Parents Opps: Party City promotes marketing VP amid CMO search (Score 58)

Sales Lead: Party City (PC) named Kellie Larsen as its customer experience marketing VP in July 2023.

• Larsen joined the company in April 2021 as its senior director after having been the director of front-end experience and fulfillment operations director at Bed Bath & Beyond.
• The company will likely:
  • Implement strategy shifts
  • Launch a new campaign
  • Return to higher spend
  • Conduct additional agency reviews following a recent hire (more below)
• Target demographic: 
  • ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Parents, especially moms, ranging from Gen-Z through Gen-X

Additional spending insights:

• Broadcast insights (TV ad creative spend, effectiveness, impressions, and performance)
  • YTD spend: PC has not utilized national TV only spent approximately $573 on national TV commercials,
• Digital and social insights (digital ad spend, effectiveness, impressions, and performance)
  • YTD spend: Since the beginning of 2023, the retailer has spent approximately $1.6m on digital ads, down 16% from the approximately $1.9m spent within the same 2022 timeframe.
  • YTD data: PC has earned around 215.8m digital impressions YTD via Facebook (62%), Instagram (25%), YouTube (9%), desktop video (2%), mobile display (1%), and desktop display (1%) ads.
  • Last year: In 2022, the company spent roughly $4.9m on this channel, down 25% from the roughly $6.5m spent in 2021.
• Additional channel insights  
  • PC invests in Google Ads along with digital, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, and online video (via Youtube.com, Youtube Android, and Youtube IOS) ads.
  • The company utilizes short-form DRTV ads.
    • ​​​​​​​PC has incredibly highly concentrated network TV coverage and will not likely launch a new campaign soon.

Additional agency insights:

• Opportunity: Get in touch soon to be on this newly promoted DM's radar, especially considering that PC is in search of a CMO to succeed Julie Roehm and that it just appointed media AOR 22squared.
• Current agency roster:
  • ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​22Squared: Media AOR (December 2022)
  • Vault Communications: PR agency partner

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