ClubCorp hired Jim Berra as its chief marketing and innovation officer. Berra comes from Royal Caribbean International, where he served as CMO. In his new role, Berra will manage all marketing responsibilities such as brand strategy, communications, social media, digital, web development, consumer insights and product innovation. This hire could lead to spend increases or agency reviews, so keep an eye on this company.  **Our researchers are still working to confirm Berra's email address.*...

Santa Monica Travel & Tourism (SMTT) lost its long-time CMO Kim Sidoriak in September 2021. Sidoriak jumped ship for Visit Carslbad, where she is now serving as president & CEO. SMTT may not be replacing Sioriak with a new CMO, as it promoted Mandy Eck to senior marketing manager right after she departed. We will be sure to update you if we uncover any additional information, but it seems Eck is the top marketer for the time being.  According to Pathmatics, SMTT earned 22.7m impressions YT...

GlaxoSmithKline subsidiary Emergen-C has been increasing both national TV and digital display spend. It started ramping up digital display spend in 2020, which has continued throughout 2021. National TV spend, on the other hand, actually decreased in 2020. However, it is up considerably this year. Those of you that can offer ad space should contact this brand for more information.  According to Pathmatics, Emergen-C earned 1.1b impressions YTD through Facebook ads (47%), Instagram ads (38%...

Active travel company Backroads selected Anne Ashbey as its new marketing VP in September 2021. She joined from Digital Prophets Network, where she had served as its GM, digital, eCommerce and marketing advisor and project lead. Ashbey will have say over Backroads's strategy, so keep the company on your radar. She stepped up just months after Lesa Musatto parted ways, having served as Backroads's chief strategy and marketing officer for the past five years.  So far this year, Pathmatics re...

CarGurus announced Sara Welch, its CMO of close to three years, is stepping down. Welch joined the company as consumer marketing SVP in 2016, and was promoted to CMO in 2019.  Effective December 8th, Dafna Sarnoff will takeover. Sarnoff joins from Aura, where she also served as CMO. This will affect the company's marketing strategy and could lead to agency reviews.  **We are unable to confirm Sarnoff's email address at the time of publication.**  According to Pathmatics, CarGurus earned...

Pandora has a new brand campaign starring DJ Khaled. It will be supported by three documentary-style video ads that will be released onto cable TV during BET's 2021 Soul Train Music Awards. The ads will also run across connected TV, online, social media, audio and OOH. Pandora worked with creative shop Translation on this push.  According to Pathmatics, Pandora earned 1.3b impressions YTD through Facebook ads (45%), Instagram ads (27%), desktop display ads (9%), desktop video ads (8%), mob...

Canndescent is already in search of a new CMO as Esther Song, who stepped into the role earlier this year, departed this month. The CA-based cannabis company likely needs additional marketing support in her absence, so keep it on your radar. According to Pathmatics, Canndescent hasn't invested in digital ads since spending around $41k in 2019. In 2019, it earned roughly 3.2m digital impressions via desktop display (59%) and mobile display (41%) ads. I expect the company is focused more,...

The LA Clippers recently parted ways with Matt Paye after he served as its marketing VP for almost seven years. We will let you know if and when we hear of a replacement; in the meantime, the team may need additional marketing support. Neither iSpot nor Pathmatics reports brand-specific spend for the Clippers, but check out recent spend information for the NBA itself here. It tends to invest in digital, paid social, TV, OOH, print, radio and local broadcast. Both the NBA and the Clippers h...

Update: Coca-Cola recently concluded the review that kicked off late last year; the company selected WPP as its new global marketing network partner. A bespoke team, OpenX, will execute Coke's new integrated agency model, handling end-to-end creative, media, data and marketing technology. Dentsu is now the company's complementary media partner in selected markets, and agencies in the Publicis Groupe and IPG networks are members of an open-source strategic roster that will account for around a...

AviaGames, a skill-based mobile gaming platform, named Walt & Company as its PR AOR to drive its next phase of growth. The company will develop and implement "creative market share building and industry leadership positioning campaigns," per Walsh & Company. So far, AviaGames has reportedly raised around $50m in funding. According to Crunchbase, the company most recently landed a $40m Series B funding round in August. This announcement comes not long after AviaGames's team grew; in Augu...