Gen-Z, Millennial Male Opps: Essentia Water in search of CMO amid CEO hire, ad spend drops (Score 63)

Essentia Water is in search of a new CMO since Karyn Abrahamson, its incumbent of half a decade, departed in July 2020. During her tenure, Abrahamson evolved Essentia's brand strategy that transformed the traditional beverage company to a loved lifestyle brand relevant to its millennial target demographic. Of course, we will let you know if and when Essentia selects a replacement.

In June 2020, the company appointed CEO Scott Miller. Previously the holder of the same title at Tampico Beverages, Miller's responsibilities now include Essentia's marketing, finance, business strategy, operations and sales groups. Since his remit consists primarily of marketing duties, Miller's hire could lead to continued increases in ad spend. He's likely standing in while the company searches for a marketing chief.

Additional recent hires include integrated marketing director Ashley Keller (June 2020) and senior influencer marketing director Reid Vokey (May 2020).

Essentia started investing in digital display in July 2020 (and hasn't yet slowed down) for the first time since July 2019. According to Adbeat, it allocated an estimated $76.8k toward this channel from September 2019-2020, down just 9% from the estimated $84.1k allocated from September 2018-2019. Most of this recent spend went toward YouTube videos ($72.2k).

Similarly, according to iSpot, Essentia hasn't invested in national TV commercials since spending around $13.1m in 2019. Most of the past year's commercials targeted male Gen-Z, particularly sports enthusiasts, with top targeted shows including NBA Basketball, Ridiculousness, Chopped, Catfish: The TV Show and 2019 NFL Draft. Perhaps Essentia will return to this channel once sports events pick back up.

Additionally, Pathmatics reports that the company invests in Instagram (primarily) and Facebook (secondarily) ads.

The company's increased digital display ad spend and paid social ad usage signal its primarily male target demographic consists of Gen-Z and millennials. Find a retail distribution partner in your area here.

Agency & martech readers - It certainly wouldn't hurt to keep Essentia on your radar for future work, especially considering its recent leadership shifts. Your competition includes creative AOR Droga5 (2018) and media AOR Horizon (2019).