Placing the Digital Marketing Leader Who Grew Into Head of U.S. Marketing

A Retained Marketing Executive Search Case Study for Mood Media

Mood Media needed more than a digital marketing specialist. The company needed a senior leader who could modernize its digital capabilities, make its marketing technology work harder, and translate data into measurable business growth.

MarketSearch was retained by Mood Media’s then Head of Global Marketing to lead the search for its Head of Digital Marketing. We had previously helped him build successful teams at another organization. When he joined Mood Media and needed a trusted search partner again, he was kind enough to bring us with him.

The executive we placed went on to earn a promotion to Head of U.S. Marketing—an outcome that speaks not only to the quality of the placement, but also to the importance of identifying leadership potential beyond the immediate requirements of a role.

About Mood Media

Mood Media is a global leader in in-store and on-premise media solutions. Founded in 2004 and headquartered in Austin, Texas, the company helps brands improve the customer experience through customized music, digital signage, scent marketing, interactive mobile technology, and on-hold messaging.

Its solutions sit at the intersection of customer experience, technology, content, data, and brand engagement. That created a distinct leadership challenge: Mood Media needed a digital marketing executive who understood enterprise transformation but remained close enough to the work to build, test, analyze, and improve.

The Leadership Challenge

Mood Media was operating within a fast-changing customer experience environment. The company needed to strengthen its digital marketing capabilities while connecting technology, data, product, and commercial priorities across the organization.

This was not a search for a conventional digital marketer.

The successful leader needed the executive presence to guide organizational change, the analytical discipline to evaluate a fragmented technology environment, and the hands-on experience to accelerate digital initiatives. The individual also needed to bring traditionally separate teams together around a unified growth strategy.

The mandate required a rare combination:

• Enterprise-level change management
• Digital marketing and e-commerce expertise
• Data-driven customer personalization
• Marketing technology evaluation and optimization
• Agile product-management experience
• Cross-functional team leadership
• The ability to demonstrate measurable return on investment
• The potential to grow into a broader marketing leadership position

MarketSearch was retained to find the leader capable of bringing those capabilities together.

Our Search and Placement Strategy

We began by developing a hybrid competency profile that reflected both the immediate responsibilities of the position and the longer-term direction of the business.

The profile intentionally balanced two leadership dimensions: the ability to manage high-level transformation and the willingness to remain directly engaged in e-commerce, technology, analytics, and execution.

Rather than limiting the search to conventional local candidate pools or executives with narrowly comparable titles, we targeted senior digital leaders from high-growth technology businesses and agile consumer organizations. These environments were more likely to produce candidates accustomed to moving quickly, working across functions, and proving the commercial value of new digital investments.

Our assessment concentrated on evidence rather than title recognition. Candidates needed to demonstrate where they had modernized digital capabilities, simplified complex systems, used customer data more effectively, and built support for change across an enterprise.

We also evaluated each candidate’s capacity to grow beyond the initial Head of Digital Marketing mandate. Mood Media needed someone who could succeed in the role on day one, but the strongest placement would also possess the range and credibility to assume broader marketing leadership over time.

The Placement

MarketSearch placed a senior digital leader with a background in agile product management, digital transformation, and data-driven personalization.

The leader brought the right mixture of strategic perspective and operating depth. Rather than approaching the position as a collection of separate digital projects, the new hire created a more connected framework spanning technology, customer insights, product development, and marketing execution.

Most importantly, the placement developed into a larger leadership success. After making a meaningful impact as Head of Digital Marketing, the executive was promoted to Head of U.S. Marketing.

The First 100 Days

During the first 100 days, the new Head of Digital Marketing audited Mood Media’s fragmented technology stack and identified overlapping systems, redundant software, and opportunities to improve how the company used its digital resources.

The leader then consolidated unnecessary technology and launched a minimum viable product pilot designed to establish commercial value quickly. The pilot produced measurable early results and demonstrated immediate return on investment to the board.

This created internal confidence in the broader digital strategy and gave the organization a credible foundation for continued investment.

Long-Term Impact

The placement produced results that extended well beyond the original digital marketing assignment.

Mood Media accelerated the time-to-market for digital offerings by double digits and established a unified, cross-functional product team structure. Marketing, product, technology, and other stakeholders could now work within a more coordinated operating model instead of advancing disconnected initiatives.

The leader’s promotion to Head of U.S. Marketing represented another important measure of success. MarketSearch had not simply filled an open position. We had identified an executive with the ability to produce early results, build organizational confidence, and expand into a more influential leadership role.

Why the Placement Worked

The search succeeded because the role was not reduced to a title, a list of marketing channels, or experience within one narrowly defined industry.

We built the search around the business problems the leader would be expected to solve:

• How would this person create clarity from a fragmented technology environment?
• Could the candidate connect digital strategy to measurable commercial outcomes?
• Had the candidate led transformation without becoming detached from execution?
• Could this executive earn credibility across marketing, technology, product, and the board?
• Did the individual have the potential to grow into a broader enterprise marketing position?

Those questions allowed us to identify leadership capability that a conventional résumé comparison could easily miss.

A Trusted Search Partnership That Traveled

Our relationship with Mood Media’s Head of Global Marketing began before his time at the company. We had helped him build teams successfully at a previous firm and established the trust that comes from delivering strong people against difficult mandates.

When he moved to Mood Media, he brought MarketSearch into his new organization.

That continuity matters. The best retained executive search relationships are not built around a single transaction. They are built by learning how a leader evaluates talent, understanding the business outcomes behind each role, and consistently introducing people who can create an impact after the search is complete.

We were grateful for the opportunity to earn that trust again at Mood Media.

Building Marketing Leadership That Can Grow With the Business

A senior marketing search should solve today’s leadership need without losing sight of where the business is heading next.

MarketSearch specializes in retained executive search for senior marketing, growth, digital, demand generation, product marketing, and performance marketing leaders. We help CEOs, private equity value-creation teams, boards, and marketing executives identify candidates who can deliver immediate results and grow with the organization.

If your next marketing leader must modernize capabilities, create commercial momentum, or help move the company into its next stage of growth, let’s talk before the search begins.

Start a confidential conversation with MarketSearch about your next senior marketing hire.

Frequently Asked Questions

What position did MarketSearch fill for Mood Media?

MarketSearch was retained to place Mood Media’s Head of Digital Marketing. The selected executive was subsequently promoted to Head of U.S. Marketing.

Why did Mood Media retain MarketSearch?

Mood Media’s then Head of Global Marketing had previously worked with MarketSearch while at another firm. After seeing the quality of the teams we helped him build, he selected MarketSearch as a trusted search partner at Mood Media.

What made the Head of Digital Marketing search challenging?

The role required an uncommon combination of enterprise change leadership and hands-on digital expertise. Candidates needed experience in e-commerce, analytics, marketing technology, agile product management, personalization, and cross-functional transformation.

How did MarketSearch identify candidates?

MarketSearch looked beyond standard local and same-industry candidate pools. The search targeted leaders from high-growth technology and agile consumer organizations who could demonstrate successful enterprise transformation and measurable digital growth.

What did the placed executive accomplish?

During the first 100 days, the executive audited the company’s technology stack, consolidated redundant software, and launched an MVP pilot that demonstrated immediate ROI. Longer term, the leader helped accelerate digital time-to-market, established a unified cross-functional product structure, and was promoted to Head of U.S. Marketing.

Does MarketSearch conduct retained digital marketing executive searches?

Yes. MarketSearch specializes in retained executive search for senior marketing and growth positions, including CMO, VP Marketing, Head of Marketing, Head of Digital Marketing, Head of Growth, demand generation, performance marketing, and product marketing leadership roles.

Who does MarketSearch partner with?

MarketSearch works with CEOs, boards, private equity firms, value-creation leaders, and senior marketing executives that need specialized support identifying and attracting high-impact marketing talent.