Good morning. Today, social media increasingly comes first for brands. How to best approach it is far less settled.

DoorDash is ranking relevance over the hard sell in social media.

Witness recent work including:

• a TikTok of “Traitors” star Rob Rausch handling a rat snake
• a video of comedian Ziwe bossing around a “Bad Boyfriend Bootcamp”
• and a viral NSFW post pegged to Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime show.

It’s all right if nothing in that list immediately screams “order delivery right now,” according to DoorDash and Zaria Parvez, who joined the company last August after making language-learning app Duolingo a viral star.

“The marketing leadership here is saying, ‘We’re not looking for you to move the needle yet,’ ” Parvez told the WSJ Leadership Institute’s Megan Graham in an article that published this morning. “ ‘Maybe eventually, but right now, we’re just looking for breakthrough and cultural relevance.’ ”

I asked Megan why DoorDash was worth a look right now.

You’re very plugged into social media and you see all the tactics brands try there. What made DoorDash stand out to you?

Megan: Lots of brands do good social media work, but it takes above-and-beyond levels of fluency to create stuff that people are actually organically consuming and sharing. When I find myself actually saving an ad or sending it to my girlfriends because it’s that funny or Easter egg-y about the shows I love, a brand is clearly doing something right.

And I’ll point out that I’ve seen a strong throughline in these companies that do this well: It’s having major trust from the C-suite.

Parvez told you she’s not under pressure to move the needle on sales right now, that marketing leaders are more interested in going viral for the sake of the longer-term project. How often do you see brands approaching social media that way?

Megan: The theme I much more frequently hear about is how data- and impact-driven every marketing dollar at many organizations must be. But I’d be curious about where our readers fall on this spectrum!

Burger King, Wendy’s and even A&W Restaurants want to make a meal out of the awkward burger-tasting video by the CEO of McDonald’s.

The month-old Instagram Reel by Chris Kempczinski belatedly took off this week when commenters began calling his praise for the new Big Arch inauthentic, Heather Haddon and Jacob Bunge write for The Journal.

“That was the smallest first bite I’ve ever seen,” one typical take went.

“Dude looks like a training video on how to eat a burger,” said another.

Some tweaked the CEO for referring to the burger as a “product.”

Then Burger King CEO Tom Curtis popped up on Instagram opening theatrically wide for a bite of the chain’s updated Whopper.

Wendy’s went on LinkedIn with a video of its U.S. president eating nearly half a burger and dipping a fry in a Frosty.

And A&W Canada deployed its spokesman in a video parody. “We love this burger product,” he said. “Which most people call a ‘burger.’ ”

McDonald’s is casting the criticism as mere happy-to-have-it publicity, posting a picture of a Big Arch under the wink-wink caption, “take a bite of our new product.”

“We’re glad the Big Arch has everyone’s attention, including competitors,” a spokeswoman said. “Early sales are beating expectations.”

That seems plausible.

You can dunk on Kempczinski’s hot-food unboxing if you want, but nobody’s truly gauging his authenticity to decide whether to try a Big Arch.

And shaky-cam footage of Burger King’s CEO in an apron isn’t much more persuasive as a restaurant review. He does seem happier (and hungrier), reinforcing the chain’s scrappy-challenger brand. But if anything I’d usually guess that a more stilted video—in this case Kempczinski’s, hands down—is also the more “authentic” one.

The WSJ Leadership Institute’s Katie Deighton has a dispatch for the newsletter:

Delta Air Lines has a new chief marketing officer. Alicia Tillman, its CMO since 2023, is leaving the company to pursue broader leadership opportunities, according to a memo sent by CEO Ed Bastian and published this morning. She will be replaced by Ranjan Goswami, an 18-year veteran of the airline who most recently held the title of senior vice president for customer experience.

Goswami takes on a slightly edited title: Chief Marketing and Product Officer. He will continue to oversee Delta’s customer experience design and report directly to Bastian.

Delta has largely managed to skirt challenges that have weighed on the airline industry, and in January it told investors it anticipates its 2026 earnings per share to grow 20% year-over-year. The company, however, slipped to the number three spot in The Wall Street Journal’s most recent airline rankings after four years at the top.

The community where marketing leaders drop the corporate speak and share what’s actually happening. The WSJ CMO Council unites leaders from the world’s most influential brands including Adobe, Audi, Google, IBM, Intel, Johnson & Johnson, Meta, Taco Bell, P&G and Verizon.

Tap into the connections and WSJ intelligence that move careers forward and separate the prepared from the scrambling.

Request Information

“CBS Mornings” co-host Gayle King signed a new deal with CBS News, securing a high-profile network talent during a dramatic shake-up of the news organization. [WSJ] 

Fewer customers are visiting Cracker Barrel since its aborted attempt to update its logo and restaurant interiors, but the company says customer scores for food, service and value have increased. [Restaurant Business] 

Prada booked increases in revenue and profit for 2025, but said the revamp of its recently acquired Versace label would weigh on profitability this year. [WSJ] 

Victoria’s Secret bra sales grew for the first time in four years, the company’s CEO said, calling it one sign that her revival strategy is working. [WSJ]

Target’s turnaround strategy seems at odds with the affordability crisis. [Fast Company] 

An interactive outdoor ad campaign is promoting prostate-cancer blood screenings by letting passers-by move their butts to “dodge the finger.” [Creative Bloq]