Millennial, Female Opps: U.S. Figure Skating loses executive director (Score 38)

U.S. Figure Skating (USFS) announced its executive director David Raith retired in June 2021. Raith is being replaced by former CMO Ramsey Baker. Baker joined USFS in 2005 as senior marketing & communications director, and was then promoted to CMO in 2013. I am unsure what the organization plans to do about filling the CMO vacancy, but we will be sure to update you once anything is announced. 

According to Pathmatics, USFS earned 513k impressions YTD through Facebook ads placed directly onto facebook.com. It spent around $4.4k on digital display ads YTD, just 13% of the $33.7k spent in this channel during the same time period of 2020. Full-year spend dropped significantly (69%) from $153.2k in 2019 to $48.1k in 2020. 

Per iSpot, USFS spent around $146k on national TV ads YTD, a 73% increase from $84.4k spent in this channel during the same time period of 2020. Full-year spend jumped from $35k in 2019 to $171.4k in 2020. This year, it placed ads during "Figure Skating" and "U.S. Figure Skating: 100th Anniversary Special." 

Sellers-- It seems USFS is mainly targeting millennial women through national TV and digital display ads. It may also be targeting Gen-Xers, since it has been increasing national TV spend. I do not predict any radical changes to the marketing strategy as the new executive director has been leading the marketing team since 2013. Sellers should reach out offering relevant ad space. 

Agency & martech readers-- I do not believe USFS is working with any outside agencies at this time. While promoted DMs are much less likely to make appoint outside agencies than new hires, you might consider reaching out to the new executive director, considering he has more power now.