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Daniel Pahl is partner, VP of growth at Chameleon Collective, a business consultancy. He’s consulted and served in interim executive roles for brands including Malin+Goetz, The Children’s Place, Lord & Taylor, New York & Company, Good American, Vera Bradley, and About-Face Beauty.
Favorite project you’ve worked on? It had to be a one-year engagement with Vera Bradley. The initial idea of the client was to mentor a rising star in the marketing team, with the goal of a director promotion. It evolved into a full recalibration of their digital marketing strategy. I was able to reverse the trend of continuous declining revenue for their online domain, which was a significant accomplishment, especially when juxtaposed against the downturn in their brick-and-mortar stores. The leadership’s endorsement was the icing on the cake, with them not only expressing satisfaction but also graciously volunteering to vouch for our expertise with potential clients. And most importantly, the internal candidate got a well-deserved promotion to director.
What’s your favorite ad campaign? My current favorite ad campaign is the Rocket Mortgage Super Bowl campaign with in-stadium execution and the follow-up on all marketing channels afterwards. This was a great, coherent execution that got a lot of people engaged and excited.
One thing we can’t guess from your LinkedIn profile: I played semi-professional soccer (or as we call it, football) in Germany. I wasn’t going against Ronaldo and Messi in the Champions League, but I played midfield for a team called SG Bornim in Potsdam, where I’m from. Today, my athletic adventures mostly involve beach volleyball in sunny Southern California and playing with my dog, but if there was a starting XI for marketers, I think I’d still be on it!
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What marketing trend are you most optimistic about? Least? I do think marketers are getting better at targeting the right people, and I’m optimistic that seeing truly irrelevant advertising on your social channels will soon be a thing of the past. I also think the days of getting a bunch of ads for the thing you just bought are ending. Technology is improving, and marketers are getting better at avoiding some of these common pitfalls.
As a contract CMO, one thing that continues to surprise me in a negative way is that too many companies simply don’t have good information on what’s working. They are focused on the wrong metrics, and their marketing strategies may be data-driven—but driven by bad data. When your reports are unclear or even worse, incorrect, it leads to poor decisions. Darts is a fun game but a poor marketing strategy, and too many companies with the resources to know better are unfortunately on a bad information diet.
What’s one marketing-related podcast/social account/series you’d recommend? I like to listen to How I Built This with Guy Raz. I love the comprehensive picture founders are painting, the challenges they were facing early on, and in every stage of the business. This helps me often when I talk to leaders to understand their struggle much better.
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