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Revenue Brew’s Beck Salgado reports the CRO is becoming Corporate America’s newest fast track to the corner office, with CROs now moving into CEO roles at a rising pace. LinkedIn identified the CRO as the fastest-growing job title in the U.S., while a McKinsey study found Fortune 100 companies with a CRO or equivalent see 1.8x higher revenue growth. Former CROs now serving as CEOs say the role uniquely blends strategy, execution and cross-functional alignment. Go-to-market software firm Walnut.io CEO Eric Anderson explains that “CROs don’t just set the strategy; they live it daily, partnering across functions to turn vision into measurable impact,” adding that the job forces leaders to unify sales, marketing, product, finance and customer success around shared growth objectives. Cloud inventory software company Katana Co-CEO Ben Hussey says the CRO skill set now requires mastery of the entire commercial engine: “You have to have the right customer acquisition costs, lifetime value and cash metrics, which means you also need someone who understands those things. That’s the difference between a sales leader and a revenue leader today.” (link)

AdAge’s Lindsay Rittenhouse writes that agencies are rapidly hiring AI strategists as marketing shifts from experimentation to full operational deployment, with six-figure salaries now standard and top roles exceeding $200K. Recruiter Tony Stanol says demand is rising because “the need for this specific blend of strategic and applied AI expertise is only growing,” adding that agencies no longer want prompt-writers but “bridge-builders.” These strategists are increasingly responsible for mapping where AI, automation and data modeling create business value. Rapp Director of Experience Planning Max Braun argues that “AI needs a PR reset,” in which strategists must help reimagine “what higher-order thinking looks like when humans and machines collaborate.” To do the job well, executives stress technical literacy, ethical judgment, and constant learning, with Braun noting: “The AI strategist sits at the intersection of learning, humanity and potential.” (link)

SBJ’s Bret McCormick recaps two SBJ Dealmakers panels on the rapidly expanding world of sports-anchored mixed-use development, with industry leaders outlining how teams, developers and capital partners should approach the earliest – and often least understood – phases of these projects. RCLCo’s Erin Talkington emphasized the first step is not rendering buildings but understanding the market a venue can create: “Everyone has heard a million times that real estate is location, location, location. That isn’t different when you’re doing mixed-use development. … Today we get asked, how do we make the market? Let’s actually understand what belongs here and how the venue changes that.” Pontem Resources’ Malaika Rivers underscored the complexity and long-tail impact of these districts: “Your approach is really trumping the urgency. … You need to understand your capital stack, your market, your product mix, your infrastructure, your political environment. Your project is going to be there for decades, and it affects the community for a long time.” (link)

NACMA Timeout Podcast host Zach Dayton welcomed MAAC Commissioner Travis Tellitocci to detail the conference's "Repositioning Project," a strategic effort to redefine the conference's identity and escape name confusion with the Mid-American Conference. Inside the episode:

➤ Escaping the Acronym Trap: The project was initiated to overcome the decades-long challenge of acronym confusion—being referred to as "the other MAC" or "the MAC that doesn't play football"—aiming to secure an identity that prevents the conference from constantly being on its "back heels explaining our name."

➤ Preserving History: Tellitocci emphasized that the goal is comprehensive "repositioning"—not a full rebrand—focused on establishing a distinct, stand-apart identity while preserving the league's rich 45-year history and tradition.

➤ Stakeholder-Driven Insights: The process began with a Fall 2023 strategic plan, gathering comprehensive data that included input from over 3,200 student-athletes to ensure the new narrative is authentic, sustainable, and clearly communicates the MAAC's unique value.

This project marks an inflection point for the league, providing a major opportunity to change the narrative and establish a definitive public identity.

CLICK HERE to listen to the full podcast >>

Fast Company’s Jeff Beer observes Pop-Tarts is dramatically expanding its edible-mascot concept for the Pop-Tarts Bowl, moving from one sacrificial pastry in 2023 to six this year as the brand leans deeper into a stunt that delivered 4B media impressions and a postgame sales bump of 21M units. Here’s more…

➤ The new lineup will be split into “Team Sprinkles” and “Team Swirls,” with fans voting on which group gets toasted and consumed on December 27. Pop-Tarts VP of Marketing Leslie Serro rejected the idea that the brand is escalating too quickly, saying: “Expanding from three to six edible mascots this year isn’t about an arms race; it’s about evolution.” 

➤ Serro adds that fans have an “insatiable appetite for the playful and unexpected nature of the Pop-Tarts Bowl.” Beer notes that mascot-driven campaigns historically outperform celebrity-focused campaigns and that Pop-Tarts’ “Agents of Crazy Good” are designed with longevity in mind to build a durable brand character system. Still, he argues that Pop-Tarts is risking the shelf life of the concept by doubling the number of mascots so soon, submitting that the brand “may have just bitten years off the gimmick’s lifespan” in pursuit of short-term cultural impact. 

➤ The broader goal remains expanding Pop-Tarts from a breakfast food into an all-day snack, with last year’s bowl game driving nine times more share of voice than 20 other non-Kellanova bowl games combined and generating the brand’s highest search volume in 15 years. Serro declined to say whether Pop-Tarts will extend its bowl sponsorship, offering only: “While we can’t share much just yet, let’s just say we love football and the way it brings fans together.” (link)

Greenfly Director of Strategy and Research Neil Horowitz shares some interesting slides from TikTok's presentation at the recent SBJ Media Innovators Conference. Notably…

➤ Positioning TikTok as an invaluable way to reach female sports fans, with ~ 2/3 of women selecting TikTok as their go-to for sports content, and female users finding twice as many avenues to sports content on TikTok as male users.

➤ They identified three sports fan types on TikTok, with differing lists of content areas of interest, but the top content for all three (he called out): Highlights and recaps of games/matches.

➤ You can see how they think about activating major events: Driving fans to convert on offers or back to O&O, engagement-driving features, audience development initiatives, etc.

➤ The future-looking slide/talk is interesting: Athlete onboarding is a big objective, activating more with games (highlights and live), helping drive conversions in all forms. (link) 

SBJ’s Ethan Joyce digs into Legends Global using last week’s Cowboys-Chiefs Thanksgiving matchup as the biggest stress test yet for AT&T Stadium’s new RFID-powered Exo Checkout system, which has already transformed the venue’s merchandise operation. Legends Global Senior Director for Stadiums and Arenas Don Doolin says transaction times have plunged from “between 90 to 105 seconds” to an average of “33 seconds,” with average spend per transaction up 11% YoY. He adds that inventory management has been completely reshaped by Exo’s RFID infrastructure: “Inventory’s done in a snap, with one person versus five people.” AT&T Stadium has deployed 70 Exo Checkout units across 17 locations, part of a broader $300M renovation timed for the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup. The Cowboys’ POS upgrade to Retailcloud also accelerated the improvements, as Exo and Retailcloud have integrated frequently since their first sports venue collaboration in 2021. (link)

NHL attendance is essentially flat YoY, rising just 0.4% (+76 fans per game), but The Athletic’s Harman Dayal and James Mirtle report that figure disguises major team-level swings as half the league plays at 98% capacity or higher. Specifically, 16 teams fall into the “guaranteed sellout” tier, including Las Vegas, Boston, Colorado, Florida and Seattle, while New Jersey climbs into the top group fueled by early-season momentum. Florida has now sold out every home game with average attendance up more than 12% compared to two seasons ago. Nashville continues to draw despite sitting near the bottom of the standings, and Vancouver’s early numbers remain strong even as fan apathy grows amid on-ice struggles. League-wide, teams are operating at approximately 96% capacity, exceeding historical norms even before Utah’s expected long-term expansion to a 17K-seat configuration. (link)

CFO turnover has surged to a seven-year high, with 256 new CFOs and 215 departures worldwide through Q3 2025, driven largely by a wave of retirements and expanding executive responsibilities, according to CFO Brew’s Natasha Piñon. Russell Reynolds Financial Officers Practice Americas Lead Linda Barham says retirement is now the dominant factor, accounting for 58% of exits. “We are at, in 2025, one of the highest levels of retirements that we have seen at the CFO level.” For those who did not retire, broader roles are increasingly the trigger, as Russell Reynolds Partner Nick Roberts says “about two thirds” of that group moved internally into positions such as president, CEO, or business-unit head. U.S. turnover is particularly elevated, with the S&P 500 logging 84 CFO appointments in the first three quarters – a seven-year high. Roberts adds that record market performance is influencing timing: “With the S&P at sort of all-time highs, I think there is a perspective of CFOs of like, ‘Hey, now is a good time for me to transition.’” (link)

The Wall Street Journal’s Jennifer Williams reports that Gen Z is the only generation planning major cutbacks in holiday spending this year, a shift driven by rising living costs, student-loan payments, higher unemployment among recent graduates, and shrinking discretionary income — and a concerning signal for retailers who rely on young shoppers to drive trends and future growth. Survey data underscores the pullback: Deloitte found Gen Z expects to reduce holiday spending by 34%, far more than any other cohort, while PwC reported declines in travel, dining and apparel. Even as overall Black Friday sales rose 3%, shoppers purchased fewer items and placed fewer online orders, reflecting price inflation rather than volume growth. For many young adults, the squeeze is personal and immediate, and Williams notes the trend extends broadly across college-educated 20-somethings, who face the highest unemployment rate of any adult group at 6.8% – the highest level in a decade outside the pandemic – while also absorbing rising housing, food and transportation costs. PwC Head of U.S. Consumer Markets Ali Furman noted the urgency: “Even if it’s not your stated demographic or your desired demographic, you still have to pay attention to this generation because of the influence that they’re having.” (link)