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Elon Musk’s choice to onboard NBCU ad sales chief Linda Yaccarino has left marketers on the edge of their seats, while Yaccarino inherits a company in absolute turmoil.
“I have an unbelievable level of confidence in Linda’s ability to turn Twitter around and save it from the clutches of the evil overlord who owns it,” Lou Paskalis, chief strategy officer of Ad Fontes Media, told Adweek.
Most marketers think Yaccarino is Twitter’s best shot at reconnecting with advertisers who’ve fled the platform. Five brand leaders Adweek spoke with expect Yaccarino to return Twitter to a more brand-safe and innovative environment.
If Linda can’t turn Twitter around, it’s done.
Rishad Tobaccowala, author and brand strategist
Musk’s tumultuous takeover last October paired with his unpredictable behavior has left many advertisers wary of doing business with the platform. From dissolving the board of directors to laying off more than 6,000 staff, starting a subscription business that has seen limited success and defenestrating content moderation tools, Musk has Yaccarino’s work cut out for her.
“Between now and the end of the year, we’ll understand if Twitter can come back or will go out of business,” said Rishad Tobaccowala, author and former high-ranking executive at Publicis Groupe, told Adweek. “If Linda can’t turn Twitter around, it’s done.”
Fix content moderation and brand safety
To immediately pacify advertisers’ concerns, Yaccarino’s priority should be restoring Twitter’s content moderation team that was fired by Musk last November, according to Paskalis.
“The content moderation tech team was responsible for language translation, understanding new threat vectors and for deploying new technology to moderate content successfully,” he said. “I think that will be [Yaccarino’s] first priority because that’s what advertisers are most concerned about.”
Yaccarino could also reinstate Twitter’s “influence council,” a group composed of four dozen marketing executives from Twitter’s former major advertisers—a meeting she could possibly convene in Cannes this year.
Paskalis also expects Yaccarino to create more transparency around the algorithmic orchestration on the platform, purging the unwanted experience of random profiles popping up in feeds.