Problem
As Ad Age prepared to mark the five-year anniversary of The List—its collaborative initiative launched in partnership with Meta to address systemic challenges in marketing—it became clear there was an opportunity to expand the platform’s impact in response to the industry’s evolving demands. Amid economic pressure and shifting executive priorities, marketing leaders were facing heightened expectations around performance, resourcing, and cross-functional influence.
The moment called for a strategic layer that could translate those industry pressures into actionable insight, reinvigorate stakeholder participation, and ensure The List remained a future-facing resource in a rapidly changing landscape.
Solution
Devon developed The Modern CMO Playbook, a structured editorial platform that repositioned The List as a forward-looking source of insight for marketing leaders. Framing the Playbook around the tensions CMOs were actively navigating—shrunken budgets, fragmented teams, and the pressure to prove impact—the work provided a thematic and strategic anchor for both content creation and amplification.
Key components included:
- Platform Concept Development: Designed The Modern CMO Playbook to respond directly to emerging CMO challenges and industry headwinds
- Stakeholder Alignment: Gained strategic buy-in from Meta and Ad Age leadership while securing contributor participation from The List membership
- Editorial System Design: Structured a clear content architecture, contributor workflow, and publication cadence to ensure consistency and thematic cohesion
- Amplification Integration: Aligned editorial strategy with social and event programming to support cross-channel visibility and campaign continuity
Payoff
The result was a revitalized thought leadership platform that reinforced The List’s influence and positioned Meta, Ad Age, and The List contributors as credible voices at a defining moment in the industry:
- Editorial Cohesion Established: The Playbook provided an overarching narrative and structure for Ad Age’s thought leadership efforts under The List banner
- Audience Engagement Strengthened: Achieved a 91 percent year-over-year increase in median views, with retention rates 18 percent above the average time spent on site
- Earned Reach Expanded: Reached over 9 million viewers through digital engagement, reflecting a 50 percent increase in interaction across platforms
- Member Participation Elevated: Grew contributor participation by 50 percent and increased publishing output by 33 percent, demonstrating clear alignment between strategy and execution
- Platform Scalability Enabled: The system design introduced a model that could be repeated or adapted for future verticals, partnerships, and campaigns