What the Chief Media Officer Job Looks Like in 2024

The role of the chief media officer is evolving, and marketing and media are only pieces of the job description. During a discussion at Mediaweek, three chief media leaders—Brad Feinberg, Molson Coors vp of media and digital; Shenen Reed, General Motors Global Chief Media Officer; and John Terrana, VaynerMedia Chief Media Officer—met for a discussion of the changing nature of their work. And from AI to the evolving definition of media, it's clear that things are moving fast. What I do for a living All of the executives explained there's crossover throughout their companies in everything they do. For instance, Reed noted that while she isn’t directly related to the creative marketing or customer relationship management at GM, her role as head of media at both GM and her last position at L’Oreal touched on both. “In the past 20 years, the complication is that much more,” Reed said. “There are over 75,000 permutations of ways and places to place media ... we are often the largest investment outside of production [of product] in major companies, and that money needs to be cared for carefully.” Meanwhile, Feinberg sees the lines between chief media officer and chief marketing officer blurring. For instance, though his own role was moved outside of marketing in December, his direction from his chief commercial officer was to drive business results with media across Molson Coors, as well as through analytics and CRM. But even with crossover, there's room for collaboration. Terrana explained that it's pivotal to work with the chief marketing officer to find where customers are spending, target them in the right places, and make sure they’re getting creative content that’s built in concert with the media team’s spending efforts. “To us, it's all about volume and variety and integration,” Terrana said. “If you don't have volume and variety and integration of creative, there is an artificial ceiling you're putting on your media spend.” The obligatory AI question With the changing definition of chief media officer comes the changing definition of media in general, specifically with how AI is set to impact the industry. The three media heads noted they all interact with AI in different ways. For example, VaynerMedia is attempting to build enough AI functionality to make it useful in maximizing value on social media platforms by focusing on strategy, whether that's on an organic posting strategy, a full-funnel media strategy, an SEO strategy, a search strategy, or others. Terrana sees live shopping as the biggest immediate value for media buyers but is eagerly awaiting the dawn of AI influencers—like brand mascots. “If it is done well and it adds value to the consumer, then there's a massive opportunity,” he said. “You might see brands who have mascots and, all of a sudden, that mascot with AI appears in 57 different ways in 57 different countries against different audiences that's way more tailored and specific to me, and it lands even better.” Molson Coors, meanwhile, uses AI to power its content hub, which gives it immediate access to assets from partners like country singer Lainey Wilson, for example. However, when it comes to AI, Reed noted that marketers need to stay vigilant. “My cautionary tale on AI is to be inquisitive: Ask the question. Is this really the thing that it's supposed to be? Did I look at all of the Lainey [Wilson] assets and make sure they're actually the Lainey [Wilson] assets?” Reed said. “There's going to be a lot of education and training, and we just need to trust, but verify through all of it.”

Mediaweek

What the Chief Media Officer Job Looks Like in 2024

Executives from Molson Coors, General Motors, and VaynerMedia discuss how creativity and AI shape their mission

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