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Millennial, Gen-X Parents Opps: Olive Garden taps new top marketer (Score 61)

Darden Restaurants, in 2008 and was most recently the marketing VP for sibling brand Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen. She succeeds incumbent Joe Culella, who has not yet announced his plans. We certainly may see shifts in spend and/or agency reviews on OG's part as a result of this leadership shift.

Per Pathmatics, the restaurant chain has spent roughly $680.7k on digital ads YTD, only around half of the roughly $1.1m spent within the same 2021 timeframe. In 2021, OG ended up spending roughly $1.9m on digital ads, down 47% from the roughly $3.6m spent in 2020. The brand has earned about 95.2m digital impressions so far this year via Facebook (60%), Instagram (33%), desktop display (6%) and desktop video (1%) ads.

Hopefully, spend will pick back up now that OG has a new top marketer; in the meantime, the lower spend suggests the brand may need additional assistance increasing ROI. It typically targets millennial and Gen-X parents. According to Kantar data, OG also invests in OOH and local broadcast. It holds planning conversations in Q2 and buying conversations in Q1.

Agency & martech readers - Get in touch soon to see if Darden needs any new brand-specific and/or project-based agency partners for OG as a result of this leadership shift. The OG brand currently works with creative AOR Pierson Grant.