Good morning. This is Patrick Coffee filling in for Nat Ives. Today, Target's CMO search has entered a new phase more than 18 months after it first started.

Target’s search for a new chief marketing officer has lasted longer than the tenure of some CMOs.

As part of last week's announcement that the retail giant would lay off 500 workers and shake up its C-suite in the first big move by incoming CEO Michael Fiddelke, Target said it’s now looking to fill a position that combines the roles of chief guest experience officer and CMO.

But the search process officially started in June 2024, so it’s already involved two different titles and, according to a person familiar, more than one executive search firm.

Why is this particular hunt proving so intractable?

For one, the number of qualified executives is exceedingly small, and Target may need to look outside the retail world, according to Issy Perez, managing partner and global practice leader in consumer and retail at search firm Boyden. Target also faces unique challenges as a big retailer whose main competitors are Amazon and Walmart. And on top of that, the last couple of years have delivered a combination of weakening sales and political headwinds in a sector already known for shorter CMO tenures, Perez said.

Fiddelke, as a former chief operating officer, may also be less focused on marketing than predecessor Brian Cornell, who led Target for more than a decade, according to Perez. So candidates will want ask a lot of questions.

“You're going to be very cautious going into this possible assignment,” said Perez.

The incoming CMO will be responsible for a number of complex jobs such as managing Target's retail media arm, Roundel. But his or her top priority will be repairing the Target brand, and that job will require someone with experience rightsizing a national chain, according to Michael Wright, founder of marketing-focused search firm Taligence.

“It's a crisis of reputation that they're in at the moment,” said Wright.

Tech companies still believe that their newest tools only serve to empower human creativity as embodied by the creators that help drive their businesses, right? 

You'd think so.

• Snapchat just announced a creator subscription model as it moves further away from ad revenue.
• Earlier this week, Apple launched video podcasts in an effort to compete with YouTube and Netflix for creators' business.

Right. But when going back through Meta’s quarterly earnings calls, Jasmine Enberg and Kaya Yurieff, founders of the Scalable podcast and newsletter, made a curious discovery:

“Executives didn’t mention creators once during the company’s fourth-quarter prepared remarks or in the question and answer session with analysts. AI, however, was mentioned nearly 50 times. Compare that to the second quarter of 2021, when 'creator' was said roughly 35 times. That suggests creators have taken a backseat to AI, at least in Meta’s messaging to investors."

The creator trend, as measured through the language of tech earnings calls, peaked in 2021.

So maybe those online personalities are no longer the shiniest objects around. But executives still like to tell investors what they’re chasing: Netflix used the word "creator" more often on its recent earnings call than YouTube's own parent company Alphabet did.

Anthropic’s biggest fight this month may have nothing to do with those Super Bowl ads targeting OpenAI.

The AI conglomerate has a growing political problem on its hands, as Keach Hagey, Amrith Ramkumar, Deborah Acosta and Vera Bergengruen report.

Anthropic’s Claude was the first LLM approved to work on classified material, but CEO Dario Amodei has been outspoken in saying he does now want the company’s tools used for domestic surveillance and autonomous lethal activities, or AI killing someone of its own accord. He and others at the company have also criticized the Trump administration and in some cases supported the president's opponents. 

The Pentagon is now reviewing a contract with Anthropic that could be worth up to $200 million, and insiders say Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wants to use the company to make a point.

Some, however, think that may not be the best idea.

“It would be hard to think of a more strategically unwise move for the U.S. military to make in the AI competition,” said former Trump AI advisor Dean Ball.

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