Male Millennial, Gen-Z Opps: Zaxby's hires chief marketing & strategy officer (Score 66)

Zaxby's appointed Patrick Schwing as chief marketing & strategy officer in June 2022. Schwing most recently served as the CMO and president of Arby's. He will now handle eCommerce, marketing communications, digital/social media, R&D and loyalty. This hire could lead to agency reviews and spend shifts, so keep an eye on the chicken finger chain. We told you about the chain's new CEO earlier this year. 

Per Pathmatics, Zaxby's earned 423.6m impressions YTD through desktop video ads (45%), Facebook ads (32%), Instagram ads (23%) and mobile video ads (1%). It placed 100% of these ads directly onto sites such as youtube.com, facebook.com, instagram.com, twitch.tv and yahoo.com. It spent approximately $4.6m on digital display ads YTD, a 64% increase from $2.8m spent in this channel during the same time period of 2021. Full-year spend fell slightly (10%) from $7.8m in 2020 to $7m in 2021. 

According to iSpot, Zaxby's spent around $1.3m on national TV ads YTD, a significant increase from $411.2k spent in this channel during the same time period of 2021. Full-year spend fell by 16% from $4.3m in 2020 to $3.6m in 2021. This year, it placed ads during programming such as College Football, CFP National Championship, College Basketball and NFL Football. 

Sellers-- Zaxby's seems to be targeting Gen-Zers and millennials with a male skew. It reaches these consumers through digital display and national TV ads. The chain cut ad spend in 2021, but it has been ramping spend back up across both channels YTD. It also invests in OOH and local broadcast TV ads, per Kantar. Please click here to view Zaxby's locations to see if you can offer any local ad space. Keep in mind the new marketing chief will likely bring some new strategies with him. Sellers should get in touch for more information so you can offer relevant ad space. 

Agency & martech readers-- As you know, the number one sign of a potential agency review is a CMO hire. Start reaching out soon to be top-of-mind in case Schwing decides to make any changes. I believe you will face competition from The Tombras Group (creative, PR & media planning AOR), Camelot Strategic Marketing & Media (media AOR), Global Media Group (media buying/planning) and Iris Atlanta (digital).