Marketing has its ups and downs.

Campaigns for Universal Pictures’ horror film “The Hunt” included a violent video that generated an onslaught of outrage. The film follows kidnapped conservatives being hunted for sport by billionaire liberals. Shortly after marketing was paused following mass shootings in Ohio and Texas, the film’s release was cancelled.

On the flip side, Olive Garden spiced up one of its most popular promotions. It introduced a Lifetime Pasta Pass that gets the owner—what else—a lifetime of pasta and other delights. Fifty passes went on sale for 30 minutes. Loyalists were ready and lined up in the online waiting room for the chance to buy.

Olive Garden’s CMO likely cheered the successful promotion, even though the outlook for many chief marketing officers is cloudy. It’s well known CMOs have the shortest lifespan in the c-suite, but what isn’t clear is why. Does the CMO lose interest and move on? Does the CEO become dissatisfied and give him or her the boot? New research provides some clues.

On the B2B front, KPMG—one of the “Big Four” accounting firms—long had the luxury of strong brand awareness to coast on. But as customers became more digitally focused, so too did KPMG’s marketing efforts. Here’s a look at how the professional services firm is leveraging AI-fueled insights to power sales enablement.

Others looking to drive sales should take note that there are over 630 million professionals on LinkedIn, and over 11 million work in a local, state or federal office. If you want a government contract, these are the folks you need to connect with in social media. We’ve got an update on the types of content B2G marketers should consider to start those conversations.

And as summer begins to wind down, who’s counting the days until their kids go back to school? When they get there, their teachers just might be using tech solutions from Promethean. Recently, we chatted with the company’s new CMO Cheryl Miller about the challenges of B2B marketing to K-12 educators.

Here's hoping your week is on the upside. See you back here next weekend.

Patty Odell
Senior Editor
Chief Marketer