Pepsi and Sam's Club bid farewell to marketing leaders

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This week’s edition includes the exits of two chief marketers, the unveiling of our Tech Power List, a conversation with Mercedes' CMO, and much more.

2 marketing veterans step down

The lowdown: Pepsi and Sam’s Club's top marketers have stepped down, with Todd Kaplan leaving the beverage giant and Ciara Anfield departing the retailer, Ad Age reported earlier this week. Kaplan spent 17 years with PepsiCo, the last couple as CMO of the Pepsi brand, while Anfield was part of the Walmart-Sam’s Club family for 15 years, the last two as chief membership and marketing officer of Sam's Club. Replacements were not named, and their next moves are unclear.

The timing: Kaplan exits a year after he led a widely praised rebrand for Pepsi, which stands behind Coke as the biggest cola brand. Anfield departs a year after Sam’s Club appointed Havas’ Arnold Worldwide as its lead creative agency and Horizon Next as its media agency.?

Zoom out: Both Kaplan and Anfield assumed the top marketing jobs in February 2022. The average CMO tenure at Fortune 500 companies last year was 4.2 years, according to a recent report from executive recruiting firm Spencer Stuart, which also noted that women represent 50% of Fortune 500 CMOs. “We continue to see CMOs take on broader responsibility in their roles and, when they do turn over, they often move on to bigger and better positions,” the report stated.

The full scoop: Ad Age’s Jon Springer and Brian Bonilla have more details on Kaplan’s exit here, while Jack Neff wrote about Anfield’s here.?

Bonus reading: Anfield was a member of Ad Age’s Leading Women Class of 2023—check out that profile here, and see who was named to this year’s class here.

Tech triumphs: Earlier this week, Ad Age unveiled its inaugural Tech Power List, honoring 20 marketing leaders "from the biggest brands and the brightest startups in marketing on the bleeding edge of technological change," writes Ad Age's Garett Sloane . "Ad Age scoured the world of advertising to select individuals who pushed their companies and clients forward, and each has a claim to technological achievement in fields that matter in marketing."

?? Subscribers can check out the full list here.

Creativity Corner

Back to school: Apple gets a little eerie for its series of back-to-school ads highlighting the MacBook, Ad Age's Tim Nudd reports.

?? Watch the ads here.

Marketer's Brief

Driving innovation: Mercedes-Benz USA CMO Melody Lee takes Ad Age's E.J. Schultz behind the automaker's latest campaign, which shows off its EV, hybrid and gasoline SUV options. Lee also talks about sports marketing and why the luxury brand must appeal to Gen Alpha (even if they can't drive yet).

?? Listen to the full conversation here.

Opinion

Advertising is failing Black professionals: “As the advertising industry grapples with its own reflection in the wake of societal reckonings and cultural awakenings, the disparity between opportunity and reality for Black professionals remains glaringly evident,” writes Lauren Tucker , founder and CEO of Do What Matters .

?? Read the full op-ed here.

Subscriber Favorites

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Cannes I have your attention?

Stay up to date on the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity with our live blog, which is free to all registered users and will be regularly updated by our reporters and editors on the ground on the Croisette. Check it out here.

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Mark Your Calendar

Paging up-and-coming brands: Did you or someone you know at a brand do amazing things over the last year? Ad Age’s Breakout Brands awards recognize the people and the work that drove brands to new heights. The program is not just for DTC brands or startups—older brands that are experiencing a renaissance or have recently seen surges in sales and consumer awareness are also eligible.

?? Enter the new awards program today.

?? Speaking of brands, join us Sept. 18 and 19 in Chicago for our Business of Brands conference, as we bring together some of the brightest minds in marketing. Register today for a limited-time discount.

4??0?? And speaking of bright minds, our 40 under 40 entries are now open! Here is everything you need to know about the honorific.

Hi there, thanks for reading: This newsletter was curated by Ad Age Web Editor Mark Fischer . Have any feedback or tips? Reach out to him at [email protected].