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Derek Yarbrough
Human Services Program Supervisor at Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs
Derek Yarbrough is a seasoned retail executive with extensive experience in fashion, commerce, and technology.1 He most recently served as the Chief Marketing Officer for both J.Crew and Madewell, two iconic American brands.1
Career Highlights
J.Crew and Madewell: Derek held the position of Chief Marketing Officer for J.Crew and Madewell from February 2021 to late 2023.12 In this role, he led brand marketing, creative, styling, ecommerce, performance marketing, customer insights, and external communications teams for both brands.1
Previous Roles at Madewell: Before becoming CMO for both brands, Derek had a progressive career at Madewell:
- Chief Marketing Officer (April 2019 - January 2021)
- SVP Digital & Strategy (December 2017 - April 2019)
- VP Digital & Strategy (September 2015 - December 2017)
- Senior Director of Ecommerce (October 2012 - August 2015)1
Expertise and Focus
Derek's expertise lies in:
- Guiding compelling, consistent, and elevated brand expression
- Driving short-term and long-term full-funnel integrated marketing performance
- Overseeing ecommerce, digital marketing, brand marketing, loyalty, analytics, and customer insights1
Recent Development
At the end of 2023, Derek made the decision to leave his position as CMO for J.Crew and Madewell, which he described as a "dream job".2
LinkedIn Presence
Derek Yarbrough is active on LinkedIn with the username "yarbroughd".1 He regularly shares insights and updates related to marketing, branding, and the fashion industry.34
Highlights
Honored to make a guest appearance at Vistar Media's North America team offsite at the W Miami Beach. 🌴 I had the opportunity to share my non-traditional journey to becoming a CMO and discuss where I think marketing is transforming rapidly...and how the fundamentals remain quite intact. Thank you Raj Lala and Lucy Markowitz for the invitation to exchange insights with this fun and curious crew—so impressed with Vistar's growth and embrace of #marketinginnovation!
Why is marketing still measuring the wrong things?
As traditional media contracts and new media flourishes, marketers should realign their campaign measurement focus.
Consider The Olympics (I think we can still talk about it for a few more weeks, right?):
Streaming was the big winner of 2024. Peacock and YouTube crushed it. 80% increase in viewership over Tokyo driven by 23+ billion streaming minutes on NBCUniversal platforms—primarily Peacock, which streamed up to 60 simultaneous live events. Both Peacock and YouTube TV delivered reliable, on-demand, menu-driven, snackable content which is precisely how we want to consume today.
The silver medal to TikTok and Reels. As my friend Ana Andjelic recently said so perfectly, “The Olympic Games have become one massive aggregation of memes.” From Celine Dion at the Opening Ceremonies to “Pommel Horse Guy” and bionic shooters to anything Simone Biles #GOAT, our feeds and group texts were blowing up with all the awe-inspiring, tearful, and ROFL moments.
My personal consumption of the Olympics: 40% Peacock, 30% YouTube, 20% TikTok, 10% Instagram, 0% traditional TV. What was yours?
Takeaways for advertisers in this evolving content landscape?
📺 Embrace Connected TV for Campaigns. Big media campaigns can still be relevant—but increasingly on connected TV (including YouTube) where viewers are rapidly migrating. The top 5 networks average 2-6 million viewers weekly. The top 3 channels on YouTube (MrBeast, T-Melon, Cocomelon) have hundreds of millions of subscribers. MrBeast’s last video has 146 million views. SNL averaged 7.2 million viewers per week last year on TV while Amy Schumer’s Porn Teacher skit from 2015 has now become SNL’s most watched skit ever on YouTube, surpassing 100 million views.
👑 Recognize Social Content as the New King. Looking at social in the broadest sense—organic, paid, and influencer—for most brands, this should be your top area of marketing investment and content creation focus (yes even more than big campaigns). Think frequent, short-form, snackable. Dig into your archives to repackage vintage as new.
💫 Engineer Shareability in your Content and Campaigns. Think Spotify Wrapped, Shot on iPhone, or anything from A24. Social Sharing is the new Word of Mouth! Consider our upcoming election: both sides will still spend record dollars on traditional paid media ads, but the election is likely to be won via the memes that inspire social sharing.
📈 Shift from Legacy KPIs to New Media Metrics. The traditional focus on impressions and TV ratings is outdated. Modern marketers should pivot towards new media KPIs such as streaming minutes, engagement rates, video completion rates, social sharing, hashtag volumes, and more to understand consumption and conversation. Connect performance to demand generation with more advanced methodologies such as matched market studies.
#modernmarketing #newmedia #connectedTV
