Good morning. This is Katie Deighton filling in for Nat Ives. Today, X's marketing department is gutted just as the social media platform's lawsuit against former advertisers is dimissed.

X’s chief marketing officer is out.

According to people familiar with the matter, Angela Zepeda was let go after nearly 16 months in the position February month after Elon Musk announced the merger of xAI and SpaceX, Alexander Saeedy and Suzanne Vranica report. X merged with xAI last year.

X also laid off more than 20 staffers in roles including marketing that were seen as duplicative to jobs inside the merged company ahead of SpaceX’s potential $1 trillion-plus IPO, the people said.

Monique Pintarelli, xAI’s former head of the Americas, last month announced her promotion to head of global advertising at the company.

Suzanne and my CMO Today colleague Meg Graham noted back in September 2024 that Zepeda had inherited something of an impossible mission: Convince advertisers that X was a friendly company to do business with. She joined after Musk told advertisers pulling their ads from X that they could “go f—yourself” before suing an industry coalition for illegally boycotting the platform.

Speaking of which...

A judge in a Texas federal court yesterday dismissed that lawsuit.

“The only harm X has asserted is that its customers collectively chose X’s competitors over X,” Senior U.S. Judge Jane J. Boyle wrote. “Although a group boycott is alleged, there is no antitrust violation here.”

Remaining staff have been told to focus on cutting costs and growing X’s revenue.

The tumultuous picture painted inside the firm stands in stark contrast to what the company formerly known as Twitter looked like less than four years ago. At the IAB NewFronts presentations in May 2022, I remember Twitter’s army of sales, marketing and communications staff warmly welcoming ad buyers and journalists to New York’s Pier 17 with cocktails and branded cookies, all in the name of convincing attendees that everything was fine as Musk began his takeover.

Make mine a whiskey and...Champagne?

Absolut vodka maker Pernod Ricard and Jack Daniel’s maker Brown-Forman are in talks to combine, Laura Cooper, Lauren Thomas and Ben Dummett report. The companies are discussing a deal that could be weeks away, if it comes together, people familiar with the matter said.

The discussions between the two companies come as Americans are boozing less and sending alcohol makers’ stocks sliding.

Health trends, GLP-1 drugs and access to cannabis and THC drinks have all hurt alcohol sales. A poll from Gallup last year found that the percentage of adults in the U.S. that drink had fallen to 54%, the lowest tally since the organization began tracking drinking behavior.

Jack Daniel’s last year kicked off an expansive but familiarly heritage-focused campaign, “That's What Makes Jack, Jack.” But what you might have missed was its foray into the TikTok arena, where it worked with influencers to introduce its Tennessee Blackberry flavor.

Companies across most sectors no longer need to be sold on AI—they’re practically the “shut up and take my money” meme when it comes to artificially intelligent enterprise software. What comes next is the task of convincing skeptical staff that they’ll also come to love it.

A savvy internal communications plan that puts workers at its core is key, according to Jacqui Canney, chief people and AI enablement officer of ServiceNow. The software company tapped its own staff for use cases, assessed their value, and then implemented the best examples across workflows.

“I celebrated that like it was my kid's birthday,” Canney said at the WSJ Leadership Institute’s CPO Summit. “We didn't let anybody go, they now train the content, they are building new use cases.”

Zoning in on employee wellbeing is more important than ever as fears around AI taking jobs grow stronger, Canney added. Managers shouldn't dismiss or ignore those anxieties, she said.

“Are your people having access to the training that they need or want? Are they having promotional opportunities? Are you communicating with transparency around why the fear exists and why maybe it shouldn't exist?” Canney said.

Sheryl Sandberg's Lean In nonprofit named a 25-year-old as its CEO and rebranded as anti-manosphere organization. [WSJ]

Italy launched two investigations into LVMH-owned Sephora and Benefit Cosmetics over their marketing to children. [WSJ]

Aerie is back on its anti-AI marketing mission with a new ad starring Pamela Anderson. [Vogue Business]

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez floated a ban on advertising for prediction markets. [Business Insider]

Macy's said customers who used its AI-powered shopping chatbot spent 4.75 times more than those who didn't. [Bloomberg]

Kristen Cavallo is making a surprise return to Martin, the advertising firm formerly known as the Martin Agency. [AdAge]

Why sustainable products fail. [Fast Company]

Dusty back-issues of JFK Jr.'s George magazine are suddenly in demand, all thanks to Hulu's “Love Story.” [WSJ]

No, smoking isn't actually back. [New Consumer]