Snap has promoted Grace Kao to chief marketing officer, effective immediately. Kao is the Snapchat owner’s first CMO since Kenny Mitchell departed two years ago. Colleen DeCourcy, Snap’s chief creative officer, is shifting to an advisory role to assist with the transition and plans to leave the corporate later this yr, per details shared with Marketing Dive.
DeCourcy, a former Wieden + Kennedy executive, joined Snap in 2022 to spearhead key marketing initiatives, including a recent campaign that positioned the platform as an “antidote” to a social media landscape it painted as toxic and artificial-feeling. She has served as top marketer since Mitchell’s transition in May 2023 and is credited with helping to construct out an in-house creative team.
Kao got here to Snap from Spotify in December as a part of DeCourcy’s recruiting efforts, initially serving as vice chairman of consumer and business marketing. Other experience across over twenty years in the advertising industry includes past roles at Instagram, Pandora and Yahoo, together with a stint in the agency space.
Snapchat CMO Grace Kao
Permission granted by Snap Inc.
Snap is installing fresh marketing leadership because it enters the thick of the spring season for brokering large ad-spending commitments from brands and agencies. The company will host its Newfronts presentation touting Snapchat’s latest technology, ad formats and content offerings on May 7.
DeCourcy will support Snapchat’s tentpole events, including the NewFronts and its presence at Cannes Lions. Snap earlier this month expanded its partner program for ad agencies, with an eye fixed on working with marketing services providers of all sizes, including specialized independents.
Snap has long tried to distance itself from traditional social media labels, putting more concentrate on connecting people through messaging and camera-oriented capabilities like augmented reality. Last yr’s “Less Social Media. More Snapchat” campaign featured the platform’s first Super Bowl ad, a significant development in its consumer-facing marketing, though the spot rated poorly on the USA Today Ad Meter rankings.
Snap reports its latest quarterly earnings on April 29. The business bested Wall Street’s expectations in Q4, with revenue up 14% yr over yr to $1.56 billion for the period.
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