Daily September 1

How did a guy known throughout the industry as being exceedingly nice become the North American CEO of GroupM, the media agency network owned by agency holding company WPP? On Kirk McDonald — who has been in the role for a year — Adam Gerhart, global CEO of Mindshare has this to say: “Although he might not have been the usual suspect for an agency role, the skillset and perspective he has was absolutely applicable. It’s provided a different vantage point than someone who’s grown up or only worked in an agency their whole life.” Read a profile of McDonald’s leadership below.

• To Kirk McDonald’s mind, flipping his body of sales-side knowledge to apply to the buying side of the business was exactly what was needed to run a media agency network.
• BruMate joins other DTC brands tapping SMS marketing as a saturated digital marketplace and iOS14 privacy crackdown leaves advertisers scrambling for options.
• The Digiday+ Future of TV Briefing this week looks at the companies that are aiming to revamp the traditional TV ad format for streaming.
• Private browsing has the potential to radically reduce the number of consumers marketers can target with digital advertising.
• Workers in media are more likely to have permission to work from home permanently than they are to be expected to come into an office five days per week, according to new Digiday+ research.