Jennifer Hutchings

As we embark on another week in our AI driven society, or so they think, I thought I would tell you about my Intro to Digital Advertising class at the University of Tennessee. Last week was AI week. We went deep, deep and even deeper into the bowels of how AI is used in advertising and then I gave the class an assignment to play with AI around writing ad copy. I used a free program called Copy AI, which all could sign up for a trial on to complete the assignment. The assignment was to pick a product, any product and then any style to use as a writing guide. It could have been a celebrity which most chose, or something specific about the tone. Then hit create. Then I asked them a bunch of questions to answer. Did it get the tone right? Did the output match your expectations? Was the copy on point? Did it make sense in terms of the product and the voice? After, they had to do some research and form a POV on AI as of today and the ability to write copy from scratch. I did this too. I chose the McDonalds Bagel Breakfast sandwhich pitched in the style of Jerry Seinfeld. Let's just say AI doesn't get Jerry, though it tried. Needless to say the results were all over the place. If I had to average out the experiences the not great but not awful was the winner. Had many say they were surprised by the attempt at matching tone some great, some a total miss. Someone used, "in the style of Taylor Swift," and it wrote the response as lyrics to a Swift like song. All in all the grand message in all of this was, hey, it's here, it works, you may hit a homerun with it, you may find that you spend more time refining your inputs than it would take you to just write it yourself. All in all a great experiment with newbs, some use generative AI everyday and some not at all. Then, I see this come in today from Mediapost and I immediately sent to the class as a wrap on the topic. I think this really hits the ideas of where this is going to go. Even the more scary parts. Maybe you should take a few minutes and watch for yourself. https://lnkd.in/dX2_Ecwi

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When I decided to leave my role as SVP of Marketing Billd back in June of 2023 to start my own CPG brand, there was ONE thing I heard very consistently from almost everyone I spoke to.... "Have you heard of SKU?" It was clockwork. I'm not kidding. If I met anyone in CPG (Founders, investors, etc.), they'd all say "You need to get in touch with the folks at SKU. Even just the connections will be helpful." 14 months later, Amia was accepted into the Fall 2024 Cohort at SKU and will be joining 7 other exciting brands and founders on a journey towards acceleration, learning, community, and opportunity. I'm thankful for all of the opportunities that I continue to get with this brand. To me, it's a testament to our mission and vision of empowering a billion people worldwide to take control of their migraines through more holistic, dietary approaches, without the need for pharmaceuticals. We have a big vision. To ensure every single grocery store worldwide has a "Trigger-Free" aisle that people with migraine can shop, just like allergen or gluten-free aisles. Don't get me wrong. This shit is hard. The opportunities that have opened up are great. And it's nice validation. But nothing is handed to me. I'm busting my ass every step of the way. Thanks to Brooke Wilson, Buff Greebe and Michelle Breyer for the opportunity! Looking forward to working with you all. About SKU: SKU was founded in 2011 by lawyer Shari Wynne Ressler and serial entrepreneur Clayton Christopher, founder of Sweet Leaf Tea and Deep Eddy Vodka, with the mission of accelerating CPGs. It has been a catalyst in establishing Austin as a CPG powerhouse. Since it was founded, more than 100 companies have completed the SKU program. SKU has gained a national reputation for excellence, with such publications as Forbes naming it one of the top CPG accelerators. Learn more at www.sku.is.

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Here are a few highlights and notes from episode 109 of the Dan Rayburn podcast: https://lnkd.in/gT6Q7PYc 1. EchoStar's potential DISH-DirecTV merger: While the deal faces regulatory hurdles, it could create the largest ISP in the US. Dan questions the CEO's claim that this merger will give them leverage over content providers, calling it "old legacy thinking." 2. Netflix ad business: Despite ongoing criticism, Dan argues, and I agree, that it's "factually inaccurate" to call Netflix's ad business a failure. The company is meeting its projected goals and remains cash-flow positive. 3. Amazon's ad strategy: Amazon plans to "ramp up a little bit more" its ad load in 2025, but maintains it will have "meaningfully fewer ads than linear TV." They're seeing less churn than anticipated from introducing ads. 4. Disney's password-sharing crackdown: The rollout reveals interesting backend challenges, particularly with payment processing and account management. 5. CNN's paywall experiment: The news outlet tests a "soft" paywall, prompting questions about monetizing news in the digital age. 6. Comcast-Quilt deal: This partnership could significantly impact CDN strategies, with Quilt potentially reaching 55% of US broadband households by year-end. As always, Dan's analysis cuts through the hype, offering a clear-eyed view of the industry's evolving landscape. As we both agree, "The business is changing." Streaming companies are adapting their strategies, from advertising models to content delivery, in this rapidly shifting market. What do you think about these developments? How do you see them shaping the future of streaming? If you aren't a regular subscriber to the podcast, you may want to subscribe so that you don't miss out on the latest industry news and insights. >>>> https://lnkd.in/gT6Q7PYc #StreamingMedia #IndustryAnalysis #TechTrends

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5  spicy 🌶, from-the-trenches topics Blue Seedling’s positioning lead Jordan Elkind will be tackling together with retail executive Kim Gallagher (Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, Nuuly) in our live event in two weeks: 1. The most common mistakes tech vendors make in pitching AI products 🤦‍♀️ 2. Why your product team hates your marketing team right now – and what to do about it 😡 (<-- love this one - so true!) 3. AI-washing: what it is, and how to do it right 🖌 (<-- we’ve done it and we’re not ashamed) 4. What market leadership looks like in a world where buyers don’t know what they want or need 🤷‍♂️ (<-- I’m seeing this one on a weekly basis) 5. Why everything you think you know about positioning is wrong…sort of :) 😵 Join our live webinar on 7/17: Positioning your AI venture: The definitive playbook for winning in 2024. Learn more and sign up free in the comments.

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"Lose all the indulgent cock about courage and possibilities and transparency. We aren’t saving the world. We are serving it coffee. Remember that brand positioning, whatever you call it, is what we want our customers to think when they think about us. Nothing more." Brands, know your place. #brandstrategy

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Here’s a few quick thoughts ahead of tonight’s VP debate: First, the authenticity gap between these two is going to be impossible to miss. Tim Walz is the real deal—he’s comfortable in his own skin, genuinely cares about people, and comes across as someone wants to help. J.D. Vance, on the other hand, seems completely lost. He’s just playing the role of carnival barker, parroting Trump’s brand of racism and alienating just about everyone he meets on the campaign trail. That contrast will be obvious—just like how Kamala Harris outshone a frumpy, angry Donald Trump in last month’s debate simply by standing next to him. Second, Vance is going to lie through his teeth for 90 minutes, and we know CBS won’t fact-check him. Walz can’t waste time fact-checking every lie. His focus needs to be on making a personal connection with the American people. He should talk about what matters to him and Kamala Harris—like protecting fertility rights and supporting LGBTQ+ kids—and tie those issues to his own story. When he talks about Trump or Vance, it should be to remind people how disastrous Trump’s term was and how they support Project 2025. Lastly, let’s be honest: VP debates rarely move the needle in polling. But with the Harris-Walz ticket being so new and Trump’s age and mental health becoming more of a factor in this race, this debate will matter more than usual. If Walz stays true to himself and focuses on connecting with people, not getting down in the mud with Vance, it’ll be a strong night for him.

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Be Relentlessly Helpful isn’t just Oodle’s #1 Core Value. It’s a Marketing Principle for 2024+. Interruptive marketing was the name of the game for decades. Only the bold attempted anything resembling “content marketing”, with brands owned by powerhouse marketers like P&G and John Deere pushing the limits of marketing to be helpful and entertaining to would-be consumers (often 100% unbranded by the way). The game has changed (that’s not a revolutionary idea for any seasoned marketer). However, marketers can still find themselves defaulting to interruptive behavior in pursuit of quick ROI. Two words of advice: Stop it. Your customers are interrupted all day, every day. They want helpful information to aid in their buying decision, not a random “buy now” message when they’re not ready. My advice to brands, especially those in a considered purchase buying journey business, isn’t that those same “interruptive tactics” are irrelevant. Quite the contrary. Instead, we as marketers have to be more intentional than ever with understanding where our customers are in their buying cycle, and position Relentlessly Helpful messaging to aid in their pursuit of a purchase. In practice, that means more emphasis on brand, better message delineation at buyer journey stages, and incredible targeting & measurement criteria to ensure we’re helpful to the right audiences at the right time. #relentlesslyhelpful, #marketing

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It's essential to explore why younger generations are reading less than those before them. In today’s Chicago Tribune, Stephanie R. Toliver highlights several reasons, including the constant use of electronic devices, shorter attention spans, and an overemphasis on test preparation and standardized scores in schools. However, the Op-Ed overlooks two critical factors that help contextualize this trend of declining readership among young people. First, every generation has evolved its reading and writing habits over the decades. These shifts don’t necessarily result in a less informed, knowledgeable, or reflective generation. The rise of short-form videos, ChatGPT, and podcasts doesn’t automatically signify a decline in intellectual rigor. In fact, many people in their 20s today possess a broader and deeper knowledge of diverse topics than previous generations. Secondly, Stephanie does not address the significant influence of parents, who, through their actions, serve as role models for over 18+ years, shaping what children perceive as important. Research consistently shows that children mirror their parents' behavior, developing habits that last a lifetime. We cannot simply delegate the education of our youth to teachers, schools, and the expansive landscape of media platforms. I remain optimistic about the next generation of young people. They may be different from my generation, born in the 1960s, but that evolution is natural—and often a positive thing.

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"Purpose is dead. Long live purpose!" Two or so weeks ago, I had a thought-provoking conversation with Ken Beaulieu, head of the Association of National Advertisers' Center for Brand Purpose, about whether marketers are truly moving on from purpose or if it's simply evolving into something more profound. Ken shared research he conducted this past Spring with Internationalist Insights and was curious to learn my take on what it said about the evolving role of purpose in today's complex landscape. Some key topline insights I shared with Ken include: 🔍 Purpose: Evolving, Not Fading Despite sentiment among some marketers that purpose is "one and done," the ANA-Internationalist research reveals that purpose is very much alive and evolving. While 85% of marketers acknowledge that insubstantial purpose can harm a company, a strong brand purpose remains a “North Star” for organizational alignment and impact. 🔗 Beyond Marketing: A Holistic Commitment Purpose is maturing into what it is meant to be: much more than a marketing strategy. It's a company-wide effort transcending PR tactics, one that requires the commitment of the entire organization, from the C-suite to front-line employees to ensure it is embedded into brand DNA and business operations. 💡 Five Guidelines for Embracing Purpose: 1. Align Purpose with Organizational Goals: Purpose is most effective as a driver of decision-making and operations, not a stand-alone initiative or after-thought. 2. Communicate Authentically: Sincere messaging, backed by tangible actions, is crucial for resonating with all material stakeholders. Empower Stakeholders as Advocates: Engaged communities amplify brand reach and grow impact. 3. Cultivate an Ethical Supply Chain Across Sectors: Partnering with nonprofits and maintaining responsible practices enhance the honesty of purpose. 4. Embrace Continuous Improvement: Purpose is an ongoing tool for risk management and innovation. When activated effectively, purpose serves as a strategic compass for modern brands, guiding them to navigate today's shifting social landscape more fluidly. Embedding purpose in a brand’s DNA and business operations cultivates genuine engagement, enhances social impact, and drives profitable growth. For more in-depth insights, read my full article on the ANA's Industry Insights blog. (https://lnkd.in/eX7uGgcR) What do you think about purpose in today's landscape? Is it one and done or is its role evolving? Share your thoughts in the comments below! #Purpose #MarketingStrategy #Growth #Performance #CorporateResponsibility #SustainableBusiness #SocialImpact #BrandCitizenship #DoGood

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With over 4 million possible Chipotle Mexican Grill combinations, the chances of someone ordering the exact same burrito bowl as you at the exact same time are slim. But during Chipotle's Doppelgänger Campaign, whenever an identical order with at least 8 menu customizations came through (chicken and rice burritos didn't make the cut), Chipotle-goers got an email alert letting them where in the world their doppelgänger ordered from. Chipotle's email campaign led to a click rate 176% above benchmark in the first four weeks and $4.8M in revenue. Creepy? Ingenious? I'd love to hear your thoughts! #emailmarketing #chipotle #doppelgangercampaign Stagwell

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Not to SCARE anyone, but... 2025 deductions are right around the corner! I counsel my brands to take the time to plan for working trade spend. If this is new to you, my friend Clara Torres is piloting a solution, and I'm excited to see how it will help growing brands. Clara is a seasoned expert in CPG trade planning and data analytics, and has seen the unique challenges faced by early-stage startups on tight budgets. She was inspired to create cost-effective, customized tracking solutions to help brands navigate the complexities. So, don't wait until it's too late... — reach out to Clara to escape the horrors of planning your working trade. And yes, we had way too much fun putting this together. (Link in the comments!) #TradePlanning #DataAnalytics #Startups ------------------------------------- Hi, I'm Abby 👋 I partner with #betterforyou and innovative #CPG founders on margins, cash flow, and leadership. Reach out if we can help you!

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Haters gonna hate. Don’t let them stop your innovation. At 24, I pitched a wild idea to the Chicago Tribune: Build a social network inside the media company. It was 2008. My thinking: • We personalize the news experience of every reader, listener, and viewer of the Tribune’s many media properties, which included newspapers, a magazine, radio, TV, and digital. •We ingest user-generated content from the audience which can be republished across every Tribune-owned platform. •We serve up personalized ads to each user based on their interests, online activity, network connections, and real-time physical location. Just hours after I sent off that email, I was sitting in the corner office of the Chicago Tribune newsroom, sketching out this wild idea of mine with an editor. A few months later, with a small team, we launched a new site, which was called ChicagoNow. And while it became nothing like the social network I envisioned and presented many ethical headaches inside a rapidly transforming media industry and bankrupt company, ChicagoNow was still a game changer for journalism. Over the many years it ran, the site provided a prominent and credible platform to hundreds of writers, thinkers, and, yes, influencers. When I look at this photo of 24-year-old Tracy, I remember how absolutely terrified I was in that role as the editorial director of ChicagoNow. I remember how many journalists scowled at me when I walked by in the newsroom because they hated the site. How a Pulitzer-prize winning reporter verbally attacked me in the newsroom for “destroying” the reputation of the Tribune. How the editor of a competing publication attempted to cancel the site, me, and our team because of a controversial post a writer published on the site. How rumors spread about me inside the newsroom because surely a 24-year-old woman could only get that job one way. Launching that site was one of the hardest, loneliest things I’ve ever done—and yeah, I wish I had better mentoring so I knew how to lead effectively and manage better in a chaotic environment. But I am also proud of what we built together, the doors ChicagoNow opened for hundreds of people, and the diverse conversations it enabled at a time when mass media allowed such little diversity. Innovation isn’t as glamorous as the movies and media make it out to be. Not when you’re in it—trying to bring the thing to life against immense odds. Innovation is actually ugly, messy, grueling, scary, and lonely AF. But it’s also worth all of the pain, sacrifice, bullying, and trolling. Because one day, the thing you build will finally exist and it can change things—how people live, how they see themselves, and how they see our world. There will always be haters. But there won’t be another innovator like you. Keep going. Keep going. Keep going. Our world needs your light more than ever.

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The most successful social media post I have ever been part of started with these words: "We hear you." The key to the success? Leading with empathy. A while back, a client of ours at Smoketown, LLC got wrapped up in a rumor that was fueled by misinformation. This rumor turned into potent controversy on social media and our client was widely accused of walking away from their core values. No part of these rumors were true, and, to be honest, they were quite absurd. A natural reaction would have been to be judgmental: how could these folks fall for such a ridiculous story? But that reaction, while natural, would have been the wrong one. In the midst of a firestorm, it is powerful to slow down, summon more empathy, and figure out the underlying reason for the drama. Once we did that, the frame changed. We read the radioactive social media comments. A pattern emerged: the brand's fans were having a hard time trusting institutions, including us. It was almost as if they were just waiting for the trust to be broken. So we tried to level with them: "We hear you." At the end of the day, no matter how value-driven and transparent a brand is, they are still a business. And to consumers, this means there is always the potential for their trust to be broken. That's why brands with a real commitment to their values, which was the case for this client, need to make empathy a core competency. From the outside, the social media post could have seemed simple, almost trite. But the reaction was exactly what we hoped: Thousands of positive engagements. More shares than any post in the company's history. Consumers appreciated being heard. With empathy, everyone won. #empathy #brandcommunication #brandvoice #marketing #brandvalues

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Beyond Bud Light's Dylan Mulvaney debacle, I'm finding it hard to find ANY 'notorious' advertising campaigns that actually dented sales, or even really raised any significant negative perceptions among the buying majority, beyond a tiny (but admittedly vocal) minority. Kendall & Pepsi? Nope. Pepsi's NA beverage sales rose by a healthy 2%, in line with Coke's, in the quarter in question (Q2/2017). Colin & Nike? We all know the sales boost was significant, over 30% in the observation period and solid over the long term. That recent Apple iPad ad? It was actually perceived as one of the top 2% of ads EVER released by mainstream Apple owners. Help me out here. ANY ad campaigns that actually 'alienated' customers? My hypothesis right now is that alienation by means of marketing and advertising is practically impossible. Meaning, we fear alienation of loyal customers WAY more than we should in light of data, and should embrace bolder ideas.

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Next up on our journey through Leadership Seeds—Harvesting the Transformative Lessons of Macie and the Magic Veggies, is the Recognition Seed. Like the others we've explored (Growth, Gratitude, Content, Wisdom, Discovery, Passion, Relationships, Process), this seed plays an important role in helping us grow as leaders by valuing and acknowledging individual contributions to achieve collective success. A line from the story: Thanks to you, Farmer Lundyn, my work is almost done. In Macie and the Magic Veggies, Macie takes time out of her work to express her gratitude to Farmer Lundyn. This highlights the importance of recognizing and celebrating the support she received and acknowledging that our success is often a collective achievement. In my professional journey, celebrations and ceremonies have been integral to two key business practices I've implemented: 4DX (The 4 Disciplines of Execution) and Agile. Celebrations are a core component of the 4DX framework, where teams regularly celebrate small wins and milestones. This keeps the team motivated and reinforces the importance of every contribution toward achieving the larger goal. Agile practices include regular ceremonies such as daily stand-ups, sprint reviews, and retrospectives. These ceremonies provide structured opportunities for teams to recognize and celebrate big and small achievements and reflect on what can be improved. Incorporating these practices into my leadership style has been incredibly impactful. Building rituals for recognition, like creating an unofficial internal award passed among team members, has effectively built camaraderie. Want an example of the power of this? Just watch the ritual of any major sports team and the joy they take in being recognized by their teammates with crazy but meaningful “awards,” including hats, capes, chains, jackets, belts, and even plungers. Encourage Active Recognition Regularly acknowledge and celebrate the contributions of team members. This fosters a positive and supportive work environment. Promote a Culture of Gratitude Encourage team members to express gratitude for each other's efforts. This helps build strong, collaborative relationships. Celebrate Collective Success Recognize and celebrate team achievements as collective successes, reinforcing the importance of everyone's contributions. Understanding and internalizing this principle not only helps us achieve success but also enables us to build stronger, more cohesive teams. 💬 What strategies have you found effective in fostering a culture of grand collective success? Let's grow together in recognition and appreciation! 🥕🍅🥦 Oh, and now that I’ve officially announced that “Macie and the Magic Berries” will be the next book in the Macieverse, I may have to update Harvesting the Transformative Lessons of Macie and the Magic Veggies to include berries! ✨ 🫐✨ 🫐✨ 🫐

For those without teenage daughters at home - it's pronounced SHE-IN. SHEIN is America's favorite fashion retailer according to Hubscore - revenue estimated to be $2B-3B / month. How did they do it? DTC fast fashion on steroids. Shein ships the majority of its products directly from China to shoppers by air in individually addressed packages. Its strategy helped the firm avoid unsold inventory piling up in warehouses and avoid import tax in the United States, one of its biggest markets, as it allows the e-tailer to take advantage of the "de minimis" provision that exempts cheap products from tariffs. -Reuters https://lnkd.in/gEfAKtCX

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We had a few GREAT discussions at yesterday's B2B Marketing Breakfast in Madison. While mildly dystopian, I think we all came away with a ton of ideas about how AI will be impacting video and thought leadership, both from production workflow as well as the volume and type of noise that will be out there. A few of my key takeaways: ✅ True creativity and true thought leadership require a human. This you have to feed into the machine. Andrew Bontz talked at length about how he uses custom GTPs (we use Claude Projects) to feed it in. Tami Newman made it crystal clear that the human touch is needed. ✅ There MUST be a human in the loop checking quality and curating the best of the best output. Ryan Freng was emphatic about this and I believe this to be true, at least for now. ✅ In some ways, the technology is there today (voiceovers for example) and in other ways we're still in the uncanny valley. Faith Dey made it clear that we need to be very careful to avoid that uncanny valley or we'll damage our brands. ✅ The majority of people aren't going to use these tools well. James Roloff hit this point home with the uselessness of all the content being pushed out that's lacking creativity or a unique POV. ✅ We have to make the shift from building content to building systems to build content if we're going to be successful in an AI enhanced world. Whether it's custom GPTs, well trained voice and video models or whatever's next - the right model combined with a unique POV or creative hook as an input will take advantage of these tools while successfully rising above the noise. I want to thank Jim Herkert for raising the topic. While it pretty much monopolized the breakfast it was an incredible discussion that left me more inspired than afraid of what's next. I'll post a link in the comments for our Milwaukee and Madison breakfasts if you'd like to attend the next one. All B2B marketers are welcome! Finally, sincere apologies to Andrew Bontz for not getting you in frame for the photo!

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Came across this post by CMO Steve Hardy that addresses spray-and-pray vs. sales/marketing aligned pipeline discipline. There needs to be more of this thinking. It is the path to sanity and to sustainable value creation in GTM. A good read.

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