For most U.S.-based CMOs, joining the C-suite at the start of the pandemic was challenging enough to onboard a new role while pivoting all messaging and operations for one market. 

“As a marketer, I get pretty excited about this,” John Sheldon, chief marketing officer of SmileDirectClub, says of his latest campaign “Direct,” which takes on the seven-year-old teeth-straightening brand’s market-leading competitor Invisalign head-on in a series of spots that debuted in July. “There’s not a lot of times you can do a direct competitive campaign, but this was a case where we felt it was really appropriate."

As the world’s largest convenience store chain with more than 77,000 locations, 7-Eleven is one of the most ubiquitous brands on the planet. But Marissa Jarratt, chief marketing officer of 7-Eleven, isn’t relying on sheer omnipresence for her latest brand campaign, “Take It To Eleven” - the biggest in the company’s history in terms of scope and media investment.

Mary Alderete has spent 10 nonconsecutive years working on different brands in the Gap Inc. portfolio, including seven at Banana Republic and Old Navy in the early 2000s. So when she was elevated to chief marketing officer of Gap brand in the spring of 2020, she finally had a chance to put her stamp on the company’s flagship clothing retailer. 

If you tuned into NBC Universal’s coverage of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in the past few days, you may have noticed a new look and feel for its longtime paymentech sponsor, Visa. 

If you want to get a glimpse of what the next few years of craft beer trends might look like, stop by the flagship taproom for Lagunitas in Petaluma, California.