Facebook just promoted a key exec — and the move hints at the company’s future advertising plans

Mark
D’Arcy is Facebook’s vp of global business marketing and chief
creative officer.
Facebook

• Mark D’Arcy has been promoted to vp of global business
  marketing and chief creative officer, a role that oversees
  Facebook’s team of creative strategists and its more
  traditional marketing function.
• D’Arcy previously has been focused on Creative Shop,
  which helps brands think through campaigns both on Facebook and
  off Facebook.
• A good chunk of that work focuses on new ad formats
  like Stories, chatbots and video that Facebook is focusing on
  to grow its next wave of revenue.

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Facebook needs a plan to fit more advertising into its already
massive network of services — including Instagram, Messenger and
WeChat in addition to the flagship social app. To do so, it’s
promoted a key advertising exec to oversee the company’s creative
efforts.

Specifically the company has elevated Mark D’Arcy, formerly chief
creative officer, to the expanded role of vp of global business
marketing and chief creative officer. D’Arcy is filling the role
that has been open since November when
Sarah Personette left Facebook to become Refinery29’s chief
operating officer.

During Facebook’s second-quarter earnings yesterday, execs talked
up new advertising inventory like Stories and video as being key
to growing its future revenue. Facebook’s newsfeed is reaching a
maximum ad load and the company is eyeing new formats like
full-screen Stories and sponsored
posts within Messenger.

That’s where D’Arcy will likely focus his attention.

Up until now, D’Arcy’s purview has primarily been on Creative
Shop, Facebook’s in-house team of creative strategists that helps
advertisers make ads both for Facebook’s apps as well as
occasionally creative for TV and out-of-home ads. Under his new
role, he’s responsible for the company’s creative efforts across
Creative Shop and Facebook’s global marketing business team,
which is Facebook’’s more traditional marketing function that
works with advertisers and agencies to develop advertising and
products for advertisers and agencies.

“The role is a natural progression of what I love to do – helping
businesses tell great stories,” D’Arcy said in a statement. “It’s
an exciting challenge to develop new marketing programs and tools
for all businesses from the world’s most established brands to
small businesses and entrepreneurs that use our platforms to
grow.”

He will co-lead both groups with Carolyn Everson, also vp of
global marketing solutions, and will report to David Fischer,
Facebook’s vp of business and marketing partnerships.

“I’ve had the pleasure of watching him transform Facebook’s role
in the creative community over the last seven years,” Fischer
said in a statement. “He’s a proven leader and talented
storyteller who will bring a vital perspective to our business
marketing programs.”

D’Arcy has worked at Facebook since 2011 and created Facebook’s
creative council in 2012, encompassing a group of agency
creatives who
regularly meet with Facebook to talk about new opportunities
and challenges on the platform. Previous to Facebook, D’Arcy
worked at Time Warner, holding the roles of senior vp as well
as president and chief creative officer.

Facebook needs to think beyond the newsfeed

D’Arcy’s promotion comes at a critical time for Facebook’s ad
business.

While ad revenues continue to skyrocket year over year, Facebook

missed analysts’ expectations during second-quarter earnings
yesterday, a rare moment in its explosive growth over the past
few years. During a conference call, Facebook execs also warned
investors that revenue could drop by a “high-single digit”
percentage during the second half of 2018.

Part of the problem: Facebook is running out of space to squeeze
ads into both Facebook and Instagram newsfeeds. Execs explained
during the call how the company is betting on new ad formats that
don’t solely live within the newsfeed like Stories and more video
to grow its next wave of revenue.

Facebook’s Creative Shop often experiments with the platform’s
more nascent ad formats
for brands like Chevrolet that want help creating bigger
campaigns that include components like chatbots and virtual
reality.

In theory, D’Arcy will be able to bring that experience to the
wider Facebook ads team, which could help convince marketers to
test out the newer formats.