Ad Age Marketer's Brief

As marketers reach for AI to explain every new capability, it's easy to overstate its role. Helen Melluish, VP of marketing at Expedia-owned Vrbo, says the hyperlocal targeting behind this summer's travel campaigns runs on traditional data science and machine learning—not AI.

Vrbo tracks booking trends by origin and destination market, then shifts local messaging and media spend within a matter of weeks, if not days, once a route or region shows momentum, no AI overlay required. For Melluish, that speed matters this summer: as gas prices push travelers toward drive-to destinations and away from early bookings, Vrbo's data lets the brand chase the shift in real time. AI still plays a role elsewhere at home-rental brand, scaling creative production and handling routine customer service, but it isn't what's driving this particular decision.

Dig deeper

~How brands are approaching summer travel with high gas prices and inflation

~Expedia Group's CMO on AI

~AI Marketing Playbook: How marketers are really using AI

~How brands are investing in local marketing—and why it's so important

Shoppers don't remember what they bought—they remember the experience around it. Macy's Executive VP and Chief Marketing Officer Sharon Otterman explains how the retailer is shifting from one-off transactions to "retailtainment": in-store activations, engraving stations and immersive events tied to moments like prom, Father's Day and an upcoming 50th annual July 4th fireworks.

She also breaks down how the team tests new activations in select stores before scaling fleet-wide, and the media mix modeling and attribution tools shaping where marketing budget goes.

Dig deeper

~Macy's launches creative agency review ahead of 100th Thanksgiving Parade

~Macy's celebrates summer in its first campaign from new CMO and agency

~Opinion: How CMOs can prove their growth impact—the metrics that matter

~Inside Pacsun and LAFC's playbook for building a culturally relevant sports partnership

Haley Rosen of Just Women's Sports breaks down why the biggest opportunities in women's sports may lie beyond the games themselves. The founder and CEO of the sports-first media company—which reaches 115 million monthly users across social—explains how women's sports audiences are closing in on men's, with the WNBA pulling in 85% of the NBA's viewership on ESPN last season, while advertising dollars haven't kept pace, sitting at just 2% of what men's sports commands.

Rosen points to the Just Women's Sports-Ally partnership, now in its fifth year around the National Women's Soccer League, as a model for getting in early. She also lays out the untapped opportunity for brands willing to move now, from underrepresented sports like the Professional Women's Hockey League to athlete endorsement deals still lagging behind the fan bases they've built.

Dig deeper

~Inside women's sports marketing—how Gen Z is fueling brand interest

~MLB is investing in a women's pro softball league—behind the sport's marketing potential

~How the NWSL plans to capitalize on Women's World Cup attention

The volume of creative content has never been higher, and the pressure to prove every piece of it works has never been greater. In this sponsored episode of the Marketer's Brief podcast, Ad Age sits down with Jeff Greenspoon, chief executive officer of the Americas at Kantar, to explore how brands can maximize creative effectiveness in an era of AI-generated content, always-on channels, and exploding creator ecosystems. Jeff unpacks how leading brands are embedding decision intelligence directly into their creative workflows, turning insight into confidence and driving real marketing impact. He also covers effective creator marketing and what it looks like when CMOs and their teams put it to work. Tune in to hear how Kantar is helping leading brands move from instinct to evidence, and setting the agenda for creative impact at scale.

Watch this episode and see additional resources for marketers at AdAge.com/cmo.

In the first episode of the Ad Age CMOs on CMOs series, Andrea Collins, CMO of Hippo, and Liz Vanzura, CMO of Solo Stove, break down how they're implementing AI into team workflows, and how marketers can start discussing AI implementation with teams mindfully. They also dig into grassroots marketing tactics and the power of bringing your brand to consumers.

CMOs on CMOs is a new series from Ad Age. Each episode will feature two marketing leaders, discussing the trends, changes and trials of their work. Stay tuned for more episodes in the coming months.

Formula 1's newest team is building more than a racing operation as it prepares for Silverstone—it's building a high-speed media company designed to keep fans engaged year-round. Cadillac F1 Chief Marketing Officer Ahmed Iqbal discusses why modern sports teams need to think like content creators, how Cadillac is approaching fan growth as a new entrant to the sport and what marketers can learn from one of the world's most engaged audiences.

Dig deeper:

• How sports teams are using AI and fan data to rethink marketing

• Ford and GM are now competing in F1—what it means for consumer marketing

• Inside Cadillac F1's moonshot Super Bowl ad and Apple partnership

Marriott Media Network's Chris Norton discusses how the hotelier is differentiating itself in the crowded field of retail media networks, including through partnerships with United Airlines and Dick's Sporting Goods. The hotel chain's senior VP of marketing capabilities and general manager also talks about Marriott's in-room media channel and why the hotelier is prioritizing measurement.

Dig deeper:

~Retail media's growth and the big platforms shaking up retail media trading

~Uber's ad chief on becoming a "mindset media company"

~The ANA's industry guidebook on how marketers should organize oversight of retail media

~How travel brands are attracting Gen Z

Customer experience is changing rapidly in the era of AI, in large part thanks to agentic tools from tech providers like Adobe. Lara Balazs, chief marketing officer of Adobe, is helping major brands—from Dick's Sporting Goods to Xfinity—understand the common pain points in their customer service workflows that can finally be addressed by AI agents. Balazs spoke with Ad Age about the B2B approach and how she is pitching Adobe's agentic tools to marketers as well as the real opportunities that generative technology can offer today.

Unilever CMO Leandro Barreto unpacks how he gets the most out of Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity every year and why awards and creativity still matter for CMOs. He also discusses the evolution of Dove's enduring 'Real Beauty' campaign and how it inspires the playbook of other Unilever CPG brands such as Vaseline, which has seen success with its 'Vaseline Verified' campaign.

Rachel Epstein, the newly named chief marketing officer of the National Women's Soccer League, discusses her strategy to make the most of booming interest in women's sports and soccer in particular. Her strategy involves absorbing new fans created by the summer's FIFA World Cup and following the unique pathways to sports fandom often taken by women. She says bigger investments, better athletes and more brand support are critical to growth, but so too is a burgeoning media ecosystem bringing women's sports to the new fan.