News Briefs

Arc Worldwide, a commerce engine and retail innovation agency within Publicis Groupe, has named Chris Cancilla as chief creative officer, North America. He will report to Soche Picard, CEO, North America.

Cancilla will drive transformation for clients using data- and insights-driven creativity to connect with shoppers, according to a statement shared with the Path to Purchase Institute. 

With more than 30 years of creative experience across disciplines — from identity and advertising to activation and commerce — Cancilla has worked on various brands, including Unilever, Molson Coors, Intel, Dunkin’, The American Red Cross and the Obama Foundation, where he served as creative director from 2021-2022.

Prior to that, Cancilla served as Arc’s CCO from 2016-2021, and before that as senior vice president, group creative director, from 2004-2008, according to his LinkedIn. After his first stint at Arc, he held similar roles at VML Commerce (then VMLY&R Commerce), Trisect Agency and VSA Partners. 

Beyond the agency, Cancilla also teaches original coursework for Northwestern University’s Medill Integrated Marketing Communications program and serves on the board of Impact for Equity, a social justice organization in Chicago. 

“There is no one else I would rather have at my side than Cancilla,” Picard said in the statement. “He is a master of merging the art and science of commerce to connect with people. I’m over the moon welcoming him back to Arc [to help] lead our agency and drive value for our client partners.”

“It is an honor to be rejoining Arc at such an exciting time in the commerce space,” Cancilla added. “In a world where we have endless data, countless channels and the ability to deploy messages in nanoseconds, Arc brings the critical power of human insights coupled with breakthrough creative ideas. With its talent, culture and commitment to winning together, there’s no agency I’d rather be at.”

Advertising agency Kargo unveiled an integration with TikTok to enable Kargo Commerce (formerly StitcherAds) clients to directly access offline sales insights in TikTok Ads Manager. 

The integration improves targeting and reporting for advertiser campaigns with omnichannel measurement and higher quality data, according to a media release. Advertisers will get real-time, granular insights that measure the full-funnel impact of their TikTok ads, including online and offline performance. 

The integration brings offline conversion insights that advertisers choose to share, such as in-store purchases and subscriptions, from Kargo’s campaign management tool (i.e., media technology platform) to TikTok’s offline events API. Kargo has similar integrations across a number of platforms for brands with business models that rely on offline conversions, per the release. 

The integration enables Kargo Commerce advertisers on TikTok to:

• Measure the effectiveness of marketing campaigns from an offline setting.
• Track and analyze customer interactions across multiple touchpoints and channels.
• Gain a comprehensive picture of a company’s total sales and conversions.

“This partnership offers a comprehensive view of the customer journey, empowering brands to optimize their campaigns,” Lorry Destainville, head of product partnerships at TikTok, said in the release.

“TikTok represents a massive commerce opportunity for advertisers and we’re thrilled to deepen our partnership with this integration,” added Michael Shaughnessy, chief operating officer at Kargo. “Advertisers are looking for more transparency and control to improve quality and improve performance. Now they get what they need to optimize commerce experiences on the platform.”

Brian Messerschmitt announced in a July 22 LinkedIn post that he was promoted to chief marketing officer at Dollar Tree in June. In this role, he represents both Dollar Tree and Family Dollar brands. 

Messerschmitt previously served as the discount retailer’s vice president, customer experience marketing, from May 2023-June 2024. In that role, he led the strategic direction of the enterprise, customer experience across retail media (Chesapeake Media Group), loyalty and e-commerce. He also helped develop and implement integrated plans to enhance the customer experience, drive long-term customer loyalty and retention, and accelerate monetization and sales, according to his LinkedIn profile.

“I look forward to partnering with our merchandising leaders and business partners to improve the customer experience, and to grow the business and build the brands,” Messerschmitt said on LinkedIn about his new position. 

Prior to joining Dollar Tree, Messerschmitt spent nearly four years at Albertsons Cos., helping lead its retailer media network, Albertsons Media Collective, as VP, client sales, marketing and account management. Before that, he spent more than 21 years at Procter & Gamble in various roles. 

Petco Health and Wellness Co.'s board of directors has appointed Five Below CEO and former Walmart executive Joel D. Anderson as CEO, effective July 29. He will also serve on the company's board.

"I am excited to join Petco at a pivotal time as we reposition the business for a stronger future," Anderson said in a statement. "Petco is the leader in pet health and wellness and I see many opportunities to improve performance."

Interim CEO R. Michael Mohan will transition from his current role on July 29 to chair a board committee focused on Petco's ongoing value creation initiatives, working with Anderson to ensure a smooth leadership transition.

"On behalf of the board of directors, I extend our deepest gratitude to [Mohan] for his dedication and leadership," said Glenn Murphy, executive chairman of the board. "He has made a meaningful impact as our interim CEO over the past few months, effectively stabilizing our operations and setting us on the path for continued improvements in performance."

Anderson’s Background

Anderson has been CEO of specialty discount chain Five Below, where he led the company's U.S. expansion from 366 stores to more than 1,500, helped launch an e-commerce site, optimized operations, expanded into new categories and saw revenue grow from $500 million to more than $3.5 billion.

Anderson also previously spent three years as president and CEO of Walmart.com, from 2011-2014, and for four years before that as divisional senior vice president of Walmart's Northern Plains division, overseeing 100,000 associates and more than $25 billion in annual sales. Prior to that, he held various executive positions at Toys R Us over a 14-year period.

Additionally, Anderson currently serves on Sprouts Farmers Market’s board as a director and is a member of the audit and compensation committees.

Through a new partnership, Loop Media, a multichannel streaming connected TV platform, will utilize DoubleVerify’s pre-bid fraud and invalid traffic protection solution from its DV Marketplace. The solution will help Loop avoid serving advertisements to sites identified by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) as invalid or fraudulent. The platform will also leverage DV’s measurement and reporting tools.

Loop provides curated music videos, sports highlights, news and entertainment channels through its Loop TV service.

As global CTV advertising spend continues to grow, publishers and advertisers are looking to ensure their media dollars are being spent on valid traffic. Loop said in a statement that its partnership with DV helps to protect advertisers against fraudulent and invalid CTV traffic. This partnership also enables Loop to optimize inventory across its network.

"DV’s pre-bid protection and media quality verification solution further solidifies our commitment to creating an effective, safe and transparent CTV ecosystem for both advertisers and our platform partners,’” Jon Niermann, founder of Loop, said in the statement. 

DV offers a set of solutions for CTV environments and detects fraud schemes across inventory types and devices. Loop aims to improve its own supply side offerings with DV's capabilities and fraud measurement tools. 

“As CTV continues to grow as a critical component of media strategies, it is essential for publishers and advertisers to have confidence in the integrity of their media investments,” added Steve Woolway, executive vice president of business development at DoubleVerify. 

Nature Made, a national supplement brand owned by Pharmavite (a P2PI member), has been named in the 2024 “Best OTC Medicine & Health Products" ranking by U.S. News & World Report in multiple vitamin and supplement categories.

In partnership with market research firm The Harris Poll, U.S. News’ annual survey asked hundreds of U.S.-practicing medical experts, including 354 pharmacists and 122 dermatologists, to score more than hundreds of brands across 132 OTC categories this year. The results ranked Nature Made as the No. 1 brand for:

• Best Vitamin Brands: Nature Made
• Best Potassium Supplements: Nature Made Potassium Gluconate
• Best Natural Sleep Aids: Nature Made Melatonin
• Best Prenatal Vitamins: Nature Made Prenatal Folic Acid
• Best Fish Oil Supplement with Omega-3: Nature Made Fish Oil
• Best Herbal Supplements: Nature Made
• Best Turmeric Supplements: Nature Made Turmeric
• Best Vitamin C Supplements: Nature Made Vitamin C
• Best Vitamin D Supplements: Nature Made Vitamin D
• Best Vitamins and Supplements for Energy: Nature Made Super B Energy Complex
• Best Zinc Supplements: Nature Made Zinc
• Best Diabetic Multivitamins: Nature Made Daily Diabetes Health Pack

“On behalf of the entire Nature Made team, we’re incredibly honored that healthcare professionals have recognized Nature Made as the leading brand in several key vitamin and supplement segments,” Jeff Boutelle, CEO, Pharmavite, said in a statement. “As consumers look to pharmacists for guidance on over-the-counter choices now more than ever, we value this recognition in such a wide range of categories.”

For the survey, The Harris Poll randomly assigned product categories to medical experts and asked them to rank their top three recommended brands. More than 900 brands, which were vetted against several factors including quantity of internet reviews or high search volumes, were included in the survey. The brands that were highly ranked most often are recognized as No. 1 for the corresponding categories.

“Continuing our commitment to offer consumers trusted, data-backed ratings and rankings to help with their health care decisions, the 2024 evaluation features statistically ‘best’ brands,” added Sumita Singh, general manager of health at U.S. News.