Millennial Opps: The Washington Post taps chief advertising officer, interim CEO (Score 73)

Sales Lead: Johanna Mayer-Jones became the first-ever chief advertising officer at The Washington Post (TWP) earlier in July 2023.

• Mayer-Jones joined the publication in July 2022 as the head of its global client and agency partnerships.
  • She had previously been a sponsorships SVP at The Atlantic.
• ​​​​​​The company will likely:
  • Shift strategy
  • Continue increasing digital spend
  • Seek new agency partners
• Target demographic: 
  • Millennials

Additional recent leadership shifts:

• ​This hire closely followed TWP's recent appointment of interim CEO Patty Stonesifer.
  • She succeeds incumbent publisher and CEO Fred Ryan, who stepped down recently after having served in his role since 2014.
  • Although Ryan will not officially depart until August 2023, Stonesifer has already begun work.
• TWP also named Mary Gail Pezzimenti, the former content marketing VP at Healthline Media, as its head of creative in September 2022.

Additional spending insights:

• Broadcast insights (TV ad creative spend, effectiveness, impressions, and performance)
  • Recent spend: TWP hasn't invested in this channel since allocating around $1.1m toward it in 2021.
  • 2021 ad programming: Its 2021 commercials targeted Gen-X watching shows such as Jeopardy!, NHL Hockey, Pawn Stars, Counting Cars, and Law & Order.
• Digital and social insights (digital ad spend, effectiveness, impressions, and performance)
  • YTD spend: The company has spent approximately $17m on digital ads YTD, almost triple the approximately $6.4m spent by this point last year.
  • YTD data: So far this year, TWP has earned ~900.1m digital impressions via Facebook (71%), Twitter (17%), Instagram (10%), and desktop display (2%) ads.
  • Last year: In 2022, the company spent roughly $19.3m on this channel, 52% more than the roughly $12.7m spent in 2021.
• Additional channel insights  
  • WSJ utilizes Google Ads along with email, digital, OOH, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and online video (via Youtube IOS and Youtube.com) ads.
  • The company sponsors podcasts such as The Ben Shapiro Show, The Glenn Beck Program, The Joe Rogan Experience, The Matt Walsh Show, and My Favorite Murder.

Additional agency insights:

• Opportunity: Agency reviews could easily follow this hire, so reach out soon to remain top-of-mind.
• Current agency roster:
  • ​​​​​​​No current agency relationships yet confirmed

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