Remember when you’d see a commercial for a product on television? And then go to a brick-and-mortar store to buy it? (Okay, okay, we know that still happens—sometimes.) But the path to purchase for many retail transactions these days starts and ends online, so it’s easy to forget that it wasn’t always that way.

In her 30+ years in the CPG industry, Brigitte King, global chief digital officer at Colgate-Palmolive, has had a front row seat for that shift, and shifted her own career to mirror it.

King started at Colgate-Palmolive as a global trainee in the early 1990s, learning the ropes of marketing, finance, and market research before eventually joining L’Oréal in 1995, working in traditional brand marketing.

When she joined hair care brand John Frieda in 2002, she started building out its first website (which, she admits, dates herself a bit), learning about things like coding and wireframes, and eventually pivoted her career to digital marketing, and much farther down the road, re-joined Colgate-Palmolive in 2020.

Colgate was founded in 1806, and merged with soap company Palmolive-Peet in 1928. It’s home to—you guessed it—Colgate and Palmolive, as well as soap and personal care brands Softsoap, Speed Stick, and Irish Spring, as well as skin care brands Elta MD and PCA Skin, and many others. Since the company is a few centuries old, King’s focus has been driving its digital transformation.

“CPGs have been probably later to the data [and] digital analytics transformation party,” King said. “Colgate has really leaned in.”

Bright future: When she joined Colgate for the second time, the company had just started mapping out its digital strategy, which included plans for goals to achieve by 2025. She said she’s found that “people, tech, and process” has been the “magic trifecta,” in this strategy, which is geared at ensuring the company’s longevity and relevance.

Keep reading here.—EC

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It takes a big budget to be the most popular beer brand in the country.

Modelo Especial, the No. 1 beer brand in America, is also the category’s biggest TV advertiser, according to ad spend data from measurement firm iSpot provided to Marketing Brew.

The imported Mexican beer, which dethroned Bud Light last year in the midst of right-wing backlash to Bud Light’s work with a trans influencer, is the largest buyer of TV ads so far this year, spending an estimated $65 million as of July, per iSpot.

Much of that spend has been directed toward the Constellations Brands-owned beer’s “The Mark of a Fighter” ad campaign and on ads supporting its light beer, Modelo Oro.

Modelo has held the title as the category’s biggest spender since roughly the second quarter of 2020. Last year, Modelo spent $155 million on traditional TV ads, according to iSpot data, and the brand is planning to spend even more in 2024, Constellation Brands CEO Bill Newlands recently told investors.

“Despite Modelo being No. 1, there’s still a lot of awareness opportunity, and we’re planning to go get it,” Newlands said.

Keep reading on Marketing Brew.—RB

In what some are calling “Summerween,” the fall holiday sales season is kicking off early with the opening of Halloween costume stores like Spirit Halloween and the release of Halloween-themed candy from makers like Hershey. And of course, retailers continue to offer back-to-school deals.

Here’s what else is going on in retail this week:

In earnings: Two big box stores are reporting their Q2 earnings this week, starting with Home Depot on Tuesday and followed by Walmart on Thursday. What to expect? In Q1, Home Depot CFO Richard McPhail told shareholders that high interest rates were weighing on consumers, as sales declined 2.3% YoY, a trend that could continue in Q2 as the home improvement retailer has struggled to attract DIY customers. As for Walmart, its winning streak continued in Q1 with a 6% YoY bump in revenue and a 22% jump in US e-commerce sales.

In data: It’s a big week for data releases that should be relevant to retailers. The consumer price index for July is dropping on Wednesday, and for context, the measure last month showed inflation rose 3% year over year, which marked continued slowing. July retail sales numbers will follow on Thursday. Looking back at June, sales were flat but better than some economists had predicted, and apparel in particular performed well.

In events: The National Retail Federation is hosting its invitation-only Emerging Leaders Summit on Monday and Tuesday. The event consists of networking, educational, and skill-building opportunities for retail professionals who are in the first two to five years of their career. NRF is also hosting an event in California later in the week where retailers and legal experts will discuss issues affecting the industry in the state.—AV