GMs Non-Auto CMO, Carvana Spooks Then Soars, Activity Avalanche

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Welcome to Wednesday campers! Today we’re having a look-see at GM’s new CMO. We’re also tip-toeing around Carvana’s announcement yesterday afternoon, as well as asking if too much collaboration can be a bad thing. 

Show Notes with links:

• General Motors (GM) has hired Norm de Greve, the Chief Marketing Officer of CVS, as its new marketing chief, effective from July 31. De Greve, known for transforming CVS into the country's largest consumer healthcare company, is set to spearhead GM's marketing as the automaker invests heavily in electric vehicles.
  • De Greve, who has served at CVS since 2015, is known for championing purpose-related marketing and has initiated several key marketing campaigns during his tenure, such as CVS' “Role Model” campaign aimed at combating image insecurity among young adults. 
  • During his tenure he also stopped doing business with any agency that had a tobacco company as a client and also led the brand to stop using altered images of females in marketing campaigns
  • Though de Greve lacks extensive automotive experience, he has prior experience with GM's digital marketing while employed at Digitas, from 2001 to 2014, a point highlighted in GM's announcement.
    
    
• Carvana Co.'s stock sank over 9% after the online auto retailer startled investors by moving its quarterly results release two weeks ahead of schedule. Despite having seen a rally of more than 700% this year, this unexpected announcement, amidst speculation of a disconnect from fundamentals, has rattled the market
  • THEN: Shares soared over 25% in pre market trading  Carvana has announced a signed agreement to slash its total outstanding debt by over $1.2 billion and decrease its required annual cash interest expense by more than $430 million for the next two years. This move will eradicate over 83% of its unsecured notes due in 2025 and 2027, boosting its shares by 27% in premarket trading.
  • The company reported a shift to a second-quarter adjusted earnings of $155 million, a considerable improvement from a loss of $216 million in the same period the previous year, despite a 23% reduction in revenue to $2.97 billion.
• Workday, a cloud-based software firm, noticed a boost in collaboration when employees returned to the office part-time last year. Hallway chats and meetings replaced previous email communications. However, despite a 17% rise in team connections, there was a downside: a 24% increase in meeting time, leading to workload pile-up and stress for employees.
  • Basically, there was a boost in activity, and that activity led to more ideas, which led to more meetings to discuss those ideas. What followed is what Social scientist Michael Arena coined as an "activity avalanche," referring to a sud

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