Digital B2B Opps: Palo Alto Networks loses marketing chief (Score 32)

Sales lead: Keep an eye on this company because a CMO hire will likely lead to spend shifts & agency reviews. 

• Palo Alto Networks (PAN) lost its SVP & CMO, Rick Caccia, in May 2023.
• Caccia is now the CMO of Certinia. 
• We will be sure to update you as soon as a replacement is announced. 

Target demographic: Businesses that need cybersecurity services

Once it hires a new CMO, the company will likely:

• Review its agency roster
• Shift ad dollars around
• Experiment with new ad channels

Broadcast insights (TV ad creative spend, effectiveness, impressions, and performance)

• YTD spend: PAN has not aired a national TV ad since 2021.
• 2021 spend: It spent about $2m in this channel in 2021. 
• Ad programming: It placed ads during programming such as The Rachel Maddow Show, Don Lemon Tonight, Good Morning Football, New Day with John Berman and Brianna Keilar, and SportsCenter. 

Digital and social insights (digital ad spend, effectiveness, impressions, and performance)

• YTD spend: PAN spent around $337.3k on digital display ads YTD, a 15% decrease from $398.1k spent in this channel during the same time period of 2022. 
• YTD data: 53.8m impressions via desktop display (48%), Facebook (22%), Instagram (14%), YouTube (8%), mobile display (5%), and Twitter (2%). 
• 2021-2022 spend: Full-year spend equaled $2.3m in 2021 and $2.4m in 2022. 
• Ad location: It placed 75% of these ads directly onto sites such as facebook.com, instagram.com, wsj.com, youtube.com, and weather.com. It placed 25% of these ads through multiple indirect channels onto sites such as weather.com, realtor.com, zillow.com, washingtonpost.com, and quora.com. 

Additional channel insights  

• Vivvix: PAN also utilizes OOH and print. 

Agency analysis:

• Opportunity: Start working on your pitches so that you are ready to reach out once PAN gets a new CMO.
• Current roster:
  • John McNeil Studio: creative, digital, & experiential AOR
  • Critical Mass: digital & creative
  • Organic: digital
  • TBWA \ Chiat \ Day: creative

Insight Sources: Broadcast insights estimated by iSpot; digital spend insights estimated by Pathmatics; additional channel insights estimated by Vivvix.