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CMO Today: WW and Papa John's Brand Work Isn't Done; The Other Congressional Testimony |
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PHOTO: JOSHUA ROBERTS/REUTERS
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Deep in the shadow of this week’s congressional testimony by Michael Cohen, President Trump’s former lawyer, Interactive Advertising Bureau CEO Randall Rothenberg is also testifying before Congress. He’ll argue today and tomorrow for national consumer privacy regulations—“the seat belts and air bags of the internet era,” he plans to say, in a reference to federal highway safety requirements—that would preempt any state regulations on the
subject.
California’s strict Consumer Privacy Act takes effect next year, but Mr. Rothenberg will argue that it and Europe’s GDPR are both well-intentioned, bad models. “Their rigid frameworks impose significant burdens on consumers, such as rampant over-notification leading to consent fatigue in consumers and creating an indifference to important notices regarding their privacy,” his prepared testimony says.
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WW CEO Mindy Grossman spoke in August at an event in New York. PHOTO: STUART RAMSON/AP IMAGES FOR WEIGHT WATCHERS
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Two big brands trying to shift consumer perceptions reported disappointing results. WW, known as Weight Watchers before a rebrand last year designed to play up wellness and de-emphasize weight loss, posted a decline in subscribers for the third quarter in a row. “We always expected to have a bridge between Weight Watchers and WW,” Chief Executive Mindy Grossman said on an earnings call. “What we didn’t do, in particular…was make that bridge more overt.” The company also said it should have focused more on weight loss in its post-holidays push.
And Papa John’s reported its first annual sales drop in nearly a decade, for a year when it wound up in an all-out fight with founder John Schnatter, the brand’s longtime public face who came under fire when he was accused of using a racial slur during a marketing call. (He admitted to using the word in a discussion but said he didn’t do so as a racial epithet.)
Executives said the company has to better showcase its product quality, but suggested that its brand repair project isn’t over, either. ““You'll see many of these messages again and again that when we say better ingredients, we don't just mean what's on top of the pizza, but actually who's making the pizza and who we're serving it to,” the chief information and digital officer said.
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PHOTO: SAUL LOEB/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES
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As Amazon became the third-largest seller of digital ads last year, Walmart’s digital ad revenue was too small for eMarketer to track at all.
Now the retailer is trying to become more than a blip in online ad sales—or at least achieve blip status—by taking ad sales in-house and using shopper data to sell marketing opportunities in more parts of its sprawling business, including Vudu, its video streaming service. Soon a shopper who purchases a bicycle in a Walmart store might see ads for a helmet on Facebook or Pinterest, linking back to Walmart.com or sibling site Jet.com.
“Our data has never been monetized and we have a tiny ad business,” CEO Doug McMillon said recently. “It could be bigger.”
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“It makes sense for us to closely examine technology markets to ensure consumers benefit from free and fair competition.”
| — FTC Chairman Joe Simons, announcing a task force to seek antitrust violations in the tech industry, including in mergers previously completed with government approval |
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Facebook will start letting advertisers lock in ad time in specific Watch shows, further ahead of time and pegged to Nielsen demographics, all in an effort to emulate TV’s upfront buys. [Ad Exchanger]
It’s also taking votes on who gets into the house on its reboot of MTV’s “Real World.” [THR]
As mall staples like clothing chains wither, Simon Property Group signed a deal with Green Growth Brands to sell CBD products in as many as 108 locations. [WSJ]
The ads on NBA players’ jerseys under a three-season test have generated more than $150 million so far. [Sports Business Journal]
Netflix is joining HBO and Amazon in mounting a live-action exhibit at SXSW to promote an upcoming release—in Netflix’s case a movie starring Woody Harrelson and Kevin Costner as Texas Rangers who capture Bonnie and Clyde. [Adweek]
The creator of 275 television, radio and digital ads for Bernie Sanders’s 2016 presidential campaign, including the “America” spot set to the Simon & Garfunkel song of the same name, split from his new White House bid, citing creative disagreements. [WSJ]
It was the butt of jokes on “Car Talk,” but French car maker Peugeot is planning a U.S. comeback. [WSJ]
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We bring you the most important (and intriguing) marketing news every day. Write me at nat.ives@wsj.com any time with feedback on the newsletter or comments on specific items. We want to hear from you.
And follow the CMO Today team on Twitter: @wsjCMO, @natives, @alexbruell.
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