Marketing Briefing: Understanding CMOs’ top priorities ahead of the next Trump presidency

Marketers are keen to listen to consumers and may even be more risk averse than ever. As previously reported by Digiday, major brands like Harley Davidson, Molson Coors, Lowe’s, John Deere and others have taken a step back from diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. That has come following pressure from right wing activist Robby Starbuck as well as backlash against so-called “woke” marketing efforts.

Marketers don’t want to be out of touch. They plan to ensure the research they have on consumers is actually capturing the truth of their desires so that their marketing can reflect as much. “It’s a reminder to never forget the basics,” said Raj Nijjer, CMO at payroll platform Symmetry, adding that it’s important for marketers to focus on “what the challenges of your audience are.”

Marketers seem to be acutely focused on understanding their consumers. It’s more difficult for marketers as “consumer behavior is more fragmented than ever,” noted Matt Wurst, CMO at vertical video platform Genuin. “But it’s not necessarily more unpredictable than ever.” Marketers are trying to find ways to get closer to consumers to predict their behaviors.

How brand narratives will change with this direction is yet to be determined and will vary by brand. There’s a sense that the stalwarts of purpose-led marketing initiatives will remain. The Ben & Jerry’s and Patagonias of the world will continue apace supporting issues that matter to them. But other marketers who have been dipping a toe into purpose or cause marketing efforts or even highlighting DE&I could retreat from doing so — if they haven’t already.

There may be less “shouting from the rooftops” of certain brand values, explained Scott Goodson, founder and CEO of ad agency Strawberry Frog. That’s not to say the brands abandon those values altogether but find “more thoughtful and innovative” ways to engage consumers.

“You might see more old school competing on price point or message around value now,” predicted one agency exec who requested anonymity. “Less of an association with what’s ‘cool.’ Do you really want to be Brat now?” 

Whether brand narratives shift to reflect more conservative values isn’t a certainty but avoiding approaches that would alienate those consumers by talking down to them will be a consideration.

For some brand marketers, Trump’s proposed tariffs are top of mind, said at least one agency exec.

The need to respond quickly under pressure or pivot on a dime isn’t new for marketers. They’ve been operating as such for years and doing more with less. The change of leadership may have added pressure but marketers are used to the need for contingency plans and all the rest. 

“CFOs are still highly risk averse and hiring for marketing will be a last add following full profitable recoveries and reduced volatility,” said Dory Ellis Garfinkle, CMO of brand consultancy Siegel+Gale. “We’ll be doing more with less for a while. To make cases for marketing investments, we need to be laser-focused on our customer and build their loyalty for the long term.”

Garfinkle continued: “Now is not the time for a nap. We can’t take our eye off the ball because we know that we could wake up tomorrow with a new customer, a new technology, or a new competitor. Reliable, simple, and enduring brands that consistently hit the mark for their customers will be most likely to thrive in the next era.”

3 Questions with Taylor Capuano, co-founder at Cakes, adhesive breast padding company 

How did Cakes come to be a viral TikTok brand?

Our only strategy for the first year was to basically go viral on organic TikTok. We had no social media following when we started. We grew the business from zero to a million dollars in the first year with no social media following, purely through organic TikTok. That was 2022.

Year two, we were able to take our top performing TikTok content and put it across paid — primarily Meta and Google. We had a really efficient [run on ads]. It was because we were rooted in a year’s worth of organic content on TikTok, where we would test and learn hundreds and hundreds of videos and take the top 10%, put those on Meta and they’d do really well.

This is our third year of business, and we launched the TikTok Shop and launched TikTok ads as a bigger part of our strategy, and [we expect] our business will grow again.

How do you recreate TikTok success on Meta? 

We do have to shell out more on Meta. But because we’re able to do all the testing on TikTok, we’re not wasting money on inefficient ads. We do hundreds of ads on Meta a month, but we’re doing 20 new pieces of creator content from TikTok on Meta, and it’s our most efficient content. The reason we put most of our spend into Meta is because it’s predictable in that it’s a little bit of a formula at this point. 

The deadline for TikTok to sell or be banned in the U.S. is Jan. 19. What then happens to that inexpensive content testing mill that was your TikTok account?

Whether ban or no ban, it’s not safe as a marketer to be completely reliant on one channel. I wasn’t then, and I’m not now, overly-concerned about the potential ban. My understanding is for something to go into effect is still a couple of years out. For us, it’s really important while we can still win on TikTok to be doubling down, and we’ve noticed there’s a lot less competition on TikTok for brands. — Kimeko McCoy

By the numbers

For the past year, companies have seemed bent on making everything a retail media network. The growth spurt in the RMN space has led to retail media subgroups, including financial media networks, travel media networks and grocery media networks. The latter of which is expected to be an $8.5 billion opportunity for U.S. grocery retailers to boost growth and margins, according to a recent report from Grocery Doppio, a grocery insights and data company. See key findings from the report below:

• Nearly 70% of respondents believe in-store media capabilities provide a competitive edge over third-party platforms (like social media or search engines).
• Almost all (93%) CPG brands surveyed by Grocery Doppio in Q2 want the ability to tie in digital and store engagement for a complete view of the shopper journey to inform their decisions on ad spend. 
• 68% of grocers say investment in a media network is a high priority. For speed to market, 97% of grocers will deploy a white-label or third-party solution. — Kimeko McCoy

Quote of the week

“The team that was creator-first won. That has to be a big wake up call to CMOs who don’t believe this is absolutely the future.” 

— James Nord, founder of influencer marketing shop Fohr, when asked about the ripple effects of the election given the creator dominance this cycle.

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