how My Code is iterating on the go-to-market strategy this year to ensure marketers are aware of the value in reaching multicultural and historically underrepresented audiences, both from a buying power perspective, but also from a sheer volume perspective. Morse also discusses how My Code has spent the past three years building out the portfolio of Hispanic audience-focused publications to build a more holistic representation of Latinx consumers in the United States.

Get more from Digiday with the daily newsletter, sent out each weekday morning. Visit digiday.com/newsletters to sign up.

How Group Black’s Kerel Cooper is trying to solve programmatic’s bias problem at the industry level Feb 20, 2024

Show notes

Following an on-stage conversation at the Digiday Programmatic Marketing Summit in December, Kerel Cooper, president of advertising at Group Black, joined Digiday once again on the latest episode of the Digiday Podcast to dive further into his continued efforts to shed light on the legacy programmatic media buying practices that often disadvantage Black-owned media companies.

Working with ad verification firm Double Verify, Group Black pulled together research that illustrates just how much ad inventory on Black-owned media companies is cut from media budgets when rudimentary tools like keyword blocklists and domain-level categorization are implemented in media buys.

Now, Cooper is working with his partners at DV to raise awareness of these findings to educate the buy-side as well as work with trade organizations to create standards for not eliminating large swaths of Black-owned media from programmatic spending.

In this conversation, Cooper talks about the results of the research with DV as well as how the deprecation of the third-party cookie is changing the way advertisers are up-ending their programmatic buying practices this year.

Get more from Digiday with the daily newsletter, sent out each weekday morning. Visit digiday.com/newsletters to sign up.

Magic Spoon co-founder Gabi Lewis talks cereal brand's expanded retail footprint and marketing strategy Feb 13, 2024

Show notes

Magic Spoon, the cereal company that launched entirely online back in 2019, has since expanded its footprint to more than 16,000 national retailers to meet shoppers where they are, whether that’s online or in-store.

Historically, the cereal company built its millennial and Gen Z following via short-form social media videos, podcasts alongside other direct-to-consumer brands. But as its retail footprint expands, so does its ad strategy, to include things like in-store aisle displays. On this episode of the Digiday Podcast, we caught up with Gabi Lewis, co-founder at Magic Spoon, to talk about the brand’s expanded retail footprint, standing out in a crowded category and of course, the measurement woes plaguing marketers.

Get more from Digiday with the daily newsletter, sent out each weekday morning. Visit digiday.com/newsletters to sign up.

PepsiCo Beverages on testing and learning its strategy in a fragmented media landscape Feb 06, 2024

Show notes

Last year, PepsiCo Beverages was taking a test-and-learn approach to a fragmented video landscape. This year, with more ad-supported streaming platforms, most recently including Amazon Prime, the continued creator economy boom and more, there are more places than ever to advertise.

That fact is one of the things that keeps Katie Haniffy, senior director of media strategy and investment for PepsiCo Beverages, up at night, she said.

“The process has changed,” Haniffy said on the most recent episode of the Digiday Podcast. “Really, there’s probably three things that are going, ultimately, to impact our process.” That’s the booming creator economy, the rise of CTV and retail media.

On this episode of the Digiday Podcast, we caught up with Haniffy to talk about changes in the media landscape, how PepsiCo Beverages is keeping up with them and, of course, what measurement looks like in a fractured marketplace.

Get more from Digiday with the daily newsletter, sent out each weekday morning. Visit digiday.com/newsletters to sign up.

How British GQ's Adam Baidawi reimagined the legacy men's luxury publication for a modern, global audience Jan 30, 2024

Show notes

Adam Baidawi stepped into the role of British GQ’s head of editorial content in November 2021 at a time when the legacy men’s fashion and lifestyle title was facing a crucial pivot point in its identity.

Not only was Condé Nast reimagining its editorial and business strategy to be internationally structured, but the very idea of men’s fashion and luxury was evolving from a singular ideal image to embracing individuality. Baidawi, who had been a lifelong fan of the title, was also serving as the deputy global editorial director of GQ, and helped lead the refresh of the brand, focusing first and foremost on new luxury and community.

On the latest episode of the Digiday Podcast, Baidawi shared how he applied the “new luxury” mentality to the publication’s social strategy, events business and video production, as well as how the shift to international operations strengthened the storytelling ability of GQ across the globe.

Get more from Digiday with the daily newsletter, sent out each weekday morning. Visit digiday.com/newsletters to sign up.

How social-centric Gallery Media is taking on events, TikTok Shop and ever-changing algorithms Jan 23, 2024

Show notes

Digital media companies have to be willing to change with the times if they want to make 2024 a growth year.

For Gallery Media Group, publisher of PureWow and ONE37pm as well as over 70 social media-first brands like @Recipes and @Cocktails, this means testing out new social offerings like TikTok Shop, creating social campaigns for clients that will still work despite rapidly changing algorithms and modifying its experiential business to improve the ROI for sponsors.

On the latest episode of the Digiday Podcast, GMG’s CRO Chris Anthony shares how the new ad products and event offerings launched in 2023 are contributing to his sales team’s go-to-market strategy in 2024.

Get more from Digiday with the daily newsletter, sent out each weekday morning. Visit digiday.com/newsletters to sign up.

Xerox CMO Deena LaMarque Piquion: Embracing AI, targeting the next generation and keeping a legacy brand relevant in 2024 Jan 16, 2024

Show notes

Between Google’s third-party cookie phase out (finally) and the generative AI boom, there are many changes facing the marketing and advertising industry this year.

It’s a lot for any marketer to keep up with, let alone the chief marketing officer at a 117-year-old legacy company like Xerox, an office equipment brand. But it’s exactly what CMO Deena LaMarque Piquion has on her to-do list this year, in addition to boosting brand awareness with the next generation of employees and entrepreneurs.

“My personal resolution in regard to marketing is to incorporate more AI and personalization into what we do,” she said on the most recent episode of the Digiday Podcast.

It's only within the past year that Xerox has ramped up its advertising efforts, in line with America’s return to the office. And as 2024 gets underway, the office equipment brand must grapple with the post-pandemic, new work normal, generative AI and more. On this episode of the Digiday Podcast, we caught up with Piquion to learn more about Xerox’s AI strategy, marketing to the next generation of employees and entrepreneurs, and what it means to keep a 100-plus-year-old brand relevant.

Get more from Digiday with the daily newsletter, sent out each weekday morning. Visit digiday.com/newsletters to sign up.

Bloomberg Media’s Christine Cook on strengthening advertiser relationships in 2024 Jan 09, 2024

Show notes

Bloomberg Media made some changes to its sales operations last year in an effort to stay on top of the tumultuous ad market, including hiring Christine Cook as its new global chief revenue officer.

Under Cook’s leadership, the events business hired a new head of event sales to put more intentional focus on that revenue stream, a client council was created to produce a more effective feedback loop from advertisers and more original video content turned into an opportunity to sell new audiences.

Coming up on her one year anniversary at Bloomberg Media, Cook is hopeful that the changes that were made in 2023 will carry the media brand through what remains an unpredictable time in the ad market.

“I’m a little weary … about the volatility. Maybe I’m past worry, I just maybe I’m just expecting it now,” Cook said on the latest episode of the Digiday Podcast. “[But] we’re geared and aligned to be prepared if that carries on. I feel really good about what we’re doing. Don’t take any client for granted. Be very thoughtful and listen. Bring more to bear.”

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