Elon Musk’s Twitter will have its first opportunity of 2023 to win back skittish advertisers as marketers descend on the tech industry’s biggest trade show this week.
As CES officially kicks off in Las Vegas on Thursday, representatives from the social platform will meet with its clients and ad agency partners, according to a person familiar with Twitter’s plans. The person said Twitter views the event as an opportunity to jump-start the year with marketers in one place, looking to address concerns amid the acquisition and...
Twitter will be meeting with advertising executives at CES this week.
Patrick T. Fallon/Getty Images
Elon Musk’s Twitter will have its first opportunity of 2023 to win back skittish advertisers as marketers descend on the tech industry’s biggest trade show this week.
As CES officially kicks off in Las Vegas on Thursday, representatives from the social platform will meet with its clients and ad agency partners, according to a person familiar with Twitter’s plans. The person said Twitter views the event as an opportunity to jump-start the year with marketers in one place, looking to address concerns amid the acquisition and turnover of leadership.
The meetings take place with Twitter newly focused on convincing advertisers about its commitment to brand safety, according to a recent email Twitter sent to its longstanding “influence council” that was viewed by Barron’s. In the holiday greeting email, Twitter said that it is committed to a brand safe advertising environment, evolving its products for advertisers, and addressing advertising needs.
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The email notes that the firm has made mistakes but is rolling out new products, including brand adjacency controls that provide advertisers new tools to keep ads away from tweets that contain flagged keywords. Twitter hopes to meet with the council, a handpicked group of chief marketing officers, marketing executives, and ad agency representatives in the first quarter.
The firm will have a smaller presence at CES than it did before the pandemic, the person said. The company has been reducing costs since Musk’s $44 billion takeover in late October, which was funded in part with a leveraged buyout that includes annual debt payments of about $1 billion.
One advertising industry executive told Barron’s that he expects Twitter won’t be the only advertising-focused platform to cut back on CES spending amid broader concerns about the economy.
But Twitter’s struggles with advertisers have been more pronounced and more public since Musk’s takeover. Amid mass layoffs, firings, and resignations—and changes to moderation policies and enforcement—some large advertisers pulled ads from the platform. Shortly after the ownership change, The Wall Street Journal reported that large ad firms including Interpublic Group and Havas Media had recommended that clients pause paid advertising on Twitter. General Mills, Mondelez, Pfizer, and Volkswagen’s Audi were among companies that the Journal reported pulled back.
Lou Paskalis, former head of global media at Bank of America, notes to Barron’s that Musk has recently cut back on his controversial tweets, which Paskalis viewed as a major concern among brands. He thinks it’s important for Twitter to meet with advertisers at events like CES, Mobile World Congress, and the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s NewFronts, with a strong pitch about the future of the firm.
“This isn’t rearranging the deck chairs,” Paskalis says. “This is fundamentally rebuilding relationships, restoring trust, establishing a real one-to-one understanding of what’s necessary to earn my business now.”
Write to Connor Smith at connor.smith@barrons.com