SEPTEMBER 19, 2022 · Ad Age
Ad Age’s 40 Under 40:
How W. Joe DeMiero is Changing UM’s Culture
Since being named U.S. CEO in January, DeMiero has helped drive 10 business wins for the agency, including Grubhub, Upwork and Eargo, and organic growth with existing clients including BMW, USPS and CVS-Aetna.
DeMiero, 39, said he wanted to reimagine what an agency “can and should be” and is trying to create a culture “where people feel supported, feel safe, feel welcome and able to be who they are fully without fear of retribution to express themselves fully.”
Since he started, DeMiero has implemented off-hours, a companywide restriction on evening and weekend emails and meetings and launched new initiatives such as the first UM census.
https://adage.com/article/special-report-40-under-40/40-under-40-w-joe-demiero-us-ceo-um/2427646
MARCH 11, 2024 · Ad Age
UM is Ad Age’s 2024 Media Agency of the Year
The agency’s capabilities were key to major wins last year, such as leading IPG Mediabrands’ GEICO media account win as well as UM’s media win with General Mills.
UM has also been a leader in industry efforts toward diversity, equity and inclusion. Internally, the agency said 58% of new hires in 2023 identified as people of color and that 41% of employees are diverse.
https://adage.com/article/special-report-agency-list-creativity-awards/best-agencies-2024-um/2543106
MAY 17, 2023 · Campaign
Campaign’s Global Agency of the Year is UM
In the US, its latest initiative with the Gun Safety Alliance was a combination of donated media and influencer support for ‘March for Our Lives’ and ‘Stop Handgun Violence’ to call on Senators to push through baseline gun safety legislation, resulting in President Biden signing S. 2938: Bipartisan Safer Communities Act; the first major package of gun legislation in the past 30 years.
“A lot of the programmes they have are really inspiring and go beyond what would be expected from an agency,” judges said.
https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/media-agency-global-network-2022-um-media/1821431
FEBRUARY 23, 2023 · Ad Age
GEICO Gives Media Business to IPG’s Mediabrands
Nearly five months after putting its media account in review and laying off dozens of marketing staffers, GEICO has selected IPG shop Mediabrands. The appointment concludes the insurer’s 25-plus-year tenure of working with Horizon.
GEICO, which is owned by Berkshire Hathaway, spent more than $1.4 billion on media in 2021, ranking it as the most-advertised brand in the U.S.
This further consolidates the insurance company’s advertising business within IPG given that The Martin Agency currently handles its creative business.
https://adage.com/article/agency-news/geico-gives-media-business-ipgs-mediabrands/2475476
OCTOBER 19, 2023 · Ad Age
General Mills Hires IPG’s UM as Global Media Agency
General Mills has appointed Interpublic Group of Cos.’ UM as its global media agency of record following a review led by Mediasense.
UM will handle all strategy, planning, buying, analytics, performance and commerce efforts across over 36 markets, according to a statement by the agency.
In the fiscal year ending May 2023, General Mills, the owner of 100 brands including Annie’s, Cheerios and Fiber One, spent $810 million on worldwide advertising and media, according to its annual regulatory filing.
https://adage.com/article/agency-news/general-mills-hires-ipgs-um-global-media-agency/2523461
NOVEMBER 30, 2023 · Ad Age
Why DE&I and ROI are Inextricably Linked for Brands
To address growing industry perceptions regarding the fiscal justification for DE&I initiatives, UM released its October 2022 “Future Impact” study. According to List member W. Joe DeMiero, U.S. CEO of IPG Mediabrands’ global media agency network, the study “correlates investment in DE&I with business outcomes. It’s a key piece of the puzzle to help CMOs convince CFOs and other stakeholders why these investments are essential.”
Among the key findings, purchase intent more than doubles when socially conscious brands engage advertising media partners that share common values.
https://adage.com/article/list/making-business-case-dei/2531346
OCTOBER 30, 2023 · Ad Age
Navigating Creativity in an Age of Risk
“CMOs can’t control macroeconomics in most cases, but they can control how they navigate uncertainty, and the partnerships and knowledge they cultivate,” said List member W. Joe DeMiero, U.S. CEO of Universal McCann. “This includes putting in place the tools and processes to ensure adaptive capacity to test and learn, and prioritization around experimentation to test new models.”
“It’s time to move away from measuring brand health and brand performance separately,” said DeMiero. “The present and future of business success is in assessing ‘brand performance’ as one unit of measurement.” DeMiero warned that consumers don’t distinguish between their experience with brands and the perception they have of those brands. Performance tactics are now experience tactics.
https://adage.com/article/marketing-news-strategy/navigating-creativity-age-risk/2525336
OCTOBER 13, 2023 · Media Post
UM’s New Media Commerce Lab and the Marva-Lous Mrs. Sealy
The lab offers the UM staff, clients, reps and even some trade reporters an opportunity to have a hands-on experience with the rapidly evolving technologies — and interfaces — influencing consumers' retail path-to-purchase.
"We showcase the power of commerce media across all touchpoints through a never-before-done, immersive experience,” boasts UM U.S. CEO W. Joe DeMiero, describing the installation as a "real-world convenience store" laboratory.
"We can observe how people shop, identify emerging trends in behaviors, and test new approaches in real-time, with the goal of supercharging our clients’ and our own commerce efforts now and in the future," he adds.
SEPTEMBER 14, 2023 · Ad Age
Ad Age and Meta Launch ‘The Modern CMO Playbook’
“Imagine wearing the hats of chief revenue, creative, supply chain, brand safety, technology, information and public relations officer all in one.” said List member W. Joe DeMiero, U.S. CEO of Universal McCann. “It’s exactly as difficult as it sounds, creating a tension that persists no matter the global stature of the brand or size of the yearly bonus. How can the modern CMO successfully operate with business, social and operational pressures coming from all sides?”
It’s becoming clear that “the path to success here lies in accurately diagnosing rapidly changing circumstances that influence a brand’s position in the marketplace,” said DeMiero. “Marketing leaders can approach this goal by leveraging data to negotiate and align with key stakeholders, from the CEO to agency partners, around the expectations of driving short-term and long-term success. It’s also necessary to understand what CMOs can take responsibility for and what they cannot.”
AUGUST 9, 2023 · Adweek
UM’s New Commerce Tool Gives Clients More Control Over Their Retail Media Investments
UM announced the launch of Shoptimizer, a first-of-its-kind retail budget allocation and optimization tool that simplifies commerce planning while maximizing ROI. For several global consumer products brands, the use of Shoptimizer resulted in a 12-15% increase in incremental sales.
“UM has been leading the commerce media space for over a decade and Shoptimizer is our latest data- and tech-fueled innovation designed to adapt to ever-changing buyer behaviors and to accelerate conversion,” said W. Joe DeMiero, US CEO. “This new tool gives our clients more flexibility and efficiency in spending, based on real-time data, leading to proven business results.”
https://www.adweek.com/agencies/um-new-commerce-tool-shoptimizer-retail-media-investments/
JUNE 22, 2023
Medialink @ Cannes: Accelerating Brands Through Data-Driven Creativity
“Given the proliferation of channels and the opportunity to connect with consumers, we really can’t divide brand and performance anymore,” DeMiero said.
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7075256521495826432/
JUNE 21, 2023
Brand Innovators @ Cannes: The Surface Economy and The Future of Media
“Our people-centered approach is about how brands can offer more value over the lifetime of a consumer. As marketers, we all have to be subject matter experts in privacy, personalization, and understanding how to connect with people on their terms,” DeMiero said.
MAY 12, 2023 · Ad Age
UM Reorganizes U.S. Leadership Structure with New Roles
UM has appointed new U.S. leaders under CEO W. Joe DeMiero, who took over U.S. operations of the IPG Mediabrands agency at the start of 2022.
“We’re always looking for ways to take advantage of our capabilities in more seamless ways, so that your team can be more successful on behalf of your clients,” DeMiero said. “The intention of this is to create a flatter organization where teams are more empowered, more on the front lines of what they’re doing with the right tools to get done what they need to get done with the leaders who can create the environment where they can be at their best.”
https://adage.com/article/agency-news/ipgs-um-reorganizes-us-leadership-structure-new-roles/2494296
MARCH 13, 2023
The Female Quotient @ SXSW
“When you think about the economy we are in right now, we all need more inspiration now more than ever. As someone who is responsible for the caring and inspiration of about 5,500 people and their families, along with their personal and professional development, if we aren’t making time for inspiring our people, I’m not sure what we expect,” DeMiero said.
“We have a whole new generation in our workforce that has been sitting behind a computer to attend school, and now we expect them to come into an office and build relationships. As leaders, it’s our responsibility to upskill our people in big and small ways,” DeMiero said.
https://www.linkedin.com/video/live/urn:li:ugcPost:7040350237374255104/
JUNE 15, 2022 · Variety
‘Dear Santa’ Holiday Letters Miniseries Set For Hulu
A documentary about kids’ holiday letters to Santa that was originally created as a promotional effort for the United States Post Office is set to become a new miniseries aimed at inspiring consumers around holiday time.
“Dear Santa” was released in 2020 and put a spotlight on “Operation Santa,” a USPS initiative that has people “adopt” letters sent by kids to Santa Claus and help to fulfill their wishes.
https://variety.com/2022/tv/news/dear-santa-documentary-miniseries-disney-hulu-1235294964/amp/
DECEMBER 6, 2021 · Digiday
How Reuters Events maintains a role for virtual as it returns to in-person events
W. Joe DeMiero, CEO of experiential agency Hawkeye, said he is seeing “a significant uptick in interest from clients about both hybrid and virtual events going into 2022,” as well as revenue growth year over year similar to what Reuters Events is bringing in, due to “pent-up demand for connectivity, especially in-person and hybrid connectivity, among clients across most industries.” DeMiero added that nearly all of Hawkeye’s clients’ events will have “a hybrid component” next year, though a few “are sticking to purely virtual” as well.
NOVEMBER 3, 2021 · Podcast
Using Data and Empathetic Creativity for Clients
If you're looking for words of wisdom from a young CEO, you're downloading the right podcast. W. Joe DeMiero shares leadership takeaways that any business owner or executive, from a small business to a multi-national corporations can implement.
Joe's worked with the best and brightest business leaders in America. In this episode with DBJ Managing Editor Rob Schneider, Joe compares leadership to jazz music.
https://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/news/2021/11/03/w-joe-demiero-hawkeye-texas-business-minds.html
JULY 21, 2021 · Digiday
Crypto publisher Blockworks plans to host 5,000 attendees at an in-person event next spring
W. Joe DeMiero, CEO of experiential agency Hawkeye, said that while its clients are planning for large-scale in-person events next spring, “we anticipate most events will continue to have a strong virtual component, to meet attendees on their terms.”
MAY 4, 2021 · CFO Drive
How CFOs and CEOs Collaborate Best
At Dallas, Tex.-based marketing and customer relationship management (CRM) firm Hawkeye, CEO Joe DeMiero and CFO Brian McIntyre say they “never do anything that would communicate to our team we’re anything but in lockstep.”
“Our partnership is better because our roles and responsibilities are more like a Venn Diagram,” McIntryre said. “I know every client [...], every project happening in the agency, and every person we hire. Joe is deep in the numbers, and pushes spreadsheets back and forth with me.”
“I don’t think you can be a successful CEO without knowing the business of your business,” he added. “Joe dives in, asks the tough questions, and constantly challenges the team during the planning and budgeting cycle.”
https://www.cfodive.com/news/how-cfos-and-ceos-collaborate-best/599559/
MARCH 5, 2021 · Digiday
Bloomberg Media is testing paid tiers for virtual events
Hosting free virtual events has its challenges. A large publisher client of experiential agency Hawkeye transitioned one of their annual events to virtual with free registration, and “attendance dropped by half, and engagement bottomed out nearly entirely. This was in part because offering the event for free lowered the value perception,” said W. Joe DeMiero, CEO of Hawkeye, who did not name the publisher client.
https://digiday.com/media/bloomberg-media-is-testing-paid-tiers-for-virtual-events/
MARCH 1, 2021 · Digiday
Publishers look for new opportunities in events businesses after a tranformative 2020
“Sponsors are generally not interested in supporting ‘just another online meeting,’ so brands who have been successful in the past year with online events have invested in reimagining the shape and texture of the programming for virtual delivery,” said W. Joe DeMiero, CEO of experiential agency Hawkeye. “The most successful sponsor integrations we see tend to integrate the sponsor’s brand into the interactive parts of the event.”
OCTOBER 20, 2020 · Dallas Business Journal
DFW agency Hawkeye, part of Publicis, quietly expanded to over 900 people – and isn’t done
Hawkeye is benefitting from growing demand for its services as companies look for fresh ways to attract clients. While COVID-19 has been a challenge, the firm has attracted 20 new clients in 2020 so far, easily outpacing other roster changes. And DeMiero sees opportunities ahead after leading the company for more than a year.
“I am thrilled about what 2021 is going to bring,” he said. “I am optimistic. This year was a foundation-laying year for us.”
https://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/news/2020/10/20/hawkeye-publicis-joe-demiero.html
MARCH 6, 2020 · USA Today
Google Assistant, Alexa Celebrate Women’s History Month
Google Assistant is honoring prominent women in March with the help of its latest feature launched for Women’s History Month.
Anyone with Google’s smart speaker can wish it a “Happy International Women’s Day” and count on their smart device to read out loud information related to a trailblazer.
Google has chosen to highlight 12 women from diverse nationalities and disciplines, including labor rights activist Dolores Huerta, architect Zaha Hadidand environmental scientist Rachel Carson, among others.
FEBRUARY 11, 2019 · CNET
Lexus UX Rocks Bespoke Tires Based on Nike AF1 Shoes
Lexus on Monday unveiled a set of bespoke tires for its UX compact crossover. The tires, called the "Sole of the UX," come from a partnership between Lexus and designer John Elliott. The tires are modeled after his John Elliott x Nike AF1 shoes, which retail for $150 a pair and are already sold out on Nike's site.
The tires are absolutely wild. For starters, like those AF1s, they're entirely white — although after about 5 feet of driving on any actual street, they probably wouldn't stay that way. The tread has been replaced with a tread that resembles the AF1's, including a metal air valve that resembles the shoes' metal lace tips. Hell, there's even stitching on the tires.
https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/lexus-ux-white-tires-john-elliott-nike-af1-shoes/
FEBRUARY 4, 2019 · Digiday
‘It’s definitely going to break things’: Apple is prepping an iOS change that may hurt AR and VR advertising
“Web-based AR/VR experiences address the major barrier to adoption: form factor. As consumers spend more time on mobile devices, serving an immersive, interactive experience without having to put on goggles presents a significant creative opportunity,” said W. Joe DeMiero, management director of digital at Team One, in an email.
JUNE 20, 2018
Bringing the Lexus LC500 to Life via the Magic of Real-Time
W. Joe DeMiero, Founder of TiltShift, the world’s first VR/AR/immersive reality agency, and Head of Digital at Lexus’s agency, Saatchi & Saatchi/Team One, presents the keynote address at Unity’s global conference in Berlin.
DeMiero discusses how Unity’s technology was used to launch and then build and sustain interest in Lexus’s new flagship performance vehicle, the LC500, using virtual reality and augmented reality applications at dozens of live events around the world and at dealerships.