#marketing

In case you are not aware of the timeline, this is why we are not popping from the news related to Muse.

Stripe launched as the exclusive premier partner on September 8, 2026.
Shopify showed up next on September 21, 2026.
PayPal, third to the party, joined September 22, 2026 (CMO praising FK like he's the savior lmao)

As some may know, KPMG US is making significant cuts to its Marketing organization — voluntary and involuntary. After many years here, one thing has never been clearer to me: the level of politics and cattiness on certain teams has been nothing short of corrosive.

I've witnessed director-level incompetence that makes you question how some people got the job in the first place. I've seen talented people made victims of passive aggression that quietly blocked their path to promotions and compensation they'd earned. And I've watched "fearless leaders" reward loyalty to them over loyalty to the work.

Plenty of those people are being shown the door this week.

I spoke with someone who felt impacted by one of those exits. What they said felt like a perfect microcosm of what's been happening:

"When the new head of APEX came in, I was genuinely excited — I thought we'd finally start operating like a real agency. But over time, that excitement faded. Processes were added, sure, but nothing that truly moved the needle. When we needed someone advocating for innovation, we'd find her on calls obsessing over window motifs or talking poorly about some of the most talented people on the team.

She reportedly told other higher-ups that the only Black man on the team was 'hard to work with' — which, if you know him, is laughable. A he-l of a lot of us would say the exact opposite. It's also a label that carries a particular weight when put on a Black man in a corporate environment, and that's not something you can just gloss over.

When I found out she got let go, my only surprise was the timing. When your job is to make a difference and all you've managed to spread is drama — it's only a matter of time."

It appears brighter days are ahead under new leadership — but I hope the directors exiting this week take this moment for genuine self-reflection. There is real room to grow, both as leaders and as people.

One last thing this person said — and I think it's worth putting on record in case a hiring manager comes across this:

"It's a damn shame they let Rick [Lavoie] go. When there was nothing but confusion, he was the one higher-up who showed up with answers and solutions. I can't count how many times I wished he was the one leading APEX. That was a leader worth following."

Project team on this should be fired in the town square. Ask any young person who TF he is. I’ll wait….

I'm seeing lots of "good roundtable", "great roadshow" type posts. Unfortunately that seems like a red-ish flag to me.

I guess business lines are doing ok? (Maybe One Talk is helping.) Not sure if the AI Connect stuff is real or not.

If VCG struggles, can they carry the load?

Hearing there could be some pretty big changes coming to Marketing. New CMO, consultants looking at the org, and apparently a restructure could be on the table.
Maybe we’ll finally get back to actually doing marketing instead of throwing money at endless brand sponsorships 😂
Buckle up, Marketing folks… this one could get interesting. 🍿

Hi folks,

After almost 19 years at Cengage, I'm now happily working with a smaller publisher. I need to fill some open roles in Sales & Marketing at the individual contributor and leadership levels. Any suggestions on where to find the best Sales & Marketing talent that might fit well with a smaller org? What job sites do you tend to use?

The "post and pray" approach on LinkedIn and similar doesn't seem to be great--I'm getting a lot of "easy apply" resumes that aren't super relevant. Meanwhile, I see on sites like this one that layoffs at Cengage (and competitors) continue, so I'm looking for any suggestions on where/how to more actively find Sales & Marketing talent. I've already hit up my own network directly; looking for any advice on additional avenues to pursue...

Thanks in advance for any advice!

I know very little about all sports, but I enjoyed watching the US Open this year. It seems like the right size sport to measure whether the sport offense strategy is working (running for example way more disjointed and hard to comprehend). 2 years of EH feels like enough time to do some dummy analysis.

Mens winner wore Adidas

Womens winner wore an Asian brand I don't know

Mens runner up who seems very marketable/American wore On

Our top player Alcaraz is wearing Travis Scott backwards Swoosh stuff (this is not "innovation" and not sport related)

I can't find any exclusive shoe of a top player we sponsor online

Tennis Warehouse which looks to be the biggest retailer in tennis showcases us the same way online that Fleet Feet running does for our running stuff

I can't find any decent brand/storytelling about Alcaraz, Sinner (Google says he didn't play), Sabalenka. I remember we used to do this well during the Sampras Agassi era.

Serena and Osaka both past their prime but feels like we focus a lot on marketing them despite their wearing old models/non Nike retail stuff and on the back end of their careers.

Product seemed boring/bland/no innovation compared to other brands. That's in everything I could find abut design and what the swag actually is.

Which GM or VP leads this? Do you think they think we were successful in the biggest tennis sport event of the year? How much do we make off this business and should we exit to win in areas we are more realistic in? I wonder how much we pay top athletes and what the ROI is.

Does anyone else specifically in corp maybe in the marketing realm sick of this phrase? I’ve heard it more in the past couple of weeks than I have in the past year, but it’s not the first time I’ve heard it and basically to me It’s permission for someone to be an absolute a--hole towards you, gaslight you, treat you like garbage, tell you your content is sh-t and then turn around and be told to just assume that they meant that feedback positively, it is the epitome of gaslighting and it just seems so fitting with this company adopted the expression so much that a VP shared something as a mandate and I’m talking about Tracy who introduced it I think to the world lol

Pardon me, I do not get it.
Just saw a WF commercial on Facebook. Very long commercial. A guy tries to teach his cat to use toilet and failed.
I don't know how it links to WF.
Who's here in charge of that commercial?

Let's enjoy it while it lasts.

Democratic lawmakers led by Senator Elizabeth Warren and Representative Hank Johnson launched an investigation into Amazon MGM Studios over its $75 million total financial commitment—comprising a $40 million acquisition cost and $35 million marketing budget—for the documentary Melania, questioning whether the deal constitutes a corrupt pay-to-play bribe.

Acquisition Cost: Amazon MGM Studios paid $40 million for the self-titled documentary, outbidding competitors like Disney by roughly $26 million.

Payout to Melania Trump: An estimated 70% of the purchase price (about $28 million) went directly to Melania Trump's production company.

Marketing Budget: An additional $35 million was allocated for promotion, far exceeding typical budgets for high-end feature documentaries.

Box Office Return: The film grossed $16.6 million globally during its theatrical run, falling far short of recouping Amazon's investment

Marketing got a whole lotta $$$ from an investor group two weeks ago. But gotta use it by end of 26. How does this group roll? Nothin smooth. No job seem safe and keep fillin these peeps with contract folk.

Marketing has not done much over the last couple of years. CMO was part of the legacy HS ex CFO who blew up marketing org to over 100 with no real results.

Glad to see CEO and the new CHRO observing the true contribution in the organisation.

The idea we can return Nike to glory or even growth just selling more to Wholesale has never been right. Sounds like an easy fix because it is too simple. On and Hoka didn't eat our lunch because of shelf space. Their products were innovative, comfortable and looked cool or different and our running products were not any of that - until at least the Vom18 which is a pretty good Hoka knock off. New Balance brought back retro running and got cooler and deeper in culture through athletes. Adi sparked a low pro trend as were overheating on chunky high pro Air Force, AJ1 and Dunks. They did sell those in wholesale. We now have lost all of the people who get all of this. If or when we ever get those types of people or a new visionary and our mojo back, Nike digital stores and wholesale will all grow. It's not complicated - innovative or cool/style right product and inspiring brand marketing and also being part of shaping culture have always been the answer. When that happens, our products sell everywhere. This is not a turnaround taking longer - what drives Nike's growth just isn't happening here any more - not now nor over the past 2 to 3 years. Even still, that's all easy to say, hard to do. Need visionaries who can also hire talent and inspire everyone. Layoffs are not the answer either.

January cannot come fast enough The leas is a Giant PITA. Bye felici@

Anyone notice all the AI being sent out by the company lately? It’s all over .com and staples business as well. Looks tacky along with all of the customer industry layout slides for the different verticals. Zoom in on them, it’s a mess

I was waiting to see some posts on Forum but I don’t so I thought I’ll ask. Who’s paying $3,000 in registration fees for this event? I was under the impression that this was complimentary for all clients. I’m seeing marketing for this event show up quite late in the game which makes me think it was not well planned. Anyway be here attending forum and how it’s going?

Ryan Drew, formerly of Under Armour's Curry Brand, has accepted a new position at Wolverine World Wide Inc. He will serve as the chief product officer for the company's Work Group. This division encompasses several well-known footwear brands designed for demanding jobs. Drew brings extensive experience from his previous roles in footwear marketing and global product development. His move signifies a significant shift in his career within the athletic and workwear industries.

Baltimore, Maryland

https://www.bizjournals.com/baltimore/news/2026/05/07/8-things-to-know-under-armour-ryan-drew-wolverine.html

Any idea if today's RIF has impacted just LOBs or corporate departments as well? Especially, any layoffs in marketing?

AIOps is a decent tool, but Kyndryl and Martin is marketing it as if it walks on water. Kyndryl has let go of highly skilled teams that used to implement AIOps, even today, implementing it is a mini-project in itself involving multiple teams who do not talk to one another. The tool is mostly read-only, with occasional CACF automation resolving certain used cases. 99% of the times the GTM opportunities in Bridge are useless and closed and closed as not applicable. iI’d be interested in knowing what others think of the tool? Keep in mind, Dynatrace has better capabilities.

Look like a lot of people in Fideliscare (those who didn’t take VSP) some did not read the part of potential layoff in August and some are nervous.
Another thing some think everything is business as usual yet at the same time management is in meetings. A lot of marketing reps took VSP some leaving SEPT/DEC/MAR

John Harrobin is a total charlatan. Knows nothing except how to cut prices to gain volume. A Monkey could do that. Zero marketing skills and a nepotist to boot. He will be the undoing of.our company.

Every retail in the US seems to have inconsistent stock. Canada gets new beyblades sooner than US, how is that even possible? Why doesn't your marketing team do a better job at advertising the brand and letting know the beyblade community when the new releases are hitting the street? Can't be that hard, right?

One of the many “Chiefs” of marketing (ET) is leaving. Will the marketing bloat and rot be fixed? They need to clean house and flatten that org. It is chaotic. So many of the high paid leaders brought in by the last CMO have done their damage and left.

Spectrum Reach Expands Operations in NY, Continuing to Represent Comcast and Optimum, and Providing Opportunities for Brands to Advertise in Nation's Top Media Market

Key Takeaways:

The move strengthens Spectrum Reach's ability to align operations and deliver enhanced multiscreen campaigns for advertisers seeking to reach consumers at scale in the New York market.
Bringing NYI's product portfolio into Spectrum Reach expands the capabilities, insights and local expertise available to brands and agencies in one of the most important advertising markets in the U.S.

NEW YORK, July 21, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Spectrum Reach, the advertising sales business of Spectrum, today announced the expansion of its advertising business to provide many of the products and services of New York Interconnect (NYI), which will cease operations on September 28, 2026. NYI is an advanced advertising joint venture that allows marketers to seamlessly purchase TV and digital ad space across multiple Multichannel Video Programming Distributors (MVPDs) in the New York Designated Market Area (DMA).

With this expansion, Spectrum Reach will streamline operations, reducing handoffs and backend execution steps for a more seamless advertising experience while bringing together its advanced advertising capabilities and scale with NYI's local market strength. The expansion will enable Spectrum Reach to be even better positioned to offer enhanced multiscreen solutions that make it easier for brands to reach the right audiences across the New York media market in the rapidly evolving TV ecosystem.

"We are further strengthening Spectrum Reach and New York Interconnect to create even more value for brands and agencies looking to connect with audiences at scale in New York," said Jason Brown, Executive Vice President, Spectrum Reach. "We are strengthening our market-leading capabilities, local insight and advanced advertising solutions to better serve our clients in one of the most dynamic and influential markets in the country."

In connection with this, later this year, certain members of the NYI team will join Spectrum Reach, creating one unified team focused on supporting advertisers, agencies and marketing partners with seamless service and more powerful media solutions, further positioning NYI's current advertising customers for the future, which is streaming and advanced advertising in addition to traditional TV advertising.

More information about Spectrum Reach is available at www.spectrumreach.com.

What are our marketing teams even doing? Millions of dollars were spent on cramming celebrities into an Ad that made no sense meanwhile adidas’ Ad was everywhere. We couldn’t escape it this World Cup. Who is signing off on these Ads? The London billboard debacle as well was embarrassing. It seems marketing has lost a step. All that effort just for two adidas teams to reach the final is fitting for how Nike’s turnaround has been going

Can someone help me. I applied to VP at Mastercard in Purchase NY. It's Marketing. The range listed on job description is $213,000 - $351,000 USD. I am assuming this is total compensation? What's the base for VP? Bonus I am told 32%.

product team marketing team and multiple managers non need major impact nothing else.

Is anyone on that call? How is Andre going to lead a marketing department when he has no energy and seemingly no experience in marketing.

Also seems like Katz was pushed out.

Is this going to be Nike's independence day? Check out the unforced error discussion here.
Come on marketing and merchandising leaders... You can do better!
Will we ever learn and improve? No one at the top echelons ever pays for their mistakes, do they? Instead the rank and file suffers.

https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/nike-self-inflicted-wounds-risking-070000329.html

Bank marketing doesn't really lend itself to creativity, but how bad is "unwavering in care"? How can you be sure, potential customer? Because we said so ourselves! Take our word for it in these paid advertisements, just please don't ask any current customers! (Or, for that matter, employees. They are leaving like rats off a sinking ship. Truist couldn't even find an internal candidate to be the next CEO, SMH.)

The only thing worse may be those id--tic television ads with the dudes playing golf. (Banks: please stop with the golf, you are not differentiating yourself from other banks; in fact, the opposite is happening.) Angled golf club shafts, kooky! People will love that! Did a human being actually think of this or have they just turned everything over to AI at this point? Truly, the only smart marketing move Truist ever made was naming rights for the Braves stadium, so let's give credit where it's due. Everything after that has been an insult to viewers -- and investors.

I was fired yesterday and wondering if anyone else on the same boat?

Marketing galore and execs taking family for games

CompanyCam, a construction tech startup, recently conducted a round of layoffs. Former employees announced the job cuts on LinkedIn. The affected positions were primarily in marketing and multimedia. These layoffs occurred despite the company's recent growth indicators. CompanyCam became Nebraska's first unicorn company and made an acquisition this year.

Lincoln, Nebraska

https://siliconprairienews.com/2026/06/companycam-conducts-round-of-layoffs-amidst-indicators-of-continued-traction/

Vz has the best marketing team hands down as evidenced here
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kp0gcFVSdxU&ra=m

I herd the commercial won some ad industry award

Entertainment conglomerate Walt Disney plans to cut up to 1,000 jobs. Most layoffs are expected in its marketing division. These job cuts were initiated before March. They will impact less than one percent of the company's total workforce. A newly appointed chief marketing officer is consolidating operations to reduce costs.

https://www.ibtimes.co.in/disney-plans-1000-job-cuts-most-layoffs-likely-marketing-division-report-900791

https://i5.walmartimages.com/seo/Richard-Scarry-s-Busy-Busy-Town-9780307168030_d9223b19-62c8-4433-b856-b151fb8d75bf.0b20d961908edd2e6327a9234db402ad.jpeg?odnHeight=573&odnWidth=573&odnBg=FFFFFF

Anyone hear anything from there?

I'm in sales and our leads have dwindled down to NOTHING. How are we supposed to grow the company if we have nothing new coming in?

It’s sad to say, but we’re back to where we started when JD was here. The environment is toxic, the directors are promoted by their friends who are at the top. The vibe around campus is depressing and we have no new innovations. Marketing is just throwing celebrities in Ads - with slogans written by 12 year olds. What happened to ‘getting back to sport’? Step foot out of Oregon and you’ll see people don’t give an f about Nike.