Told Ya!, Campaign Imminent: Ulta taps PR AOR around a year after CMO shift (Score 78)

After naming CMO Shelley Haus just over a year ago, beauty retail giant Ulta Beauty has appointed PR AOR Zeno, following a competitive review and effective February 1. This shift replaces incumbents Ketchum and SEEN group.

This AOR hire also precedes Ulta's expansion into Targets, in which it will establish mini shops starting later in 2021. Ulta, which already operates over 1.2k of its own retailer stores, will begin in 100 Target stores and extend into several hundred more afterward. The company will also reportedly open around 100 stand-alone stores by the end of 2021.

According to iSpot, Ulta's national TV commercials of this year have targeted female millennials viewing programs such as Today, This Is Us, Good Morning America, Jersey Shore: Family Vacation and The Haves and the Have Nots. YTD, the company has allocated roughly $751.7k toward TV, more than triple the roughly $184.2k it had allocated by this point last year. Ulta allocated roughly $35.5m toward this channel in 2020, primarily in Q4, down only slightly (7%) from the roughly $38.2m it allocated in 2019.

So far this year, Pathmatics reports the retailer has spent approximately $8.9m on digital ads, more than double the approximately $4.3m it spent within the same 2020 timeframe. Ulta's estimated full-year 2020 spend rose by 40% to $36.6m from that of $26.1m in 2019. YTD, the company has earned around 1.1b digital impressions via Facebook (43%), Instagram (26%), desktop video (18%), desktop display (10%) and mobile display (3%) ads. 92% of this year's desktop videos have been YouTube videos.

Additionally, Magellan reveals Ulta has aired 186 podcast ads within the past 12 months.

Though Ulta's YOY TV spend dropped last year, it has already increased in 2021, which may result in a YOY increase for this year. Its increases (in 2021) in all of the aforementioned channels reveals that it's still primarily targeting Gen-Z and millennial women. To do so, it likely also invests in OTT advertising. Per Kantar data, Ulta additionally utilizes OOH, print (local and national, English and Spanish newspapers), radio and local broadcast.

Agency & martech readers - PR hires often precede other agency reviews, especially when they follow CMO hires, so get in touch for potential creative, media, digital analytics and/or social media management. Right now, Ulta's agency roster also includes creative AOR McCann NY, media buying and planning AOR Mediahub Boston and digital and social agency partner Rise Interactive.