Male Digital Opps: Walk-On's Sports Bistreaux names first CMO (Score 58)

Walk-On's Sports Bistreaux announced Luke DeRouen as its first CMO, effective June 2021. DeRouen comes from Buffalo Wild Wings, where se served as brand experience and engagement VP. He will now be responsible for all marketing duties as well as beverage innovation, menu testing and consumer engagement. Walk-On's is currently expanding and recently reached 50 total locations. Keep an eye on this chain as the new CMO may outsource some of his duties to an outside agency. 

According to Pathmatics, Walk-On's earned 9.1m impressions YTD through Instagram ads (89%), desktop display ads (8%) and mobile display ads (3%). It placed the majority (99%) of these ads site direct onto sites such as instagram.com, brproud.com, nascar.com and racing-reference.info. It placed the remainder (1%) indirectly through Centro onto sites such as yahoo.com, allrevipes.com, beeradvocate.com, the-boneyard.com and elevenwarriors.com. It spent around $72.5k on digital display ads YTD, an 18% decrease from $88.3k spent in this channel during the same time period of 2020. Full-year spend dropped significantly (72%) from $549.7k in 2019 to $155.9k in 2020. 

Sellers-- Walk-On's sports-centric atmosphere likely appeals to a broad range of men. I believe it is mainly targeting younger men, considering it placed the majority of its digital ads directly onto Instagram. Walk-On's has been decreasing digital spend for a couple of year, but the new CMO will probably ramp up spend as he implements his own strategy. You can use Walk-On's location finder here, to see where you may be able to provide local ad space. Start reaching out to the new CMO to see what types of ad space you may be able to offer. 

Agency & martech readers-- Our researchers are working on confirming any possible agency relationships this company may have. Readers should start contacting the new CMO soon to be top-of-mind. I recommend focusing your pitches on helping Walk-On's build brand awareness. Those located near its Baton Rouge, LA headquarters have an advantage.