The automotive industry is changing quickly as technology reshapes how people move and interact with vehicles.

In this episode of The Speed of Culture podcast, Matt Britton speaks with Rachael Zaluzec, CMO and SVP of customer experience and brand marketing at Volkswagen of America. 

Rachael explains how the Volkswagen “Drivers Wanted” campaign is returning as a cultural statement about independence and identity. The conversation explores 2026 automotive marketing trends, the role of AI in automotive customer experience, and how Volkswagen is blending heritage with modern technology while preparing for the future of autonomous driving Volkswagen strategy.

She also explains how Volkswagen is evolving its brand without losing its emotional identity. Her leadership reflects a modern Volkswagen brand marketing strategy built around human connection, personalization, and trust. 

Rachael’s career spans human resources, digital transformation, and customer experience leadership. This cross-functional experience shapes her approach to customer experience in automotive industry innovation. 

Since stepping into her executive marketing role, she has helped guide Volkswagen through major transformation efforts including electric vehicle adoption, digital integration, and expanded personalization strategies. Her leadership continues to shape Volkswagen’s positioning across 2026 Automotive marketing trends and evolving mobility expectations.

Key Takeaways:

[05:09] The Volkswagen ‘Drivers Wanted’ Campaign Returns as a Cultural Statement — The relaunch of the Volkswagen “Drivers Wanted” campaign shifts focus from product promotion to cultural storytelling. First introduced in the late 1990s, it helped reposition the brand for younger drivers. Today, it returns as a message about independence and mobility ownership. Rachael explains that ride sharing and automation have reduced personal control over travel. The revived campaign invites consumers to reclaim that control while aligning with broader 2026 automotive marketing trends focused on identity and lifestyle.

[11:13] The Volkswagen Super Bowl Campaign Reinforces Brand Identity — Volkswagen relaunched its messaging through the Volkswagen Super Bowl campaign only after creative development was complete. The concept existed before media placement, ensuring the message justified the investment. The Volkswagen Super Bowl campaign builds awareness while aligning dealers, employees, and partners around a unified brand message. It also launches a long-term integrated strategy rooted in a strong Volkswagen brand marketing strategy built on storytelling, culture, and long-range brand positioning.

[15:42] Creator Influence in Automotive Marketing Builds Authentic Trust — Consumers increasingly trust real voices when researching major purchases. Rachael explains how creator influence in automotive marketing helps Volkswagen communicate emotional brand value through real driver experiences. Creators help audiences visualize ownership beyond specifications. While performance messaging still matters, Creator influence in automotive marketing strengthens authenticity and purchase confidence. This strategy supports broader 2026 Automotive marketing trends focused on trust, relatability, and experience-driven decision-making.

[20:00] Modern CMOs Must Balance Creativity, Technology, and Data — Marketing leadership now requires both storytelling and technical fluency. Rachael explains that strong messaging still drives engagement, but CMOs must also understand analytics, platform integration, and performance measurement. During this interview, Rachael describes CMOs as data strategists and technology translators who drive measurable growth. This evolution reflects the modern Volkswagen brand marketing strategy and the growing importance of Customer experience in the automotive industry transformation.

[22:40] Career Growth Requires Cross-Functional Experience and Challenge Acceptance — Rachael credits her career success to exploring multiple business disciplines. She encourages professionals entering the industry to develop skills across departments and pursue complex assignments. Exposure to operational challenges builds stronger decision-making and leadership confidence. This mindset reflects marketing leadership development trends and aligns with evolving 2026 automotive marketing trends that demand adaptability and multidisciplinary expertise.

This week has been another revolving door of hires and promotions at brands, from chief marketing officer (CMO) appointments to marketing restructures.

We’re rounding up the U.S. and global marketing leadership moves you should know about for the week ending Jan. 30.

– Having named Asad Ayaz as its first chief marketing and brand officer earlier this month, Disney has confirmed his direct marketing chief reports in the new structure. Ron Faris will oversee Disney consumer products; Scott Hudgins will be responsible for Disney experiences; Martha Morrison will head up marketing for the entertainment Studios; Shannon Ryan will be responsible for entertainment television, including Disney+ and Hulu; and Tina Thornton will lead ESPN’s marketing efforts.

– Edible Brands, purveyor of fancy fruit bouquets, salad bowls, and THC goodies, has promoted Angela Johnson to CMO. She’s tasked with bringing marketing and innovation together to drive growth, with a continued focus on strong retail and restaurant execution across the portfolio and support of locally owned franchise partners.

– The LPGA has named Chad Coleman CMO. He joins after six years leading marketing for the entertainment group Dude Perfect. He brings a background in golf with him, having spent eight years at Callaway overseeing social media and brand partnerships.

– Mastercard has appointed Alexandra Sloane as vp, integrated marketing and communications, Australasia.

– Also down under, Natasha Aaron has been picked as CMO for Farmers Pick. She was previously director of marketing across Australia and New Zealand for DoorDash.

VML is reshaping its North American leadership bench, naming Jason Xenopoulos CEO of its New York office while elevating longtime creative leader Mel Routhier to North America chief creative officer, the agency told ADWEEK. The appointments are effective immediately.

The moves mark VML’s first major U.S. executive appointments of 2026 and follow a period of leadership transition in New York after the departure of Beth Ann Kaminkow and the retirement of Audrey Melofchik last year.

Xenopoulos will take on a dual role as CEO of VML New York and chief creative officer for global accounts, overseeing the agency’s flagship office while continuing to lead creative work for major multinational clients including Ford and Colgate.

For Xenopoulos, the combined remit reflects a long-held belief that creative leadership and business leadership shouldn’t be separated. He previously led VMLY&R’s New York office from 2018 to 2021 and most recently served as U.S. co-chief creative officer following the merger of VMLY&R and Wunderman Thompson.

“I’ve always thought of agencies as creative companies,” Xenopoulos told ADWEEK. “You can do one or two pieces of great creative work by just rolling up your sleeves and diving into the brief, but in order to do great creative work consistently and repeatedly, you have to build a truly creative company.”

Xenopoulos, who previously served as North America CCO at VML alongside Tom Murphy and has led the Ford account globally, said the timing of the dual role makes sense as agencies navigate rapid technological disruption and shifting client expectations.

“I think it’s even more vital that we keep that creative spirit at the heart of what the agency is today as we go through all of the technological changes around us,” he said.

VML New York, he added, is being positioned as more than just a large U.S. office. Xenopoulos outlined five priorities for the office this year: capability, creativity, growth, innovation, and culture.

“New York has an opportunity to really spearhead the future of VML, and in many ways, the future of the industry,” he said.

That includes pushing the agency’s breadth of offerings—spanning creative, experience design, commerce, and technology—while continuing to invest in creative ideas, even as performance marketing and AI-driven efficiency dominate more client conversations.

Alongside Xenopoulos’ appointment, VML promoted Routhier to North America chief creative officer, where she will partner with Tom Murphy to oversee creative across the region. Routhier joined VML during the pandemic to help build the Walgreens Boots Alliance business globally and later led the Chicago office, most recently holding senior creative leadership roles across both VML’s health practice and its global creative organization.

“I feel like I’m just joining a friend and working on a bigger stage to collectively kind of bear hug North America and help elevate the work,” Routhier said.

Creative leadership responsibilities will be split largely by geography, with Murphy focused on New York and the East Coast and Routhier overseeing the Midwest through the West, while global accounts cut across both leaders’ teams.

Routhier’s immediate focus is on presence and continuity rather than disruption. “I hope they just feel my presence first—as a human,” she said. “I lead with a lot of empathy. I lead with the mentality of ‘hire incredible people, then get out of the way.’”

She also addressed how VML’s “human-first” creative philosophy fits into a moment when AI tools are becoming more embedded in agency workflows. “Human-first doesn’t mean in the absence of technology,” Routhier said. “It just reminds us that people are the heartbeat of it all. The ideas come from people, and we make sure all those people sit at the center of it.”

The leadership changes come as WPP continues to reorganize parts of its global production and technology infrastructure, including the recent consolidation of production operations into WPP Production.

According to Routhier, the shift wouldn’t dilute creative craft or creative-production partnerships. “There’s no change in our commitment to craft and how we make great ideas,” she said.

Both leaders emphasized stability and collaboration following the New York leadership transition. Xenopoulos called Routhier “the right person” to step into the North America role, adding: “I honestly couldn’t think of anyone better. She has my full support and trust.”

The Trade Desk has appointed longtime executive Tahnil Davis as interim chief financial officer, to replace Alexander Kayyal who left the company on January 24, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Kayyal, who joined The Trade Desk as CFO in August 2025, will remain on the company’s board through its 2026 annual shareholder meeting, the filing said.

Davis, who has served as the company’s chief accounting officer since 2023, stepped into the interim CFO and principal financial officer roles effective Jan. 24. The company said it plans to launch an external search for a permanent finance chief, per the filing. 

Davis has been with The Trade Desk since 2015, holding a series of senior finance roles including senior vice president of finance and senior vice president, chief accounting officer.

The Trade Desk did not disclose additional details beyond the SEC filing. 

The leadership change comes at a moment of heightened scrutiny for adtech companies as marketers reassess spend amid shifting signal loss, pressure on programmatic pricing and increased competition from rivals like Amazon. 

Wells Fargo kept an Equal Weight rating on The Trade Desk with a $42 price target following the company’s CFO transition and reaffirmed fourth-quarter outlook. Shares were down about 7% in morning trading.

In a research note, the firm said the departure of Kayyal—who joined the company roughly six months ago—adds to what it described as “continued fundamental and narrative volatility.” The bank said leadership turnover could be making it harder for The Trade Desk to counter competition from Amazon’s DSP, which has snagged millions in ad dollars from the company, ADWEEK previously reported. 

Wells Fargo added that the company should prioritize a finance chief with public company CFO experience, noting neither of its prior CFOs had that background.

The Trade Desk is expected to report earnings on Feb. 25 and has said it anticipates fourth-quarter revenue in line with its earlier projection of $840 million.

This week has been another revolving door of hires and promotions at brands, from CMO appointments to high-profile exits.

We’re rounding up the U.S. and global marketing leadership moves you should know about for the week ending Jan. 23.

– Microsoft AI (MAI) has named Andréa Mallard as chief marketing officer (CMO). The exec, who left Pinterest in January after seven years, confirmed her new role in a LinkedIn post. MAI is Microsoft’s dedicated AI research lab, established in 2024. It’s led by DeepMind co-founder Mustafa Suleyman as CEO.

– Meanwhile, over at Pinterest, Amazon’s former global brand and marketing vp, Claudine Cheever, will assume the role of CMO. At the same time, DoorDash and Spotify veteran Lee Brown will join as chief business officer, a newly created role.

– Former Salesforce and DocuSign exec Meghan Gendelman has joined creative editing platform Canva as CMO, B2B. “My focus is simple and relentless: moving Canva from the tool people love to the platform organizations rely on at work,” she wrote on LinkedIn.

– Marissa Jarratt, executive vp and chief marketing and sustainability officer for 7-Eleven, has confirmed her departure from the business after seven years.

– U.K. footwear retailer Schuh has appointed former Wieden+Kennedy exec Natalie King as CMO. She joins from Accessorize, where she served as global marketing director.

For 20 years, executive search and advisory firm Spencer Stuart has published data on chief marketing officer (CMO) tenure. Since 2022, the average number of years that marketing bosses stay in one role has hovered around 4 years.

ADWEEK can exclusively reveal that CMO tenure among S&P 500 companies now stands at 4.1 years in 2025, down slightly from 4.3 years in 2024. That compares to 5 years for all C-suite roles.

Chief executives (CEOs) stay an average of 7.6 years, while chief financial officers (CFOs) typically remain in post for 4.7. Only chief operating officers’ (COO) tenures were shorter, at 3.3 years on average, owing to their aspirations to step up to the CEO office.

The reason for the incremental year-on-year CMO tenure decline, according to Richard Sanderson, who leads Spencer Stuart’s marketing, sales, and communications officer practice in North America, is due to the influence of longtime CMO exits on the dataset. For instance, Raja Rajamannar left Mastercard after 13 years as chief marketing and communications officer.

While some might read CMOs’ comparatively short reigns as an indication they’re failing to make an impact or being fired, Sanderson said the data shows the opposite to be true.

“Short tenure is actually a function of the role,” he told ADWEEK, “because the CMO role is a developmental one that leads as a stepping stone or a springboard onto bigger things.”

Below, ADWEEK unpacks four of the top findings from Spencer Stuart’s 2025 CMO Tenure report.

1. CMOs are moving on up

When CMOs leave their role, they are likely to advance to bigger responsibilities, the report found.

Of the 218 CMO exits between 2021 and 2025, nearly two-thirds (62%) were either promoted at their company or went on to a similar or bigger role at another company.

Notably, 9% advanced to a CEO role, as Hinge’s Jackie Jantos did in 2025 after four years as marketing chief. 13% become a divisional CEO, COO, or president.

Of those leaving their organization, 77% of CMOs landed at a new company within six months. 

The CMO-to-CEO pipeline was more prominent at CPG brands like Procter & Gamble (P&G), where CMOs were often groomed for the CEO role. CMO tenure at these companies was the shortest of all the industries Spencer Stuart analyzed, at 3.5 years.

“Low CMO tenure is not a sign of failure. In fact, quite the opposite. It’s actually a sign of success, because so many of them are being promoted into other roles,” said Sanderson.

2. Brands are marketing without a CMO

In line with 2024’s findings, roughly a third (31%) of SP&P 500 companies do not have a CMO.

However, that doesn’t mean they don’t have a marketing boss; the responsibility simply sits elsewhere on the org chart.

Sanderson said companies are increasingly hiring for alternative or complementary positions, including chief growth officer (CGO), filled by Walmart in January, and chief revenue officer (CRO), adopted by Morningstar in late 2025.

These roles might not be CMO positions, but they typically include some responsibility for marketing and have brand and data specialists reporting into them, Sanderson observed.

“It’s not that marketing has gone away, but rather the set go-to-market capabilities have been restructured in a new way, for example, around a CRO,” he explained.

The CMO role isn’t dead, though. While some organizations, such as Unilever, are decentralizing marketing, others, like Disney, are doing the opposite and appointing their first formal CMO.

“It’s always fluid. Where one role is broken up, another is created,” observed Sanderson.

3. Hiring practices vary vastly

In Spencer Stuart’s 2025 sample, 62% of CMOs were appointed from within, while 38% were externally hired.

Of that latter group, 43% came from a different industry, suggesting companies are seeking a different perspective or capability set.

Some industries showed a more obvious pattern of hiring externally. This included financial services companies, which sourced 47% of CMOs from outside their businesses and 43% from outside the sector entirely. Sanderson said this demonstrated an increased recognition among these brands that marketing could be a revenue driver, as well as a need for them to strengthen their in-house development initiatives.

Fast-paced tech, telecom, and media firms were more likely to hire CMOs from within their own industry, with just 26% of marketers hired from outside these businesses arriving from a different sector.

4. 2026 is about pressure and opportunity

Per another study from Spencer Stuart, one-third of Fortune 500 companies expect to cut costs by 20% or more over the next two years, thanks in part to AI.

This financial pressure means CMOs and their counterparts will be squeezed further in 2026. However, for those willing to adapt, it’s also a moment to redefine marketing leadership by expanding their responsibilities.

“This is your golden age,” Sanderson said. “Strong marketing leaders have an opportunity to step up and take on a broader remit than ever before.”

Pinterest is continuing its transformation into a full-scale shopping hub with the addition of two key executives. Amazon’s former global brand and marketing vice president, Claudine Cheever, will assume the role of CMO, while DoorDash and Spotify veteran Lee Brown will join as chief business officer, a newly created role.

The appointments come at a dynamic time for the 15-year-old social platform. When Bill Ready—who was PayPal’s COO before becoming commerce chief for Google—took over as CEO of Pinterest in 2022, he laid out the platform’s ecommerce ambitions.

“As someone who has spent most of my career in commerce and payments, it’s so clear to me that Pinterest has the opportunity to build something unique,” Ready said on LinkedIn at the time. “In the next phase of our journey, we will help people engage more deeply with all the inspiring products and services they find on our platform so they can build their best lives.”

In a post earlier today, Ready suggested that these two new hires will play key roles in those plans.

“Lee is a proven business leader with deep experience leading global sales and content teams at beloved consumer apps and publishers,” Ready wrote. “Claudine has spent the past decade leading marketing for the world’s largest online retailer.”

In her own LinkedIn post, Cheever expressed enthusiasm for joining Pinterest for its “next chapter” while also reinforcing the platform’s roots as “a place where people come to feel inspired, take action, and shop.”

Cheever replaces former CMO Andréa Mallard, who’d held the post for nearly seven years and has joined Microsoft AI as CMO.

From inspiration to purchase

Pinterest debuted in 2010 as a digital cork board where users could collect images and videos (“pins”) of things that sparked their imaginations in areas like apparel, home decor, and travel. Its original business model was heavily dependent on advertising.

The social media platform awakened to the potential of online shopping via social media in 2015, when it introduced Buyable Pins. In 2017, its “Shop the Look” feature furnished its advertisers with click-to-purchase capabilities for items featured in pins.

In 2020, Pinterest proclaimed a “goal of making every pin shoppable.” Four new shopping enhancements appeared in 2022, including an API to empower advertisers with catalog management and product metadata features to support merchants on the platform.

While economic realities, including tariffs and tighter ad budgets, have spurred Pinterest to evolve, it’s not facing an existential crisis. The company posted a strong Q3 performance, including 17% year-over-year revenue gains, a 12% jump in monthly active users to 600 million, and an adjusted EBITDA of $306 million.

Even so, the social media platform got a late start to the ecommerce game; Twitter and Facebook introduced “Buy” buttons in 2014.

And while Pinterest is incorporating AI to improve recommendation relevancy and ad engagement, that effort has been expensive; the platform’s 2023 R&D costs of $1.07 billion rose to $1.24 billion in 2024.

To further increase its visibility as a shopping destination, Pinterest recently inked a deal with Roku for Bring My Pinterest to Life, a streaming series featuring six 22-minute episodes in which influencers Caroline Vazzana, Tay BeepBoop Nakamoto, and Drew Michael Scott will lead guest consumers on an “inspiration to realization” shopping journey.

Microsoft AI (MAI) has named Andréa Mallard as chief marketing officer (CMO).

The exec, who left Pinterest in January after seven years, confirmed her new role in a LinkedIn post.

“Just under two weeks ago, I began my new role as CMO for Microsoft AI,” she wrote. “AI is already the most consequential technological shift of my lifetime. It will shape our children’s lives in ways that are difficult to predict.”

She continued: “That’s precisely why I’ve joined profoundly thoughtful leaders like Mustafa Suleyman, Yusuf Mehdi, Jacob Andreou, Mike Davidson, Julia Beizer, Ciaran McCarthy, Charles Kha, Mark D’Arcy, and David Levenson (among many others I’ve yet to meet) to help build a technology that truly earns the trust needed to serve human potential.”

ADWEEK has reached out to Microsoft for further details on Mallard’s hire.

MAI is Microsoft’s dedicated AI research lab, established in 2024. It’s led by DeepMind co-founder Suleyman as CEO.

In late 2025, MAI unveiled new branding and a website showcasing its core tools and products, which include its LLM companion Copilot, AI-powered search engine Bing, its Edge browser, and communication platform GroupMe.

Mallard’s appointment comes as the legacy tech giant ramps up its AI ambitions. It has already committed billions to OpenAI, embedding the newcomer’s models across Co-Pilot, Bing, and cloud-computing platform Azure.

It also comes as AI brands continue to snap up senior marketing talent, including chipmaker Nvidia’s recent hire of longtime Google executive Alison Wagonfeld as its first-ever CMO.

A pin-worthy legacy

During her tenure at Pinterest as global CMO, ADWEEK Brand Genius honoree Mallard expanded her remit to include external communications.

She built Pinterest’s global marketing function from scratch, steering the brand through its 2019 IPO and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mallard also helped reposition Pinterest as a positive, inspiration-led alternative to traditional social media feeds through its marketing, and launched tentpole initiatives, including its yearly Pinterest Predicts trends report and flagship advertiser showcase, Pinterest Presents.

These efforts resulted in Pinterest sharpening its cultural relevance among Gen Z, growing advertiser appeal, and scaling to reach 600 million monthly users.

Now, Pinterest has hired Claudine Cheever as CMO. She was most recently vp of global brand and marketing at Amazon, where she worked for nearly a decade.