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Score 60 - On the Brink: Purple hunts for new CMO, CBO following CEO hire, spend increases

DTC mattress brand Purple Innovation lost CMO Alex McArthur in February after 40 months on the job. A replacement has not yet been named, but Purple is actively looking for one, and we'll keep you posted as we learn more.

The company is also on the hunt for a new CBO to replace incumbent Wayne Moorehead and a new content strategy director to replace Kevin Brimhall. We are unsure when Moorehead departed, and he has not yet announced next steps. Brimhall departed in January to become brand & content strategy director of Blender Bottle.

Know that we have found a replacement for incumbent performance marketing director Alisa Gammon, though. The company promoted Rob Towne, former senior paid search & display manager, to the position in March. When he joined Purple in September 2018, he brought experience as paid social demand generation lead at LEADx and as digital advertising manager at Qualtrics.

The company also tapped Joe Megibow as its CEO in October. Megibow most recently served as SVP and chief digital officer at American Eagle Outfitters, where he led digital marketing, customer operations, engineering and product management. He had stints at Expedia, Hotels.com and TeaLeaf Technology as well.

Please view Purple's numerous lower-level shift looking for a digital marketing manager, a social media specialist and a paid social & digital marketing specialist.

These personnel are extremely likely to review agency relationships, especially when the new CMO and CBO are brought on board. Therefore, agencies and martechs with DTC experience should reach out for work. Media is currently split between an in-house team and agencies Modus Direct (television), Agency Inside (digital) and SMI (audio and podcasts), but we do not know who handles creative, social or PR. Focus pitches on differentiating Purple from competitors like Casper, Nectar and Tuft & Needle, as well as helping Purple with its spend shifts.

Purple has been expanding purchase channels via partnerships with companies like Mattress Firm, Macy's, Denver Mattress and Bed Bath & Beyond. Therefore, it has been diversifying its media to figure out what best reaches its expanded audience and to figure out where to spend the majority of its dollars.

The company still relies heavily on video, but is starting to invest more in linear TV and Google & Facebook shopping feeds. Digiday reports Purple has also begun to test new channels like Snapchat and TikTok. It has moved all of its native ad spend to Verizon Media Group.

Keep in mind that these tests are heavily reliant on ROI. In the company's recent Q1 earnings call, executives disclosed that they were improving efficiencies in marketing. The also said that Purple had begun to spend more money later in the year and that it would continue to increase marketing.

Since spend at the brand is going up, sellers should reach out. You'll have the best of luck securing revenue along the channels Purple is experimenting with, but it certainly wouldn't hurt to reach out along others, especially national TV since it shot up this year. Keep in mind that digital display dropped quite a bit in recent months.

Purple doesn't have a top spending period, but since it is spending more later in the year, I would focus on Q3 and Q4. StatSocial reports Purple has the highest engagement among women, but Purple's recent ad targeting has a male skew. Therefore, strategies that can engage a wide audience may be best.

iSpot reports a YTD national TV spend of $8.1m, and $55,151 of that has been dedicated to two new spots - "Try It" and "Neighbors: Free Purple Product" (above) - that began running 7/8. Spend in the same timeframe of 2018 totaled $454,393, full 2018 spend totaled $6.3m and spend in 2017 totaled $0. Targeting typically has a male skew (see chart right).

Adbeat reports digital display over the last 12 months has totaled $5.9m and been placed primarily via AcuityAds (25%), Google (25%) and YouTube (14%) onto sites like whitepages.com, yahoo.com, youtube.com, liveleak.com and lifehacker.com. Ads over the last 24 months have totaled $18.6m and been placed primarily via YouTube (62%), AcuityAds (12%) and Google (9%) onto sites like youtube.com, yahoo.com, whitepages.com, liveleak.com and lifehacker.com.

Kantar reports spend in Q1 2019 totaled $6.7m, an increase from the $3.6m spent in Q1 2018. Full 2018 spend totaled $17m and was allocated across digital, outdoor, television, newspaper, magazine and radio. Spend in 2017 totaled $1.6m.