Only ’90s kids will remember…and make sure everyone else does, too.

After discontinuing the popular cookie-and-frosting combo pack Dunkaroos in 2012—which first debuted in 1992—Michael Bierbach, associate marketing manager at General Mills, told us the company received four tweets per hour about the product before deciding to bring it back in 2020.

• “We had your average consumer tweeting about it. We had the celebrity consumer tweeting about it. We knew that this was something we needed to bring back,” he said.

Make it work: Nostalgia marketing is nothing new, with everyone from TV producers to graphic designers to other food suppliers going after those wistful for the 20th century. But after eight years of no production and what Bierbach called a company shift to more “health-forward” snacks like granola bars, how did General Mills pull off what ended up being one of its most successful launches to date?

Slam dunk

Bierbach said a Dunkaroos relaunch had been whispered about among General Mills brand managers since he started at the company almost 10 years ago. After the marketing team saw engagement online, they worked with the brand team, identifying business opportunities and strategies for relaunch.

Behind the scenes: Once approved by the top brass, Bierbach said the team had to essentially “rebuild the entire product offering and supply chain [and] everything we needed to do to commercialize it,” adding that, “We knew how to do it—like we knew what the formula was, we knew what the inputs were—but doing it 10 years later was a little bit different.”

• Bierbach said they looked at past consumer learnings, including “ethnographies, shop-alongs, focus groups, and in-home research” conducted in the late 2000s, to see what fans wanted most from the snack.
• Findings showed fans wanted an “excuse to eat frosting straight, essentially,” so they changed the shape of the cookie from a kangaroo to a more scoop-able coin.

Click here to read how General Mills has marketed Dunkaroos since its 2020 return.—KH

CMOs aren’t exactly known for planting roots—many leave after just a year or so on the job.

More and more, some are choosing to leave behind full-time employment altogether, instead taking on “fractional” CMO roles that let them temporarily take on the top marketing role.

Growing, growing, gone: Chief Outsiders, a firm that specializes in placing fractional CMOs at companies, increased its revenue by 50% last year, according to Ad Age.

Jumping ship: There are a few reasons why this way of working seems to be picking up stream.

• For starters, there’s not exactly a lot of clarity around what a CMO does these days. “When I talk to founders who are looking for a CMO, the first thing I ask is, ‘What does a CMO do?’ None of the answers are exactly the same,” Khosla Ventures CMO Shernaz Daver told the Wall Street Journal last month.
• CMO tenure is falling; a 2021 analysis from corporate headhunting group Spencer Stuart found that, on average, they stay on the job for a little more than three years, the lowest level since 2009. “The turnover rate for CMOs is pretty high. The marketing leader is the one that gets the blame for slow or no growth—whether it’s a marketing problem or not, they get the blame,” Metaforce co-founder and partner David Camp recently told Digiday.
• Working as a fractional CMO can alleviate some of the pressures and headaches that can come with full-time employment. For instance, these executives typically work remotely, per the WSJ, and can pick and choose which companies they want to help.

Looking ahead: The rise of fractional CMOs could be part of the industry’s larger shift to freelance and temp work. “We expect to see brands and agencies using freelance more, whether or not the economy goes into a recession,” Holly Wasson, chief community and marketing officer at We Are Rosie, told Marketing Brew in June.—MS

While social media platforms like TikTok present CPG brands with an opportunity to engage potential customers with video content, when wedged between Gentleminions videos and “Chrissy Wake Up” remixes, sometimes actual shopper conversion can be difficult.

Entertainment-minded users scrolling through their For You pages don’t always have “intent to shop,” according to Kimiloluwa Fafowora, founder and CEO of startup Gander, which is working to instead bring video content straight to a brand’s e-comm site.

“While people are actively already considering your product, they get that extra nudge to get that extra layer of social proof that really drives them towards actually checking out,” Fafowora told Retail Brew.

How it works: Gander, which debuted last year and raised $4.2 million in a seed round last month, integrates short videos onto DTC sites to provide shoppers with demos or product info while they’re browsing—while providing brands a way to boost sales and conversion rates.

• In Q1 2022, Gander drove an 8x boost in conversion rates for shoppers who viewed brands’ videos, according to the company.
• And by connecting with a company’s store via a Shopify app, the startup says it doesn’t affect website performance or loading speed.

Coming into view: Fafowora, a 26-year-old Gen Z branding expert, began her career in investing before working as strategy manager at consumer brand studio, Brandable. Selling to brick-and-mortar retailers like Sephora, Walmart, and Target while running DTC businesses, she found that “a lot of the human elements that are critical for driving conversions don’t really exist online.”

Read the full story on Retail Brew.—EC

There are a lot of bad marketing tips out there. These aren’t those.

The ’gram: If you need timely Instagram Reels inspiration, look no further.

Secrets, secrets: We’re not sure why you’d want to use TikTok’s secret emojis, but here’s how to do so if the spirit compels you.

Prep school: Can J.Crew’s new menswear collection help shift its brand perception? Maybe.

A+ marketing: After a quick study sesh with Sailthru’s latest guide, back-to-school marketers can build meaningful relationships and win the back-to-school marketing szn. Learn how to enhance consumer relationship marketing strategies right here.*

^{*This is sponsored advertising content.}

Can’t keep up with every social media news update or new platform feature?

20,000+ social media professionals subscribe to Geekout for a smart, savvy, comprehensive, and fun round-up of everything new in social, every Friday.

Check it out. (It’s free!)

Happy Monday, folks! Let’s start the week off right by finding your next role on the Marketing Brew Job Board!

Today’s featured openings:

• Campaign Analyst at Morning Brew
• Digital & Social Media Manager at Lynn Hazan & Associates
• Account Manager at Caliber Corporate Advisers

We are looking to chat with hiring managers and job posters—let us know if we can contact you here! You can also see more jobs or post your job opportunities here.

This 1969 ad promotes what is perhaps the most useful product we’ve ever featured in Ad Antiques.

We asked Morning Brew readers about their thoughts on inflation and found out most of you have already cut back on spending. So... basically no more ordering DoorDash 7x a week.

Check out the full results of our survey and see how other readers are cutting back on spending here.

Catch up on a few Marketing Brew stories you might have missed.

• Regular Super Bowl sponsors are shifting toward more flexible game-day opportunities
• Mood Board: The creepy inspiration for Ford’s frightening new car commercial
• ‘A solution to a problem that doesn’t exist’: Some marketers aren’t bullish on influencer hacking insurance