IPG's Leadership Changes; Tide's Latest Meta Ads: Tuesday's First Things First

Welcome to First Things First, Adweek’s new daily resource for marketers. We’ll be publishing the content to First Things First on Adweek.com each morning (like this post), but if you prefer that it come straight to your inbox, you can sign up for the email here. Today's top story: IPG Signals Its Future With a Trio of Significant Leadership Changes A new era of leadership at IPG is afoot after the holding company announced a series of changes on Monday. Former chief strategy and talent officer Philippe Krakowsky is now COO. He'll be gaining oversight of Carmichel Lynch, Deutsch, Hill Holliday, Huge, R/GA and Acxiom, the database marketing company IPG acquired for $2.3 billion in July of 2018. Adweek's 2016 Media Exec of the Year, Daryl Lee, takes over for Karkowsky as CEO for IPG Mediabrands. Eileen Kiernan will be promoted to Lee’s former role from her current position as global president of J3, UM’s dedicated unit for the Johnson & Johnson account. Gartner Explains the Tech That Marketers Need to Master Gartner's research identified four technologies that have the ability to transform how marketers do their jobs and deliver meaningful customer experiences. Artificial intelligence Real-time marketing Customer data platforms (CDP) Blockchain Read more: Gartner explains why it's so optimistic about these four types of tech. In a Bid to Strengthen Its Independence, Barkley Buys Back All of Its Stock One of the benefits of being part of an independent agency—or any agency, for that matter—is the opportunity to become a shareholder. Over time, Kansas City-based agency Barkley eventually saw people outside of the company hold more shares than the actual employees. The agency is taking two steps to rectify that issue: It's buying back all the outstanding shares, which is no cheap task. Barkley hopes the buyback will make itself more competitive for top talent. When shareholders leave the company, the shares won't leave with them. Just briefly: The rest of today's top news. Group Nine Media could be looking to expand further after raising another $50 million from Discover, Axel Springer. Amazon will challenge the advertising duopoly. Forrester dug into the ecommerce giant's impacts. E! Entertainment president Adam Stotsky is leaving the network. He oversaw the transformation of the network into the entertainment powerhouse that is today. BET+, the subscription video-on-demand service from Viacom’s BET Networks and Tyler Perry Studios, will debut on Thursday, Sept. 19, and will cost $9.99 a month. Jeff Benjamin, a former CCO at JWT North America and CPB, has joined independent agency Tombras. Most recently, Benjamin served as a partner and executive creative director at Barton F. Graf, which is closing at the end of the year. To celebrate the first week of First Things First, we have a special offer for readers: Subscribe to Adweek for just $6 for 12 weeks. Click here to take advantage of the deal and check out all of the benefits of becoming a member. Ad of the Day: Tide Goes Meta Again [kickout id="2"] Tide left us skeptical for two years about whether everything is a Tide ad. But now we're not even sure when we should be doing laundry. In the newest installment of its fourth-wall-breaking ads from Saatchi & Saatchi New York, the detergent brand blurred the lines between NBC's NFL coverage, The Voice and Superstore by having Peyton Manning propose that America's laundry day officially move from Sunday to Tuesday (which didn't go over well with The Voice's Gwen Stefani). Workplace Tip: Stuck in a rut? Try this brainstorming tip Dan Kelleher, CCO, Deutsch NY When you’re stuck, sometimes thinking of the “bad ad” first, is an effective way to get to a great ad. Thinking of a “bad ad” is easy. Simply write down an idea that communicates the strategy, and don’t worry about how awful or boring it is. And once you’ve done that, guess what? You no longer have a blank sheet of paper in front of you. Now the real fun begins because you have something to twist, mold and shape. Let your brain rest against that “bad ad” long enough, and I promise you it will eventually be great. Career Tip: Sometimes you just need confidence [kickout id="1"] Stephanie McMahon, chief brand officer, WWE "I always tell my kids that confidence is 90% of being successful in anything, and I think that applies at work as well. Believe in yourself, your ability to do the job, and to overdeliver. I also think it’s important to play to your strengths and to focus on what you do better than anyone else." Read more: McMahon sat down with Adweek to talk about her career and role as chief brand officer.