Snap names first CMO in 2 years in lead-up to advertising showcase

Snap has promoted Grace Kao to chief advertising and marketing officer, efficient instantly. Kao is the Snapchat proprietor’s first CMO since Kenny Mitchell departed two years in the past. Colleen DeCourcy, Snap’s chief inventive officer, is shifting to an advisory function to help with the transition and plans to depart the corporate later this yr, per particulars shared with Advertising Dive.

DeCourcy, a former Wieden + Kennedy government, joined Snap in 2022 to spearhead key advertising and marketing initiatives, together with a latest marketing campaign that positioned the platform as an “antidote” to a social media panorama it painted as poisonous and artificial-feeling. She has served as high marketer since Mitchell’s transition in Might 2023 and is credited with serving to to construct out an in-house inventive staff.

Kao got here to Snap from Spotify in December as a part of DeCourcy’s recruiting efforts, initially serving as vice chairman of client and enterprise advertising and marketing. Different expertise throughout over 20 years within the promoting trade contains previous roles at Instagram, Pandora and Yahoo, together with a stint within the company area.

Snap is putting in contemporary advertising and marketing management because it enters the thick of the spring season for brokering giant ad-spending commitments from manufacturers and businesses. The corporate will host its Newfronts presentation touting Snapchat’s newest expertise, advert codecs and content material choices on Might 7.

DeCourcy will help Snapchat’s tentpole occasions, together with the NewFronts and its presence at Cannes Lions. Snap earlier this month expanded its companion program for advert businesses, with a watch on working with advertising and marketing companies suppliers of all sizes, together with specialised independents. 

Snap has lengthy tried to distance itself from conventional social media labels, placing extra give attention to connecting folks via messaging and camera-oriented capabilities like augmented actuality. Final yr’s “Much less Social Media. Extra Snapchat” marketing campaign featured the platform’s first Tremendous Bowl advert, a serious growth in its consumer-facing advertising and marketing, although the spot rated poorly on the USA Immediately Advert Meter rankings.  

Snap stories its newest quarterly earnings on April 29. The enterprise bested Wall Avenue’s expectations in This autumn, with income up 14% yr over yr to $1.56 billion for the interval.