It’s earnings call season and MediaCat UK is earwigging. Here’s what executives at some of the world’s biggest brands have been telling analysts about marketing and media in the financial quarter just gone.
13/2/25: Airbnb, Q4 / FY 2024
How did the company do? Very well. Revenue in the fourth quarter was up 12% year-on-year, at $2.5bn, and net income was $461m, representing a 19% margin. Revenue for the full year was also up 12%, and analysts and investors seemed pleased about Airbnb’s plans for expansion, with the company ringfencing between $200-$250m for marketing and product development in 2025.
What did executives say about media and marketing? Co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky said it was a matter of when, not if, Airbnb becomes an ad platform. ‘We definitely think this is easily a $1bn revenue opportunity,’ he said, adding: ‘it’s not something we’ll be doing this year, but it’s definitely something on the horizon.’
Following the company’s public revelation about the appropriate balance of long and short term marketing a few years ago, CFO Ellie Mertz confirmed that the majority of Airbnb’s spend still goes on brand marketing.
Also, it’s not exactly marketing information, but Chesky made the comparison with Amazon when talking about his expansion plans for Airbnb, talking about how the online retailer started selling books, then moved to CDs and DVDs, and then after several more incremental steps was in fashion and other areas that had nothing to do with books.
‘We’re going to probably follow that path,’ he said.
13.2.25: Unilever, Q4 / FY 24
How did the company do? Okay. Sales increased 4.2% in 2024, just below the 4.3% that analysts expected. Shares in Unilever took a hit, though, when the company said it will likely only increase sales between 3-5% in 2025.
What did executives say about marketing and media? CEO Hein Schumacher said that hiking up its gross margin allowed Unilever to increase brand and marketing spend by €0.9bn in 2024, taking it up to 15.5% of group turnover, which is the most it’s been in a decade. According to Schumacher, all of this year’s additional spend was lavished on Unilever’s top 30 brands, which represent more than 75% of the group’s turnover.
Later in the call, Schumacher also said that Unilever hadn’t done great business in China in the past year, in part because it is going through a ‘reset’ there, but also because consumers have shifted ‘to channels in which we don’t have fair share, and that includes, for example, the Doyen [the name for TikTok in China] channel.’
12/2/25: Kraft Heinz, Q4 / FY 24
How did the company do? In corporate parlance, it was a ‘challenged’ year for the company. In 2024, net sales decreased 3% to $25.8bn. Gross profit margin was up 1.2%, though.
What did executives say about marketing and media? Analysts seem concerned that Kraft Heinz is not spending enough on advertising. CEO Carlos Abrams-Rivera responded by saying that Kraft Heinz was focused on increasing ROI and shifting marketing spend from non-working to working dollars (meaning from making ads to buying media, basically). ‘So I think as we go into 2025, you’ll see us that even though we may stay at the same levels of overall spending, there’s actually a dramatic shift in terms of how much consumers will see, in terms of marketing,’ he said.
Andre Maciel, the chief financial officer, then added some meat to the bones of his CEO’s assertion: ’In 2025, we’re going to release 60 million to 80 million more dollars in brand media marketing, which is [a] more than 10% increase in our overall media investment, and that’s coming from nonworking dollars.’
11/2/25: Coca-Cola, Q4 2024 / FY 2024
How did the company do in 2024? Net revenues grew 6% in the final quarter of the year and 3% across the full year. According to CEO and Chairman James Quincey, the company’s ‘all-weather strategy is working.’
What did the executives say about marketing and media? ‘We’re seeing tangible results from our marketing transformation. Over the past three years, Trademark Coca-Cola’s retail sales have increased approximately $40 million,’ Quincey said.
He presented the company’s Christmas ad — which was created using AI — as an example of this transformation, saying that ‘it was both quicker and cheaper to make the ad.’ He further added that the marketing transformation ‘is producing some productivity in 2025.’
‘This is not less marketing, this is more productive spend. And so our mode of operations going into the year will continue to be we believe there will be growth in 2025 in the industry’, he said.
10/2/25: McDonald’s, Q4 2024 / FY 2024
How did the company do in 2024? Not great. Global comparable sales increased 0.4% in the final quarter and decreased 0.1% over the full year. Sales in the US also dropped in Q4 after an e-coli incident in November. Chris Kempczinski, president and CEO of McDonald’s, summed it up perfectly: ‘obviously, our performance in 2024 did not meet our expectations.’
What did the executives say about marketing and media? Kempczinski said that ‘during a difficult time in the industry’, McDonald’s leaned into ‘driving brand strength, building cultural relevance and connecting with [its] customers and crew in exciting ways.’
McDonald’s is performing well in Canada, France, Spain, Italy, and Germany, with campaigns such as The Grinch Meal (Canada), the Friends-themed adult Happy Meal (Spain), and its Hot Ones partnership (France). It also celebrated its social media impressions, saying The Grinch Meal generated nearly 30 million impressions and was its ‘highest ever user-generated content ever in Canada’.
‘We need to have better marketing in the UK,’ Kempczinski said, revealing that they spend ‘the most time’ thinking about the UK and Australian markets. The company believes its strong savers platform, £5 meal deals, and strengthened focus on the Happy Meal programme will lure UK consumers back.
McDonald’s will also celebrate its 70th anniversary this year and mark 50 years since it introduced its breakfast menu in the US. Kempczinski said the US business will likely do ‘interesting and exciting things’ around this.
6/2/25: Yum! Brands, Q4 2024/ FY 2024
How did the company do? The owner of fast-food chains including Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and KFC gave a sturdy performance, beating analysts’ expectations by the narrowest of margins.
What did the executives say about marketing and media? Chris Turner, Yum!’s chief financial officer, said that the company is excited about the ability of AI to enable hyper-personalised messaging and experiences.
‘Already, our US brands are leveraging AI to execute targeted campaigns with early tests on email promotions resulting in a doubling of consumer engagement compared to traditional approaches’, he said, adding, ‘this breakthrough is just the beginning.’
6/2/25: E.l.f Beauty, Q3 2025
How did the company do? Despite increasing sales 31% and market share by 2.2% in the third quarter of its financial year, E.l.f was punished by the markets for missing analysts’ expectations for earnings per share and cutting its full-year guidance.
What did the executives say about marketing and media? E.l.f had a bad January (along with the rest of the beauty industry). This was partly because social media conversation was ‘way down, over 20%’, according to CEO Tarang Amin, as a result of the wildfires in Los Angeles and the prospect of TikTok being banned in the US, both of which dominated discussion on platforms.
A soft January aside, Amin said that E.l.f’s ‘disruptive’ marketing engine was ‘best in class’, and that increased investment has pushed unaided awareness from 13% in 2020 to 33% in 2025.
For the third quarter of the 2025 fiscal year, E.l.f’s investment in marketing and digital was 27% of net sales. Commenting on how E.l.f had generally outperformed a weak beauty category during the past six months, Amin said that ‘sometimes we felt like we’re the only ones going in the right direction in terms of the level of our marketing spend, level of engagement […] innovation.’
She added, ‘I think, in the last year alone we have had 20 unique campaigns […] our competitors […] are lucky to do one or two. So, it’s just a different kind of freneticism […] at which we’re operating.’
6/2/25: Under Armour, Q3 2025
How did the company do in Q3? Under Armour’s earnings exceeded its low expectations for the third quarter in a row. ‘The revenue decline of 6% to $1.4 billion was better than our outlook of down approximately 10%,’ said CFO David Eric Bergman.
What did the executives say about marketing and media? The sportswear company has taken action to reduce promotions and discounts in its e-commerce business. CEO Kevin Plank said this move ‘has contributed nicely to improved gross margin this year.’
Plank further shared plans to improve ‘all aspects of marketing and brand strategy to foster a stronger connection with young team sport athletes.’ According to him, asking athletes to buy products ‘through performance marketing […] has led to the promotions that have plagued [Under Armour’s] recent history.’
The company also revealed plans for a ‘dynamic multiyear initiative’ that, Plank explained, will ‘establish a robust and engaging content platform that highlights [its] commitment to specialised media, showcases the incredible talents of athletes and teams, collaborates with influential creators, and explores new verticals.’
4/2/25: Chipotle Mexican Grill, Q4 2024 / FY 2024
How did the company do in 2024? Pretty good. Net income was up 24.4% year on year, at $1.53bn. Average restaurant sales increased 7% over the same period, to $3.2m.
What did the executives say about marketing and media? ‘Our marketing strategy in 2024 was nothing short of exceptional,’ said Scott Boatwright, Chipotle’s chief operating and restaurant officer. He also said that this year’s marketing plan is ‘really extraordinary’ and probably the best he’s ever seen.
The company will spend more on linear TV advertising in 2025 than in 2024, and it’s also perfecting an AI assistant that it will let loose on customers who seem like they’re abandoning the brand.
‘When the model detects that a customer’s behaviour is changing in a particular way that would signal a propensity for churn, we will take them on a new journey with personalised extras and offers to encourage them to re-engage,’ said Boatwright.
