5 Ways CMOs Can Build Back Trust in the Boardroom

The CMO role is under fire, but there are ways they can earn respect and trust in the C-suite

CMOs are facing doubt within their organizations that they can drive growth. Time is increasingly committed to counseling CEOs who believe they have a marketing challenge. And they're not alone—other C-suite executives are expressing the same concerns about their CMOs, indicating an industrywide dilemma about the perception of chief marketers.

The data is startling. According to research by Deloitte, only 26% of CMOs are being regularly invited to attend board meetings, and Spencer Stuart has reported that CMOs continue to have the shortest tenure on average of any member of the C-suite at 40 months. The profession is increasingly under fire. 

As the alarming realities of declining tenure and lack of trustworthiness dawn for CMOs, there is also a drought of resources to diagnose and solve these issues. Without a more substantial understanding of the obstacles facing their position, CMOs won't be able to generate effective strategies to reassert themselves as valued members of the company.

In hopes of driving more conversation, research and dialogue to restore the value of a CMO, here are five strategies that can have an immediate impact:

Fall in love fast 

Focus on the CEO and connect with the strategy. What are the CEO's top three priorities? Are they the same as your top three priorities? Can you show a direct connection to your key initiatives and budget allocation?

Build the company 

Don't be selfish. Marketing cannot change companies alone, so start thinking about how all members of leadership can own and deliver collectively in terms of company narrative. 

Question if brand management is dead

The CEO looks to the CMO to integrate new models of thinking and defy the status quo. The CMO must decide if brand management is the theory they want to live by, as it's often seen as a one-dimensional, old-fashioned concept. The disciplines of economics, finance, technology and manufacturing have reinvented themselves repeatedly.

Speak the language of business 

CMOs must be fluent in the language of business. Oftentimes, CMOs and their departments "speak marketing," but this can be too difficult to parse for department leads who are not as experienced in this space. The marketing language can often get lost in translations across the C-suite and in the boardroom.

Instead, speak in terms of growth, revenue, value creation and share price.  A profit and loss statement is the best teacher of all. Marketers who have created profit and loss statements can streamline communication for maximum efficiency and understanding.

Earn real trust 

Extend a hand and build trustworthiness, as this is the foundation of performance. Trust is a quality that cannot be bought; it must be earned by being vulnerable, and it is the single most important attribute of leadership. By forging valuable relationships with CEOs and fellow board members, CMOs will be able to build a more credible reputation with peers and showcase their value.

It's time to make changes and bring value, respect and longevity back to the CMO role. There are no easy fixes, but minor changes can leave lasting impressions and completely change the C-suite dynamic in a positive way.

It's essential to reflect and examine actions, initiatives, thinking and the foundations of the marketing profession. Let's rethink and rebuild brand management and the role of the CMO for a stronger tomorrow.

Originally published by John Connors in Adweek, September 19, 2021

The Performance Autonomy Model

It’s no secret that remote work life has drastically changed the workforce since the COVID-19 pandemic. And at Boathouse, we found this to be the perfect opportunity to radically redefine the way we work—because we believe work is no longer a physical space.

The results were conclusive: 88 percent of Bher’s feel a flexible working model is the best approach for a successful future of work. Usher in The Performance Autonomy Model. “I believe it’s a modern way to look at the workplace,” said Jennifer O’Connor, a Boathouse Principal. “We are truly leaning into autonomy—allowing employees to work where they feel most productive, where they feel they can create the most innovative and high-quality work.”

We’re deciding what works best for us. So for our office-goers who crave the separation of work and life, there are collaborative spaces available and Zoom rooms designated for effective video conferencing, while home-office fans don’t need to head out anytime soon. But the changes don’t stop there.

This flexible work environment harnesses technology’s evolution. We’re on the lookout for innovative methods that’ll optimize our current tech stack, such as artificial intelligence. We’re asking, “What will drive productivity and support us in hitting the mark for our clients time and time again?” By implementing the newest strategies, we’re optimizing client performance. 

Our goals include attracting and retaining the best talent and maintaining our competitive edge. We’re now able to tap into a larger talent pool, with the ability to hire from anywhere in the world. It’s no wonder that 12 percent of our employees now reside in a different state, which is a record high. 

And although we may not all be in the same space anymore, that won’t stop us from building community through social events. With a flexible model, we’re implementing physical and virtual experiences for ultimate inclusivity. (Thank you, Zoom/Google Hangouts.) 

At Boathouse, we don’t shy away from a challenge. Taking things on is in our blood (just ask us about our offsite sometime). We lean in, level up, and hunt for sustainable solutions that drive the thing we care about most: performance. 

Here are a few standout data points from our future-of-work survey:

• 88% of our workers want a hybrid working model

• 67% of our employees plan to go to the office 0–2 days a week

• 12% of our workers live in a different state

• 28% of our employees were hired during the pandemic

For more insights; please fill out the form below to download our Future Of Work study:

How Can CMOs Rebuild Trust with CEOs?

Over the past decade, chief marketing officers have experienced a regression of trust, appreciation, and longevity. With average tenure of CMOs falling below 40 months and the median tenure at 25.5 months, corporate marketing leaders are searching for answers as the value and recognition of their work is minimized and marginalized.

Despite a near universal acknowledgement that marketing contributes to the growth and wellness of a business, there is a simultaneous decline of respect for marketing experts within an organization. What prompted this negative sentiment? More importantly, how have the best chief marketing officers combat and reverse this trend to ensure long-term stability and success in their c-suite role?

Many practitioners, researchers, and academics blame the tenure trend on outside forces – the board, the CEO, the changing market, the proliferation of new channels and technologies. Over the last two years, Boathouse Group has conducted research with CEOs and studied what separates the best CMOs from the rest. Our data suggests that the problem originates from inside the marketing department.

If chief marketing officers are to reverse the downward trend, they must first acknowledge a basic, but essential truth: the chief marketing officer isn't measured solely by the success of their ideas or marketing campaigns, but additionally by the sense of loyalty to and from the CEO. Below we outline the three practices of successful CMOs:

Study the CEO Like You Study the Consumer

The CEO's job is more complex than ever, and the best CMOs attack this insight. The complexity demonstrates itself in two ways. First, the CEO must manage more internal and external issues than ever before – pandemics, racism, climate, shareholder value, workforce, inflation, politics, supply chain, data security. Second, the CEO must manage more audiences than ever before –consumers, investors, employees, media, analysts, community, government, partners, to name a few. The best CMOs view this complexity as a marketing opportunity. The best CMOs study the audiences and issues that are impacting their CEO so they can use marketing to help the CEO. The worst CMOs believe it is not their responsibility.

Don't Expect CEO Trust, Earn CEO Trust

There are subtle things the CEO cannot put in a formal CMO job description. They can't ask you to "have their back." Our data highlights, however, that CMOs are overlooking the CEO-CMO trust factor. As a result, only 32 percent of CEOs trust their CMOs. This is an alarming number, and the low trust is becoming a filter through which the CEO judges all other CMO actions.

And while trust is no doubt fickle factor, there is a science to trust. The academic study of trust has identified three core building blocks: technical trust, relational trust, and institutional trust. Too many CMOs are competing in the technical category and ignoring the relational trust, while the best CMOs win on relationship and technical trust.

Don't Adhere to the CPG Model of Marketing

The CPG playbook is not the right marketing model for most companies today. The CPG model is built for companies where marketing is the core competency. At companies like P&G and Coca-Cola, marketing is the core competency.

Inside these marketing driven companies, CMOs live and die on technical skills. You are judged like an investment manager: You either make money or lose money — and there is a daily scoreboard of your performance. But in most companies today, marketing is a support function. Most companies that drive our GDP – finance, technology, real estate, professional services, healthcare, education – are not marketing-first companies. They require a balance of relationship and technical skills that frustrate many CMOs who have been trained in the CPG model of marketing (a 75-year-old model).

The best CMOs of today are following a new playbook. They have intuitively embraced a more multi-dimensional model, a more narrative-focused model, and a more relationship and technical skill focused model. They have decided to look inside their group to drive change rather than blame the CMO tenure problem on outside forces. If we can get more CMOs to follow their lead, we can increase trust, appreciation, and longevity.

Originally published on ANA.net on March 8, 2022

Similarly, while 46% of Gen-Z view video content online, only 13.7% of Boomers do, creating a clear divide in generational preferences.

When considering the rise of CTV and streaming online, these viewing habits were likely completely different a decade ago compared to now. It’s not that traditional strategies don’t “work,” but there are definitely technological advancements and more modern approaches that we’re seeing to be infinitely more efficient, especially when data shows such strong generational differences.

Drenik: How can modern day CMOs work to build trustworthiness and strong relationships with their CEOs and C-suite colleagues? Are there any other changes CMOs can make to improve the overall perception of the role?

Connors: The CMO problem is definitely one that is fixable. In our study, CEOs largely believe that the main role of the CMO is to grow the business and 86% of them think the CMO has the power to influence the C-suite, so clearly, the position of the CMO is still viewed as one that has quite a significant amount of power. Modern day CMOs can easily repair and strengthen their relationships with the CEO and other members of the C-suite by taking a look at their own strategies and method of communication. By ensuring these are aligned with the rest of the business and are being communicated in a way that is easily understood by the rest of the C-suite, many of the challenges can be alleviated. If CMOs work to make sure their strategies and “language” are more in line with the typical business-oriented language, they’ll be able to communicate their marketing goals more clearly and improve their overall perception.

Drenik: Overall, how is your work at Boathouse relating to the C-suite and how does the agency’s work help to revitalize the role of the CMO?

Connors: Although we’re a marketing agency, our team engages with every part of the business through our work. Before we even create a marketing strategy, we spend a lot of time as a team studying the company itself, its revenue, it’s strong points and challenges as well as the industry in which the company resides. Our team believes that better strategy helps drive better performance and also helps the CEO and CMO be more aligned. Through our work, we help foster alignment within the C-suite by creating business-oriented strategies that are easily communicated across the C-suite and align seamlessly with overall business goals.

Drenik: Thanks for your insight, John! The survey's findings definitely illustrate the nuances of the relationship between the CMO, and CEO and it will be interesting to see if CMO tenure improves. It’s been a pleasure chatting with you.

Originally Published in Forbes on Feb 9, 2022.

Why Has CMO Tenure Been Declining Since 2009? A New Study Reveals Root Cause

CMO tenure is at its lowest point in a decade, a statistic that calls into question the role of the CMO in general. How, and why is their tenure on the decline, and what does that mean for the C-suite as a whole?

I recently had the opportunity to speak with John Connors, CEO of Boathouse Inc., a forward-thinking marketing agency focused on connecting strategy, execution, and championing narrative marketing strategy. John is a trailblazer in the industry, committed to peeling back the curtain on the role of the CMO and the CMO’s relationship with the C-suite.

Boathouse recently conducted a CMO Study, designed to reveal why CMOs suffer such short tenures and struggle to align with other members of the C-suite. He shared more about these ideas during our conversation. John also highlighted data from Prosper Insights & Analytics, revealing varying generational preferences when it comes to engaging with content.

Gary Drenik: Before we get started, I’d love for you to provide some background about Boathouse and what drove the team to create this unique study analyzing the relationship between CEOs and CMOs.

John Connors: Thanks Gary, great to connect with you and happy to share more about Boathouse and what sparked this idea. At Boathouse, we’re a marketing agency, but our team goes far beyond that to do a full audit of every business we work with in order to understand every nuance of that company. From there, we create tactics that are unique and successful to each client we work with.

We also spend a lot of time analyzing the C-suite because the relationships, leadership and strategies that are established and initiated in the C-suite trickle down to affect the entire company. The role of the CMO is particularly pertinent to us as a marketing agency, but it’s also playing an important role within the organization as a hub that fuels brand purpose, customer engagement and revenues. We realized that across all industries, there was a disconnect between the CMO and the rest of the C-suite, fueling much higher turnover, comparatively. This led us to survey CEOs in order to understand their perceptions of their CMO coworkers and get to the bottom of these issues. The survey polled 150 CEOs at US companies with revenues between $250,000 to over $1 billion, across 13 industries including healthcare, technology, banking, and retail.

Drenik: Do CEOs still believe the CMO role matters/is important for the future growth of the business? Do CEOs believe the tenure problem is due to CMOs being in high demand or the result of CMO failure?

Connors: While CEOs do believe the role of the CMO is important to the business, our survey found that only 34% of CEOs have great confidence in their CMOs and only 32% trust them. CMO tenure is at the lowest point in a decade and 80% of CEOs believe this is happening because CMOs are failing, which is a staggering statistic. Unfortunately, we found that the level of trust between the CEO and CMO is very low, and CEOs think that CMOs are more committed to themselves than overall company goals and are not aligned with the long-term goals of the business. We discovered that CEOs perceive their CMOs as having completely different priorities than the company, which has led to this lack of trust.

Drenik: Where Is the CMO failing…where is the problem? Is it just trust? Are there other challenges?

Connors: The interesting thing is… the CMO isn’t failing. CEOs believe their CMOs are failing, but so much of it comes down to communication, which is fascinating that something as simple as miscommunication can happen even among C-suite members! Trust and communication are certainly the two largest issues, but we also saw the trend of CEOs viewing their CMOs and the marketing arm of their business as a bit behind, which is something we’re seeing all over the industry. CMOs are using traditional methods rather than adapting their techniques and using technology to their advantage.

Technology has revolutionized the marketing world from how marketers create content to how consumers engage with it, so it’s interesting that when it comes down to how marketers tend to execute their strategies, they’re so traditional and outdated. Consumer preferences by generation are constantly changing, and it’s crucial for marketing strategies to adapt in similar ways. For example, a Prosper Insights & Analytics Survey recently found that while 43.4% of Gen-Z views video or TV content on their mobile devices, only 7.6% of Boomers consume content this way.

Similarly, while 46% of Gen-Z view video content online, only 13.7% of Boomers do, creating a clear divide in generational preferences.

When considering the rise of CTV and streaming online, these viewing habits were likely completely different a decade ago compared to now. It’s not that traditional strategies don’t “work,” but there are definitely technological advancements and more modern approaches that we’re seeing to be infinitely more efficient, especially when data shows such strong generational differences.

Drenik: How can modern day CMOs work to build trustworthiness and strong relationships with their CEOs and C-suite colleagues? Are there any other changes CMOs can make to improve the overall perception of the role?

Connors: The CMO problem is definitely one that is fixable. In our study, CEOs largely believe that the main role of the CMO is to grow the business and 86% of them think the CMO has the power to influence the C-suite, so clearly, the position of the CMO is still viewed as one that has quite a significant amount of power. Modern day CMOs can easily repair and strengthen their relationships with the CEO and other members of the C-suite by taking a look at their own strategies and method of communication. By ensuring these are aligned with the rest of the business and are being communicated in a way that is easily understood by the rest of the C-suite, many of the challenges can be alleviated. If CMOs work to make sure their strategies and “language” are more in line with the typical business-oriented language, they’ll be able to communicate their marketing goals more clearly and improve their overall perception.

Drenik: Overall, how is your work at Boathouse relating to the C-suite and how does the agency’s work help to revitalize the role of the CMO?

Connors: Although we’re a marketing agency, our team engages with every part of the business through our work. Before we even create a marketing strategy, we spend a lot of time as a team studying the company itself, its revenue, it’s strong points and challenges as well as the industry in which the company resides. Our team believes that better strategy helps drive better performance and also helps the CEO and CMO be more aligned. Through our work, we help foster alignment within the C-suite by creating business-oriented strategies that are easily communicated across the C-suite and align seamlessly with overall business goals.

Drenik: Thanks for your insight, John! The survey's findings definitely illustrate the nuances of the relationship between the CMO, and CEO and it will be interesting to see if CMO tenure improves. It’s been a pleasure chatting with you.

Originally Published in Forbes on Feb 9, 2022.

Case Study: Arsenal Yards

Arsenal Yards Establishes a New Neighborhood and Tells a New Story

Boylston Properties and Wilder were building something new. Aiming to transform the old Arsenal Mall into a 1-million-square-foot mixed-use development and vibrant new neighborhood called Arsenal Yards, they needed a new brand voice and identity to match, as well as fully integrated marketing campaigns that established Arsenal Yards as the next great place to shop, dine, play, work, and live.

Three new buildings, as well as restoration and redevelopment of two original historic arsenal buildings, include 300 apartments, hundreds of thousands of square feet of life science and lab space, a hotel, and over 50 retailers, restaurants, a grocery store, and a movie theater. This was not your parents’ shopping mall—it deserved an identity of its own that would drive excitement and interest in this new neighborhood nestled alongside a 5-acre park and the Charles River.

Along with needing to build awareness and establish Arsenal Yards online, work was also required on the ground. Help was needed to beautify a construction site that simultaneously housed retailers and restaurants in phased stages of opening. Meanwhile, creative messaging and signage needed to tell the new story, educate visitors, and build anticipation.

The Assignment

Arsenal Yards approached Boathouse to help them achieve their long-term goals for their space. These included:

• Cohesion: Develop a unified brand story to hook B2B and B2C audiences.

• Originality: Stand out from other mixed-use spaces in the Boston area, including four major competitors nearby.

• Visibility: Convey the opportunity to experience an urban feel with the advantage of a suburban setting.

• Community: Establish the project as a community capstone.

The Strategy

To tackle this unique challenge, Boathouse devised a strategic plan that centered on four pillars:

• Recognition: Develop a branding platform and integrated media plan to introduce Arsenal Yards to the community.

• Brand Identity: Build the Arsenal Yards brand while creating a community feel that retains an urban vibe.

• Acquisition: Drive foot traffic to the property as retailers opened over the various construction phases of the project.

• B2B: Help make Arsenal Yards an appealing leasing opportunity for other retailers.

The Execution

Building on Boylston Properties’ foundational vision of what Arsenal Yards could be for its community, Boathouse executed an integrated brand marketing campaign that captured attention, informed consumers, and attracted potential tenants.

Boathouse developed an array of physical assets that created an identifiable look, feel, and tone for the Arsenal Yards brand while supporting individual tenants throughout phases of opening. 

While physical assets increased awareness and enticed new customers and tenants, an always-on media campaign supported these efforts with assets in the digital realm. And with access to real-time data to highlight optimization opportunities, the multichannel media campaign delivered over 70 million geotargeted impressions. 

Balancing the physical and the digital resulted in a resounding success for Arsenal Yards.

“By focusing on physical marketing and signage needs paired with digital marketing and online awareness, Boathouse has used stunning design, consumer-based creativity, lots of humor, and a little Scotch tape to help us through transitional years of construction with our customers,” says Bill McQuillan, Founding Principal of Boylston Properties. “And they made it easy and fun. We appreciate their second-to-none account management, responsiveness, and overall pursuit of our business goals.”

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How the Performance Autonomy Model Drives Marketing Success

Jennifer O’Connor, a principal at Boathouse, recently sat down with Jed Morley, VIP contributor to Valiant CEO, to discuss Boathouse’s performance autonomy survey and its key findings, common CMO mistakes, how technology has changed the way people start businesses, and the outlook for Boathouse for 2022 and beyond.

Jed Morley: To start off, let’s learn a little about who Boathouse is and what drove the team to create the performance autonomy model in the first place?

Jennifer O’Connor: At Boathouse, we are driven to raise the bar. We are a full-service marketing and technology agency with a team of idealists who are driven by creating new knowledge, by connecting strategy and execution, and by relentlessly believing in the power of creativity to multiply performance.

When the pandemic hit, it drastically impacted us all individually, as a society and as a workforce. We knew that we had a once in a lifetime opportunity to radically redefine the way we work. After surveying our employees and diving into industry trends, we made a decision to truly lean into autonomy. We set up a model that is optimized for employee satisfaction, client performance and the future growth of the agency.

Jed Morley: What was the general consensus? Were there any findings that really stood out to you or surprised the team at all?

Jennifer O’Connor: With uncertainty on the rise, our goal was to increase communication and transparency regarding our future of work initiative. We knew that employees who felt included and involved – were happier and more productive. So, we reached out to our employee base to listen and learn.

Here are a few standout data points from our future-of-work survey:

• 88% of our workers want a hybrid working model

• 67% of our employees plan to go to the office 0–2 days a week

• 12% of our workers live in a different state

• 28% of our employees were hired during the pandemic

Based on this, we knew work was no longer defined as a physical space. Our employees had a desire for more flexibility to increase their productivity. However, as we dug in deeper, we realized it was more about autonomy. This was the key. It was about allowing employees to exercise flexibility in whichever way worked best for them.

So, we Launched The Autonomy Model. Allowing employees to work where they feel most productive and where they feel they can create the most innovative and high-quality work.

Jed Morley: What are the effects of autonomy models when it comes to job satisfaction for employees? Do you see more positive results because of this?

Jennifer O’Connor: By providing greater autonomy, we are leaning into one of the most basic human intrinsic motivators. Autonomy is about empowering employees to have control over their work and their lives. Autonomy is also a key driver of happiness in the workplace. So, by entrusting employees with greater autonomy – they are happier, more productive, more motivated – which means greater performance for our clients and more success for Boathouse.

Jed Morley: Where do you see the negative side effects of having autonomy in the workplace, if any?

Jennifer O’Connor: With a more autonomous model comes the challenge of maintaining a strong team interaction and connection with each other. This topic is so important to us – that we have a team internally fully dedicated to figuring this out.

A performance culture is the heart of Bh. And although we may not all be in the same space anymore; we are working hard to continue to reinforce our culture and our community through a mix of social and educational events where we can come together to grow and learn from each other. To harness each other’s experience and expertise. To better ourselves individually. And, ultimately – as a team. With our autonomous model, we’re carefully curating the activities we initiate making sure to implement both physical and virtual experiences for ultimate inclusivity.

Jed Morley: What are the most common mistakes you see entrepreneurs, or more specifically, CMOs make? What would you suggest they do?

Jennifer O’Connor: I think one of the biggest mistakes that really any employee can make – and it becomes even more pronounced if you are an entrepreneur or a member of the leadership team – is not believing in yourself enough to take a calculated risk. If you spend too much time researching or planning – you will start to second guess yourself – guaranteed. The worst thing you can do is to wait until everything is absolutely perfect.

The key is to just get out there, make the decision – then, let it sit. See how the company reacts and what feedback you hear from your team. Then, take that all in and figure out your next step. Don’t sit on the sidelines for too long. Take action – and move forward.

Jed Morley: What would you say is the main difference between starting a business at the time Boathouse started versus starting a business in today’s age?

Jennifer O’Connor: Technology. 100%.

Boathouse started in 2001. Think about how different technology was then. Apple just launched the iPod so people could have “thousands of songs in their pocket.” The first Bluetooth cell phone with a color screen was launched. Google just pushed image search live so users could search thousands of images instantly.

Today Boathouse is leading on the integration of A.I. across the marketing function. It will be a tailwind in our industry for the next twenty-five years. Unlike many of the transformative technologies of the last 25 years (digital, social, mobile) A.I. has the potential to rebuild marketing’s stature in the organization if adopted early and comprehensively.

We are obsessed with driving change based on technological innovation – and we are always looking around the corner for what’s next.

Jed Morley: What’s your favorite “business” quote and how has it affected your business decisions?

Jennifer O’Connor: My favorite business quote is the following from Winston Churchill.

“Success is not final; failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”

This has a great deal of meaning to me. As a perfectionist by nature, I had to really push myself to be OK with failure. I had to learn that failure was, in fact, the springboard to growth and success. And I now believe that without failure, there is no learning. And, without learning, there is no success. This important lesson has taught me to be more confident and comfortable taking risks and making those tough decisions – because, I know, on the other side – no matter what happens, the outcome will prompt the necessary changes to get to the next step.

This quote also speaks to my hardworking, go-through-a-wall way of getting things done. There is something deep down inside that intrinsically drives me to keep going when things get hard, to not stop until I solve the problem, to keep pushing that rock up the hill. I think you need to have that kind of passion and drive to be truly successful.

Jed Morley: What are the Boathouse company goals when it comes to attracting and retaining the best talent today?

Jennifer O’Connor: Because work is no longer defined by a physical location, we are now able to tap into a larger talent pool, with the ability to hire from anywhere in the world. When our survey was taken, 12% of our employees were living outside of the state. We have completely revamped our recruiting process to expand our searches more nationally – even sometimes globally – allowing us to find the absolute best-of-the-best.

But we also know that Boathouse may not be for everyone. We aim to hire employees who have that same passion and intrinsic motivation to succeed for themselves and as a part of a team. We hold the bar very high and ask people to live up to it as a way to advance themselves in their careers and Boathouse, as a company.

Jed Morley: What are the biggest key takeaways from industry trends and how do we move forward in a post-pandemic world?

Jennifer O’Connor: Yes – the pandemic did change everything. It has accelerated the digital transformation of the workforce. And, we have decided as an organization to lean in. To take advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to radically redefine the way we work.

No, we don’t claim to have the roadmap. And we certainly don’t claim to have all the answers. But – we are confident in our approach. To lean into autonomy. We believe in the benefits that it will bring to our employees and to our business. We are driven to succeed and believe that the key is to constantly examine the changing world around us. To be in an ongoing process of discovery and change to find what is right. We don’t know what the future will bring, but we are excited about the adventure and for the possibilities.

Jed Morley: What’s next for Boathouse in 2022 and where do you expect to see the company in the next 5-10 years?

Jennifer O’Connor: We live in a world of profound and constant change where companies big and small must rapidly adapt to survive. I am very much looking forward to what we have planned for 2022. We have several important initiatives that we will be focusing on – including integrating our applied A.I. stack, centralizing our operations department, increasing our focus on our diversity equality & inclusion efforts, and opening a new office in Washington, DC…to name a few.

From day one at Boathouse, we set up our financial model to enable us to invest 5% of revenues for R&D to keep us modern and innovative. We use the dollars to experiment so that we can help our clients to outperform. A constant focus on business building, with the investment to go along with it, will propel Boathouse to be a nationally recognized leader in our industry.

Originally published in Valiant CEO on January 20th, 2022.

The True Cost of CMO Turnover

By Chris Boland and Maurya Overall

Short CMO tenures and increased turnover have captured the attention of many in the business world. However, while studies have quantified just how short these tenures are getting, there’s been little discussion of the real costs that come with turnover.

There’s the cost of the CMO search itself, of course—the time of the management team, headhunters fees, and more. But there’s much more to CMO turnover costs than these P&L expenses.

To fully account for the risks associated with the rapid change affecting today’s boardrooms, we dove into the past dynamics of CMO churn and analyzed what’s at stake today.

Healthy Churn Is a Thing of the Past

Up through the early days of digital, the CMO’s primary objectives were closely tied to the campaigns they were to lead. In this campaign-driven world and operating model, there were some benefits that came along with regular CMO turnover, even though tenures may have been shortened. 

At many businesses, the prevailing dynamic could lead to a sort of “healthy churn.” A changing of the guard in the marketing department meant that fresh approaches were on the way, and the business might expect to see a bump in performance given this inflow of new ideas.

Plus, regardless of whether or not success was actually realized, the focus on campaigns came with a clear picture of what success looked like. Once another few years had passed and the dust had settled on campaigns, a brand would be able to make a relatively straightforward assessment on whether the reinvigoration led by the CMO was successful. The business might judge itself ready for a new marketing leader, or the CMO might have been ready for a new challenge. In other words, turnover didn’t present any sort of dire challenge—it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.   

Of course, this model of marketing is a thing of the past, and so are the days of the healthy churn that might have come with it.  

A New CMO Means a New System

Now, CMOs are expected to lead so much more than repositioning. We’ve moved from a focus on campaigns to a focus on systems, and just as the role of CMO has become more complex, so has the task of replacing them. CMOs no longer merely lead campaigns; they sit atop a brand’s complex platforms and technology stacks whose reach extends well beyond marketing, throughout the whole of the operation.

That’s why hiring a CMO today typically means investing in a whole new marketing system, greatly increasing the potential cost and stakes of turnover, as a positive ROI has to be calculated against a larger and larger “I.” To make matters worse, these new investments often aren’t new at all: they’re purchases and expenses that were made only a short time ago, when the last CMO was brought in. 

The Invisible Opportunity Costs 

Still, the concrete dollar cost of these marketing systems is just one dimension of what turnover truly costs a brand. 

What’s more costly to businesses experiencing churn in the C-suite is all the time spent on retooling and tinkering instead of moving their organization forward. After all, the competition doesn’t hit pause while your new CMO gets their CRM upgrade up and running. 

These opportunity costs might not be seen on the balance sheet, but they’re certainly felt within a marketplace: When you don’t have a proper message, or you aren’t growing awareness and engaging with customers to the fullest, someone else is. 

And in today’s system-driven world of digital marketing, that lag time between hiring a CMO—even the very best one for the job—and fully operationalizing a system in their vision can take quite some time. It’s not as simple as developing a new message and taking it to market. Driving profitable outcomes in digital requires learning from initial outputs through measurement and analysis. Like implementing a new system, it requires time. And time is money.

Yet, as complex as that is, it doesn’t capture all that’s involved in onboarding a CMO. While much of the marketing world today is hardwired, marketing leaders still need a deep set of soft skills to be successful. They need, for example, to be effective and active listeners. They need to be able to understand the needs of multiple constituencies and translate that into action. And they need to be able to create a productive relationship and rapport with their CEO. Putting skills like these into play for the good of the business also takes time. After all, even an experienced executive will have to install efficient structures and navigate new relationships.

Combating the Costs of CMO Turnover

Faced with all these potential costs, what’s a business to do? 

For one, enlisting outside help can be invaluable. A trusted agency partner can help provide that same system-level perspective that’s required of today’s CMOs and help smooth over transitions between CMOs. In doing so, agencies can also directly mitigate the costs outlined above, providing continuity for marketing systems, shortening the onboarding time of a new CMO, and even helping to refer potential candidates. Ultimately, even if issues of tenure can’t be fully alleviated for reasons outside a business’s control, the right agency partner can help them successfully navigate them.  

Beyond that, though, to fully prepare for and address issues of CMO tenure, decision makers need to understand what’s driving them. Our recent CMO Insights report digs into the root causes of CMO turnover issues. It also includes a guide to building back trust in the boardroom.

Raising the Bar in Black History

To raise the bar is to drive change, to be a leading voice, to think differently in your approaches, to carve a new path forward, to be one of, if not the, best at what you do. Throughout the past and present, there have been those who have raised the bar in social issues, sports, industry and so much more. In reflecting on Black History Month, we asked Boathouse employees who, in their minds, are people of color who have raised the bar in what they do/did. See some of our leading inspirations below.

Dorothy Counts-Scoggins

After the Supreme Court ruled that racial segregation in schools must end, Dorothy and three other students broke the color barrier at Harry Harding High School in Charlotte, North Carolina on September 4, 1957.

When Dorothy was met with racial slurs, mockery and physical harassment, her parents moved her to Pennsylvania to finish school.

Dorothy went on to work as a consultant for a daycare center in a low-income neighborhood, and still tours the country advocating for better schooling.

“That was my calling—didn't know it then, but I did promise then that what happened to me would not happen to another child. So everything I've ever done has been around making sure that children have equality in their lives.”

Sources: https://bit.ly/3JXZpco, https://bit.ly/3JUrfqa, https://bit.ly/3M7habl, https://n.pr/3M9f4Yi

Ernest G. Green

Ernest volunteered to desegregate Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas in September 1957. Surrounded by paratroopers, he and eight others, later known as the Little Rock Nine, entered the school after Governor Orval Faubus ordered National Guardsmen to keep black students out.

Despite harassment from his peers, Ernest went on to become the first black student to graduate from Central High. Martin Luther King Jr. sat with his family at the graduation.

Ernest went on to have a profound career that saw him as the Assistant Secretary of Labor during the Jimmy Carter administration, and Senior Managing Director at Lehman Brothers. He and the rest of the Little Rock Nine received the Presidential Medal of Honor from Bill Clinton in 1999.

“They used to call Arkansas 'the land of opportunity,' and black people said, 'Opportunity for whom?' ... Today, we can say 'opportunity for all,' and Arkansas can be proud of this moment.”

Sources: https://bit.ly/3IuTv29, https://bit.ly/3hHJyTz, https://bit.ly/3stpZ7z

Simone Biles

Simone took women’s gymnastics by force, becoming the first woman to win three consecutive World Gymnastics Championships all-around titles (2013-2015) and becoming the first black gymnast to be World All-Around Champion in 2013. She also holds the title as the most decorated athlete in the history of the sport, and has been credited with creating four new gymnastics moves.

Simone has become a vocal leader in advocating for better mental health for all. She’s also been an outspoken survivor of sexual assault while on the U.S. gymnastics team.

“I’m not the next Usain Bolt or Michael Phelps ... I’m the first Simone Biles.”

Sources: https://bit.ly/3M9EDbT, https://bit.ly/36Ra3nh, https://bit.ly/3HtrvuD

Fannie Lou Hamer

Born in 1917 in Mississippi, Fannie Lou grew up poor, working the B.D. Marlowe plantation alongside her family.

After she tried to register to vote in 1962, B.D. Marlowe made her leave his land. Surviving physical abuse, death threats, racial slurs and more, Fannie Lou became known for her beautiful and powerful singing voice that soothed others and brought people together amid the violence. She later released an album called Songs My Mother Taught Me.

In 1964, she helped found the Freedom Summer African American voter registration drive in Mississippi. She was also a vocal leader in the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, a political group that challenged the legality of Mississippi's all-white, segregated delegation at the Democratic National Convention. It was there, in a televised speech, that Fannie gained national attention. The following year, she had an unsuccessful run for Congress in her home state of Mississippi. Still determined to make a difference, Fannie Lou set up organizations to help provide child care, create business opportunities and help the less fortunate in her community.

“You can pray until you faint, but unless you get up and try to do something, God is not going to put it in your lap.”

Sources: https://bit.ly/3MdWXki, https://bit.ly/3M40YHT, https://to.pbs.org/3teUkG5, https://bit.ly/3vrHaIj

Jackie Robinson

Jackie was a standout all-around athlete, participating in baseball, basketball, football and track. He was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1942, where he was commissioned a second lieutenant. His interest in civil rights began when he refused to sit in the back of a military transport bus. He was court-martialed; however, all charges were dropped and he was given an honorable discharge.

After being a star player in the Negro American League, Jackie became the first black person to play in American Major League Baseball when he made his debut for the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947. He would go on to play from 1947 to 1956.

Despite dealing with teammates who protested playing with him, getting intentionally hit with pitches and dealing with racist fans, Jackie led the Dodgers to six league championships and one World Series. After his baseball career, Jackie was a vocal leader for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and was often seen with Martin Luther King Jr.

"A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives."

Sources: https://7ny.tv/3Ma1Ydt, https://bit.ly/35B6Pnl

Fuel for Thought Drives Learning Culture and a Sense of Community

Here at Boathouse, our culture is what brings us together. Our camaraderie empowers us to redefine advertising’s role and lead the way. That’s why we waste no time. We pivot when necessary, and we’re on a constant hunt for new information.

This ambition and hunger for knowledge are in each and every one of us. We learn the latest, most effective marketing strategies to keep up with the ever-evolving marketing world. We all share a performance mindset, ready to do whatever it takes for our clients. So it was no surprise when three of our own introduced an initiative to enhance our learning—one that would foster connection and enrich our company culture of cutting through the bullshit.

Forming Fuel for Thought 

Shaina Lurie, Taylor Cornacchia and Bethany Briguglio founded Boathouse’s first-ever Fuel for Thought. Initially, the objective was to streamline how the agency stayed up to date with industry trends, and the initiative gave us the opportunity to collaborate beyond client work. Simple stuff. Well, not that simple. Fuel for Thought became a powerful stream of valuable information with guest speakers, a book club, and overall open-minded collaboration.  

When COVID-19 hit, we didn’t realize just how much we would lean on the previous water-cooler chats that bonded us, those seemingly insignificant moments in the office that sparked stellar ideas. The pandemic soon made it apparent that staying connected and fostering our culture would have to be a part of Fuel for Thought’s mission. After all, our community is at our core. We began asking crucial questions. What does company culture look like during a pandemic? What does growth look like at an agency? And finally, how can we drive change in the industry?

All of these pointed to the same initial step, one embedded in us from Boathouse’s beginning. Every one of us needs to take responsibility for our learning. For us, that means encouraging each other to keep going and focusing on being proactive in our endless pursuit of knowledge. Bethany, Taylor, and Shaina reimagined Fuel for Thought into something even more valuable. In response, we would propel ourselves forward as a team more dedicated than ever before. 

Full Steam and Lightning Round Initiatives

So how exactly is Fuel for Thought reinvigorating learning at Boathouse?

Fuel for Thought prepares two monthly events for us: Full Steam and Lightning Round. These are quite different: Full Steam is very much full steam ahead with elevated topics and deep discussion. On the other side of the coin is Lighting Round, which is, well, very light-hearted.

The Full Steam session is for the whole agency to get together and dive deep into learning. We stay on top of trends and explore emerging strategies that we could potentially infuse into our marketing plans, while other times, we simply consider the value of integrating new advertising techniques.

Meanwhile, at a Lighting Round, small groups meet up for a chance to connect and chat (virtually, of course). During a session, Fuel for Thought presents prompts for small groups to discuss openly. Often, it’s an assembly of randomly aggregated questions. Note: no one is actually required to talk only about these topics. Authentic and naturally flowing conversation is much more important to us. 

What Full Steam and Lightning Round have in common is that they spark excitement. From simply answering “How are you feeling?” to researching the next hot marketing approach, these moments give us the chance to be ourselves and be inspired.

We do acknowledge, however, that sometimes the best way to learn is from the experts. That is why Fuel for Thought loves featuring them, whether they be from outside our industry or right from our home base. Most recently, Fuel for Thought invited Brian Halligan, the CEO of HubSpot; Deesha Dyer, CEO of Hook & Fasten Consulting and Obama Whitehouse alum; and our very own Gail Schoenbrunn, an award-winning Boathouse copywriter and creative director.

We Are Change Drivers

At Boathouse, we love a challenge. We don’t simplify ideas; our work means too much to us, and the industry is far too complex. That’s why we think of ourselves as ferocious learners who boundlessly seek ways to improve. Our clients keep outperforming because we steer the ship toward the future. We aim to be the change.

Fuel for Thought encompasses what we do: use our relentless ambition as fuel to uncover the unknown and learn. We make it happen. Fuel for Thought continues to encourage reflection on our company culture and discuss what matters to us. We ask questions like, “How do we stay on top of the evolving landscape?” and “What can we do to be more efficient in a virtual world?”

Above all, we keep the client in mind. It’s not about us. It’s about doing what’s right for the client and having the backbone to treat their business as if it were our own. Having the very best tools in hand for our clients means helping them grow, and that truly matters to us.

The more we know, the more insight we have to give. Fuel for Thought provides us new material that we use directly to contribute to client business performance. From book recommendations to guest speakers, we stay ahead of the curve by being agile. That means innovative thinking, fresh ideas, and clever approaches. And we are never going to stop. 

Because at Boathouse, we are fearless leaders. We are change drivers. And our work? It isn’t just pretty. It performs.

Confronting Racism

By Alexandra Koktsidis and Bob Fitzgerald

“Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.”

— — James Baldwin, American author

Boathouse supports #BlackLivesMatter. We’re committed to do what we can, as a company and as individuals, to combat racism and systemic inequality. It’s the right thing to do. 

Talking about race, injustice, bigotry, hidden biases—basically everything we will need to address if we are to succeed in Boathouse’s ambitious endeavor—is excruciatingly difficult and fraught with emotion. It will not be easy. At the risk of oversimplification, we will need to adhere to one of our founding mantras with all our strength: “Humbly cutting through the bullshit.” We will need to plumb new depths of humility; to admit what we don’t know; to listen, learn and change; to accept that even the most well-intentioned of us just might be wrong. And we will need to cut through centuries of societal, cultural and institutional bullshit.

Every organization has its strengths. We use data, intelligence and creativity to solve business problems. We look at ways we can serve organizations and generate a return on investment. At a fundamental level, we learn. Our goal is to use these same skills—learning and doing—to fight injustice and inequality. Because we can do better. And we can always do more. 

The pressing need for change is evident. In what way, or ways, can we make a difference? How can we begin to reverse the systemic inequality that’s pervaded the world? These are the questions we’re asking ourselves. We started with a small group in our agency, and have opened up these questions to everyone. 

This resulted in a range of ideas: from smaller-scale changes internally, such as the way we hire, the vendors we use, and the conversations we have, to the external ways that can make an impact. Now it’s up to us to focus on a few of these ideas, and really give them our all. 

One insight to consider: change is iterative. The corporate world needs to invest in actions that have a reverberating effect. This goes beyond giving money to fill gaps. 

It’s about making intentional decisions on how to use funds to create an impact that, in turn, creates more impact. It’s a multiplier effect.

We can use investments and information to help create this change. To create opportunities where there haven’t been any before. To hear voices that have gone unheard. 

To succeed we will need to push ourselves and each other. We will need to challenge and push understandings. And we will need to open our minds, devoting our time and mental energy. 

This is just the start. And there is no end, no finish line. This work is never-ending and requires an ongoing commitment. And we are resolutely committed. 

Boathouse Internship Program

By Callie Cramer, Hayley Lewis and Taylor Cornacchia

“My internship at Boathouse was one of the highlights of my college experience. Not only did I have the opportunity to see agency life in action, I was also able to work with my team to create our own campaign with the help and support of so many members of the Boathouse team. Most importantly, though, it helped me learn what I was looking for in my future workplace: quality training, supportive environment, and enthusiasm.” —Brenna McGill, Summer 2018

The internship program truly began when Boathouse did, back in the garage in 2001, when our founders signed on a local MBA student to help out for the summer. Eight years later, we brought on two interns to work directly with account directors. In 2012, the program was formalized with more structure, participation and holistic education to a larger group of interns who have since walked through our doors each summer. 

Today, our standard internship program aims to provide students with hands-on experience within our fast-paced agency. Throughout the program, our interns are given thorough education in the industry as a whole, as well as the ins and outs of Boathouse itself. The program’s foundation relies on two core areas of focus: daily one-on-one mentorship and team-based integrated campaign development. 

In a typical summer, two teams of interns are given a real client challenge and are tasked to come up with a comprehensive marketing solution and integrated campaign to drive performance against the client’s business objectives. The interns apply the Boathouse model, working in two competing, agile teams and against a portfolio management approach that aims solely to drive performance for their pro bono clients. At the close of the program, the interns present their marketing plan and integrated campaign (including primary and secondary research, media proposals, creative concepts and measurement plans) directly to the client, and, in true Boathouse fashion, a winner is selected.

“My biggest takeaway from my time at Boathouse has been confidence. Throughout my experience with the Boathouse team and my peers, I developed confidence that will allow me to succeed in many areas. I have gained the confidence to speak on different marketing aspects through the countless things I learned. I have gained the confidence to stand in front of an audience and pitch a campaign. I have gained the confidence to start a brand of my own, utilizing the tools that I gathered during my time here to effectively market that brand. The time that you spend here will definitely boost your confidence, through workshops, campaign work, hands-on experience and mentorship.” —Latye Workman, Summer 2018

In recent years, Boathouse interns have had the opportunity to work with a variety of local organizations doing great things in the Boston community. Highlights include integrated campaign development for Orange Leaf frozen yogurt (2014), brand identity and positioning for Purple Table Reservations (2017), alumni association marketing for Breakthrough Greater Boston (2018), and the fall appeals campaign for The Food Project (2019). Each of these unique projects has provided interns with the chance to make a real impact on these organizations and see their hard work come to life in the market. 

This summer, amid all of the uncertainty, we are more excited than ever to be holding an internship program. While we’ve had to adjust the format, we’re confident our interns will receive a valuable, engaging experience and still be able to witness the energy of the agency through our remote learning model. 

Throughout their five weeks with us, our 2020 interns will attend 101 sessions among the various departments, work closely with mentorship teams who are dedicated to their success, participate in agency meetings and be responsible for developing a holistic COVID-19 response marketing plan for a small business of their choosing. All done virtually from the safety of their homes.

Each piece of the program will expose students to different remote working capabilities in the hope that our interns will come away from this summer as masters of a variety of online tools, with the resources and skills they will need to contribute meaningfully in their future careers. 

While this summer will certainly provide a new set of challenges, we’re thrilled to be welcoming 15 new interns into our virtual Boathouse home. We can’t wait to get started!

Future interns are welcome to apply via our contact page https://www.boathouseinc.com/contact 

Third-Party Cookies Are Being Eliminated. What Does It Mean for Advertisers?

For some time now, consumer privacy concerns have taken center stage in the digital advertising industry. But these concerns aren’t just driving conversations. They’re also driving impactful actions by regulators and some of the tech industry’s biggest players. 

Recent years have seen the implementation and expansion of the EU’s GDPR and California’s CCPA, among other significant new regulations that have given consumers more control over their digital privacy—and given advertisers more to think about. And in 2020, Apple rolled out iOS 14, which introduced security features affecting ad tech capabilities. 

However, it’s another 2020 announcement that has much of the industry abuzz these days: Google announced that it will be phasing out the use of third-party cookies in its Chrome browser by 2022.

While Firefox and Safari long ago eliminated the use of third-party cookies, Chrome’s sizable market share—over 64%, as of April 2021—means that the effects of eliminating third-party cookies will soon be felt across the entire industry.

While there’s plenty of time to adjust and retool their approaches, many advertisers have been left to wonder about just what’s coming next. Plus, many of them are still using third-party cookies: A recent MarTech Today survey found that 80% of marketers were still “moderately” or “heavily” reliant on third-party cookies. Meanwhile, just 46% are feeling “very prepared” for the coming changes.

The experts at Boathouse have put together a guide to help you better understand what a cookieless future means for you and your organization. Read on to learn what’s changing and how you can adapt. 

What’s Being Eliminated?

Cookies have long been a central component of digital advertising. After all, these little text files stored on your browser can deliver outsized capabilities. 

First-party cookies, the kind set by a website you visit directly, help brands provide a smooth user experience. They’re used to remember login information, language settings, and the products you have interacted with.

It’s third-party cookies that have been the subject of frequent debates over privacy concerns. These cookies are created by domains other than the one a user visits directly—often an ad tech platform—and enable behavior to be tracked across sites. The data gathered during tracking makes it possible for advertisers to serve personalized ads, as well as measure the performance of those ads with multi-touch attribution and cross-channel reporting. 

These third-party cookies will no longer be supported by Google Chrome beginning sometime in 2022. However, the future won’t actually be completely cookieless: first-party cookies will still be supported. 

What Does the Phase-Out of Third-Party Cookies Mean for Advertisers?

The biggest consequence of Google’s move will be the elimination of behavioral targeting. In theory, this means that the information advertisers were previously able to gather about user behavior—frequently visited websites, past purchases, related interests, and demographic data—to serve highly targeted ads will no longer be available to them in the same form.

In the absence of behavioral targeting, one of the biggest questions on advertisers’ minds is how they will make up for the reach and scale that this model provided. According to Shaina Lurie, Digital Media Supervisor at Boathouse, delivering effective ads that get results will still be possible, even without behavioral targeting.

As the industry transitions away from third-party cookies, it’s as crucial as ever that advertisers bring a diversified approach to their overall strategy. “Now is exactly when it’s important to have multiple partners, multiple tactics, multiple channels,” says Lurie. “Without behavioral targeting, it’s important to look very closely at the bigger mix of available options to be sure you’re making up for all of that reach.”

What Types of Targeting Will Still Be Available to Advertisers? 

Much of that mix is already available to advertisers. Even without third-party cookies, advertisers will still have a range of powerful targeting methods available to them. For example:

• Contextual targeting: Rather than targeting users based on past behavior, contextual targeting methods serve relevant ads in real time based on the content and keywords a user is consuming and using. 

• IP targeting: Consumers and businesses are targeted based on their Internet Protocol (IP) address. 

• Geolocation targeting: Advertisers can use geofencing to serve their ads to users located within a specified area.

• Device targeting: Marketers have the ability to access mobile web and in-app usage data, as well as device ID signals, in order to inform targeting efforts.

With the ability to tap into these tactics and others, as well as a variety of formats, marketers can still make the most of their campaigns. Plus, as Internet usage continues to increase, new tools will continue to appear. 

Ultimately, according to Lurie, it’s not limited options that should concern marketers, it’s a limited approach. “The changes might alter some of the ways we do things, but I don’t see us as being limited,” says Lurie. “In my opinion, the notion of being ‘limited’ is more a measure of coming to the table with one option rather than the full toolbox you actually have available.”

The Future of Targeting

With a year still to go before Google’s change takes effect, publishers and advertising industry players are already moving quickly and exploring alternative identity resolution solutions. 

For its part, Google is developing what it calls the Privacy Sandbox as an alternative to cookie-based targeting. While the precise details are still being developed, the Sandbox would, among other things, rely on group-based rather than individual targeting, giving advertisers the ability to target clusters of consumers with similar interests and behaviors.

Meanwhile, ad tech vendors and groups like the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) are at work on their own solutions. The IAB’s Project Rearc has brought together hundreds of organizations, including publishers, advertisers, and vendors, to develop privacy-first alternatives to cookies. 

At this point, however, these projects are still in their early stages, and Boathouse is closely monitoring their development. In the meantime, first-party data will take on an even more important role in learning about audiences and serving relevant ads. 

For that reason, first-party data is among the topics you should be discussing with your agency as you work to define a road map for the future. Be sure that your agency can explain not only what first-party data is, but also how it can serve as the backbone of your martech stack in a cookieless future.

Come to the table with questions like these to make informed decisions about a world without cookies:

• What sources of first-party data does my organization have available? How is it currently being used?

• What are the martech systems and tools that house the first-party data?

• Are there regulatory concerns that might affect our ability to use first-party data?

• Which of our advertising practices currently rely on third-party cookies?

How is Boathouse Taking Action?

Even with all of these changes afoot, Boathouse experts are at ease—thanks in large part to an evergreen, proactive approach to media planning and buying.

“When it comes to bringing in the best technology partners, we’ve always taken an agnostic approach that’s aligned with each client’s target audience and KPI goals,” says Lurie. “It’s never a one-size-fits-all outlook. And there are still so many tactics to be tapped into that aren’t going away with these changes.”

Rather than work with one technology partner like some agencies, Boathouse actively engages with a variety of partners to ensure it brings the best solutions to bear for its clients—even as the situation is constantly evolving. Lurie says, “We’re always going to have the right partners at our disposal and be able to address what’s happening, whether that’s right now, tomorrow, or in a year. 

“Boathouse is always able to make decisions with its clients in the moment, rather than rely on a—no pun intended—cookie-cutter approach that they might find elsewhere. And that’s going to be really crucial to taking action during this time of change.” 

Apple vs. Facebook: The Fight Over Consumer Data and What It Means for Businesses and Advertising

There’s been a lot of noise around data privacy and consumer protections recently. If you’ve seen (or heard about) the film The Social Dilemma, you probably know what we’re talking about. The film and the rallying cry of many data privacy advocates have spurred a call for limiting what information tech companies and the advertisers and businesses that utilize their platforms can collect and track about users. 

Last summer, Apple announced its new AppTrackingTransparency framework as part of a future iOS 14 update, which will enable users to choose how they want apps to track their data and movements around the Internet. The change will specifically impact companies like Facebook and Instagram that make money by selling this information to third parties. 

Businesses and advertisers that use these platforms as a medium for mobile advertising won’t have the visibility and insight they previously had into consumer behavior and activity for many users with Apple devices with iOS 14, and how they interact with ads. The changes will limit advertisers’ ability to target and access specific audiences/potential customers. Apple reports that iOS 14 is installed on 80% of all active iPhones and on 86% of iPhones introduced in the last 4 years, as measured by the App Store on February 24, 2021.

Boathouse has been actively monitoring all of the changes, especially relative to how they will affect our clients. Let’s dig into some of the back story: what it means, how it will affect businesses and advertisers, as well the steps we’re taking to help our client businesses prepare for the changes.

Background on the Battle Over Consumer Data

As part of their marketing campaigns, advertisers have successfully used the Facebook platform, in addition to many other platforms, to target prospective customers by tracking their online behaviors and interests, and then serving them hyper-targeted content and ads tailored to them based on that information.  

Apple CEO Tim Cook said the change is rooted in the company’s belief that “users should have the choice over the data that is being collected about them and how it’s used.” So, at some point this spring, Apple’s iOS software for iPhones will require that apps get explicit consent to track what people are doing on their mobile devices for the purposes of sharing it with third parties. Apple will require apps in the App Store to send push alerts to users, through which they can either opt in or out of tracking their data and interactions. Facebook has argued that these changes will be “devastating to small businesses” that rely on personalized advertisements to reach customers and find new ones. They even launched an ad campaign supporting their opposition to Apple’s changes: “We’re standing up to Apple for small businesses everywhere” and Good Ideas Deserve to Be Found. These changes will continue to allow measurement of conversion events from iOS 14 devices, albeit with limitations, to bridge the gap between user privacy and effective campaign management. 

NPR reports that during a recent interview, Facebook’s director of privacy and public policy, Steve Satterfield, argued that this is an attempt by Apple to undercut the business model used by Facebook and other ad-supported free apps. “[T]his is going to have a real impact on the Internet as we know it, which is increasingly going to move to a paid experience, which again, benefits Apple’s bottom line,” Satterfield said.

However, in recent days, according to a report from CNBC, Mark Zuckerberg now says Apple’s iOS 14 privacy feature might benefit Facebook: “It’s possible that we may even be in a stronger position if Apple’s changes encourage more businesses to conduct more commerce on our platforms by making it harder for them to use their data in order to find the customers that would want to use their products outside of our platforms.” Facebook has prepared for the looming Apple changes by introducing more commerce products. Most notably, the social media company in 2020 introduced Facebook Shops and Instagram Shops. These features make it possible for brands to list their product catalogs directly on Facebook’s most popular apps, and sell goods directly on Facebook and Instagram.

Whether these changes are in response to questionable practices around tracking consumers’ online activity and data collection, or a culmination of the fierce competition between these two tech titans, they pose real challenges for businesses and advertisers that have come to rely on the platform to reach potential customers. 

The Technical Aspects of the Changes

To adapt to Apple’s requirements, Facebook has made extensive changes that will affect campaign setup, pixel strategy, reporting, and analytics. Below is a summary of some of the changes that will affect our clients directly. You can find more detailed information on the Facebook changes here.  

Pixel Limitations: Advertisers will now be required to choose and prioritize eight events that can be used for optimization per website domain (includes both standard events and custom conversions). For people who opt in to tracking, Facebook will return the maximum eight events. When a user opts out of sharing their data with Facebook and the family of apps, only the highest-ranked event will be tracked. 

For example, previously, for a website visit, we were able to track and measure when a user: 

1. Visited the product page

2. Added a product to a shopping cart 

3. Purchased a product, for this segment of users

Now, only the highest-priority event will be reported: the purchase. 

Campaign and Ad Set Limits: Each ad account will be limited to nine campaigns with five ad sets each.

Shortened Attribution Window: Facebook will now report fewer conversions, relying on a default 7-day click attribution model for all conversions. 28-day click-through, 28-day view-through, and 7-day view-through attribution windows will not be supported.

Delivery and Action Breakdowns: Reporting by age, gender, region, and/or placement will not be supported for conversion events.

Delayed Reporting: Real-time reporting will no longer be supported, and data may be delayed up to 3 days. Pulling reports any sooner than 3 days after campaign end could exclude performance. 

Audience Size: Because less data will be collected, remarketing audiences will be smaller.

Over the last few months, Boathouse developed a plan of attack to prepare for the changes. We have been working with clients to ensure a smooth transition to work within Facebook’s coming changes and successfully pivot active or upcoming campaigns.  

The Boathouse Approach to These Changes

In the world of advertising and online marketing, there will always be changes, disruptions, new players, and innovations right around the corner—especially as consumers become more attuned to data privacy concerns. In a recent interview, analyst Dan Ives contends that this Facebook-Apple row is setting the stage for a larger fight over how technology companies will balance privacy with data collection in the digital economy.

These changes are a reminder for advertisers that we can never become complacent with our strategies and tactics. We constantly need to stay at the forefront of potential industry and platform changes and what they mean for our clients’ bottom lines.

At Boathouse, our commitment to our clients’ business goals remains uncompromised. While the current changes by Apple and Facebook pose some near-term challenges, they are also an opportunity for us to cut through the clutter and focus on fundamentals. 

The results we used to see from Facebook and Instagram will change, but at Boathouse we are constantly looking holistically at data and will plan to quickly adapt based on performance. Our proprietary methodology and analytics tools monitor all aspects of a campaign across all platforms, allowing us to let the data drive our decision-making. Guided by the deep knowledge and expertise of our channel experts, we are able to optimize strategy and tactics as necessary.  

Currently, Facebook has not established a solid date for when this will all be enforced and put into action, but we know it will occur soon, so we are getting ahead of it to limit any disruptions to our clients’ campaigns. As this rolls out, products will adapt, workflows will change, and new best practices will emerge, but we will continue to work through it and aim to keep our clients updated and informed.

Concerns about consumers’ data privacy will likely spur more changes to how our data is collected. The changes from Apple’s and Facebook’s subsequent responses, we believe, are an indication that there will be more changes on the horizon from other platforms, including Google, LinkedIn, and more.  

Being on the cutting edge of “what’s coming next,” anticipating and strategizing for the long term, keeping our clients’ business goals at the forefront, and achieving the best marketing performance possible on their behalf will always be our main priorities at Boathouse.

Production 101: The Pandemic

By Maurya Overall, Gail Schoenbrunn and Diego Cevasco 

There are two ways of responding to disruption.

One is to stand fast to the old ways of doing business. The other is to embrace the opportunity to discover new ways to work.

User-generated videos, viral content, vlogs and technological advances in all aspects of filmmaking, from smaller, lighter, cheaper hardware to smarter, faster and ever-more-dazzling software, changed the world of production forever and upped the ante on what can be accomplished with limited budgets and faster cycles. 

Fresh content platforms keep appearing, inspiring us to deliver both quantity and quality in new formats for storytelling. And while the “old ways” siloed production approaches according to the media, the “new ways” are about imagining the final product and reverse engineering the most efficient and effective path to it.

At Boathouse, we embrace disruption with a passion. We are constantly looking to optimize the journey between idea and finished product, pushing for solutions to problems before others can discern them, researching the latest technologies, partnering with the best resources, executing and producing in ever leaner and more agile ways. 

The world pandemic raised the challenges to a whole new level, creating an extraordinary set of circumstances for clients who had messages that needed to be in the market and for whom the reach of a broadcast buy was the best way to find their audience. 

Boathouse media was quick to identify the extra time consumers were spending online and on TV. For Tufts Health Plan, communicating to their members that they were—as always—open to help them navigate their healthcare was critical. A spring broadcast buy was already booked, but—challenge one—it was barely three weeks away. Challenge two: the spot scheduled to run was about their care managers being out in the community. It would appear tone deaf. And challenge three: no budget had been reserved for production. 

How do you produce within three weeks when your client is in a highly regulated industry with many stakeholders? How do you achieve quality while spending as few dollars as possible? And how do you accomplish this during a pandemic under shelter-in-place orders?

With an agile mindset, the right technology, a true client partnership and a shared commitment to embrace new ways of working.

Daily videoconference calls by account service began to build the on-site production bond. Our producers joined together to find the most effective approach to remote-capture. Our creative team crafted a simple message using visuals and type, while our client mobilized internal stakeholders around the idea. Thanks to the generosity and passion of Tufts Health Plan employees, within days we had a group of hand-raisers willing to participate. 

Our technical solution was a brilliant piece of software called OpenReel, a platform we had identified a few months prior as a tool for remote productions with quick turnarounds. OpenReel lets us capture video using the subjects’ own smartphone, tablet or webcam. The video is actually recorded on the device and then sent to our producers, so the video quality is not dependent on the subject’s Wi-Fi connection. A producer could direct the entire shoot from their computer at home, while the art director and writer each oversee the shoot from their computers. 

Pre-production was crucial, as our producer spent the day troubleshooting the technology while still respecting the appropriate stringent security measures of a HIPAA-compliant organization whose work-issued computers are camera-disabled. 

Underpinning this daily remote whirlwind was a client relationship built over five years of working together, which had long ago moved beyond a “them-and-us” relationship. Production, script and editing issues were dealt with openly and quickly. The resulting spot went on air on time and on budget, to the pride of the client organization. The client eagerly shared emails she received from Tufts Health Plan employees.

This moment simply highlighted the power of what can be accomplished when the trust is there, the goal is clear and everyone is all in.