Ontario International Airport Authority Multichannel AOR With Media Buying and Full Creative Production
At a Glance Buyer: Ontario International Airport Authority (OIAA) Industry: Aviation/Airport (public agency) Location/markets: Ontario, CA; Inland Empire; Southern California/Los Angeles DMA and beyond Primary scope: Strategic Advertising and Creative Agency of Record Key deliverables/channels: Research + annual strategy; creative development; media planning/buying (digital, broadcast, OOH, paid social, print, linear/CTV, emerging); video/photo; collateral; environmental/ter… Get Unlimited NextBigWin Access Subscribe to become a NextBigWin Pro member and get access to all our exclusive content. Turn access and intelligence into your next big client win. Already a member? Login Subscribe to NextBigWin Pro
Arkansas Department of Health Seeks Statewide Tobacco Prevention Media Campaign Partner
At a Glance Buyer: Arkansas Department of Health (Office of Health Communications; Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Program) Industry: Public health (state government) Location/markets: Arkansas statewide; all Arkansas media markets; meetings in Little Rock as requested Primary scope: Develop and implement a comprehensive statewide tobacco prevention and cessation media campaign Key deliverables/channels: Strategy + annual media plan; creative development/testing/pro… Get Unlimited NextBigWin Access Subscribe to become a NextBigWin Pro member and get access to all our exclusive content. Turn access and intelligence into your next big client win. Already a member? Login Subscribe to NextBigWin Pro
UT San Antonio Seeks Creative Services and Branding Support for NSCC Stakeholder Outreach
At a Glance Buyer: The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) — National Security Collaboration Center (NSCC) Industry: Higher Education Location/markets: San Antonio, TX; South Texas and beyond Primary scope: Strategic communications, creative services, and Drupal web support for NSCC (multiple service pools) Key deliverables/channels: Strategic frameworks + exec comms coaching; branding/graphic design collateral; Drupal web design/dev/maintenance; accessibility … Get Unlimited NextBigWin Access Subscribe to become a NextBigWin Pro member and get access to all our exclusive content. Turn access and intelligence into your next big client win. Already a member? Login Subscribe to NextBigWin Pro
Arizona Department of Administration Statewide Marketing AOR With $185M Recent Agency Spend
At a Glance Buyer: Arizona Department of Administration (State Procurement Office) Industry: Government/public sector Location/markets: Arizona statewide Primary scope: Statewide marketing, advertising, and public relations services via task orders Key deliverables/channels: Integrated plans; media planning/buying (TV/radio/print/OOH); digital/social/streaming & influencer; creative & production; website dev/maintenance (WordPress or site builder) + accessibility; PR/crisis comms; events; research; analytics/reporting Budget: Not specified (as-needed usage; no guaranteed spend) Contract type/term: Mandatory statewide contract(s); task-order/as-needed; 12-month initial term with extensions up to a 5-year maximum aggregate term Key dates: Pre-Offer Conference: Feb 26, 2026, 1:00–2:00 PM Arizona Time. Proposal deadline: Mar 25, 2026, 3:00 PM Arizona Time Eligibility/must-haves: Submit via Arizona Procurement Portal (APP); meet accessibility expectations (ADA + WCAG 2.2 Level AA); multicultural focus (including translation when required); dedicated account/project manager; proof-of-performance reporting; bill in 15-minute increments; fingerprint clearance card for certain personnel (as applicable) Why This Could Be Interesting The State of Arizona, through the Arizona Department of Administration’s State Procurement Office, is establishing mandatory statewide contracts for marketing, advertising, and public relations services that eligible agencies can use statewide. This is a bench-style, task-order program: agencies can bring in contractors for projects ranging from a few hours to several months, based on program need and funding. The base term is 12 months, with extensions allowed up to a 5-year maximum aggregate term, and the State may make one or more awards. Work is issued on an as-needed basis, with no spending guarantee. The upside signal is scale plus breadth. The RFP notes that prior contracts were used by 30+ agencies (including Tourism and the Lottery), and that total marketing services spend from 2022–2025 was $185 million. The scope spans integrated planning, traditional and digital media (including streaming/video, audio, and influencer), creative and production, email/CRM support, PR including crisis communications, events, and research—plus website development/maintenance with WCAG 2.2 Level AA accessibility and WordPress or site-builder backend access, with deliverables treated as work for hire. Best suited for agencies with public-sector process, measurable reporting, and accessible, multicultural-ready delivery (including translation when required). Proposal deadline: March 25, 2026, at 3:00 PM Arizona Time Download the full RFP here.
CMO Moves – Week of February 16, 2026
Highlights Ariel Kelman named President & CMO at AMD AMD builds high-performance computing and AI solutions for data centers, embedded systems, PCs, and gaming. Kelman steps in as AMD expands its portfolio and aims to accelerate momentum in high-performance and AI markets. He’ll oversee brand, communications, events, developer relations, and go-to-market strategy to sharpen storytelling and deepen engagement across the technology ecosystem. Agency lens: This rol… Get Unlimited NextBigWin Access Subscribe to become a NextBigWin Pro member and get access to all our exclusive content. Turn access and intelligence into your next big client win. Already a member? Login Subscribe to NextBigWin Pro
OpenAI Marketing Signals as Adoption Shifts to Brand Building
At a Glance Interviewee: Kate Rouch, Chief Marketing Officer Company: OpenAI Estimated Revenue: $20B+ annualized revenue for 2025 (reported) Location: San Francisco Bay Area, CA Website: Openai.com Industry: AI research and deployment Company Notes: Marketing is shifting from viral growth to planned brand building Best-Fit Agencies: Brand strategy, integrated creative, media planning and buying, performance growth, PR and corporate affairs, developer marketing Source: Breaki… Get Unlimited NextBigWin Access Subscribe to become a NextBigWin Pro member and get access to all our exclusive content. Turn access and intelligence into your next big client win. Already a member? Login Subscribe to NextBigWin Pro
BNI Global’s Digital Modernization Agenda Takes Shape
An analysis of the executive conversation and our research, surfacing the priorities and opportunity lanes agencies can leverage to win new business. At a Glance Interviewee: Heather McLeod, Chief Marketing Officer Company: BNI Global Location: Charlotte, NC Website: https://www.bni.com Industry: Referral networking and business community, franchise-led model Company Notes: Global member network with weekly chapter meetings and a structured referral process Best-Fit Agencie… Get Unlimited NextBigWin Access Subscribe to become a NextBigWin Pro member and get access to all our exclusive content. Turn access and intelligence into your next big client win. Already a member? Login Subscribe to NextBigWin Pro
Heather McLeod’s Practical Leadership Lens on Growth and Impact
Executive: Heather McLeodCompany: BNI GlobalIndustry: Referral networking organization (franchise model)Company Snapshot: A global membership organization built around structured, relationship-driven referralsFormat: CMO Journeys Interview Why It Matters Heather McLeod built her career in franchising by staying close to the people who run the business in the real world. Now she brings that same mindset to BNI, the world’s largest referral networking organization. Her journey is worth studying because she keeps marketing simple: find what drives revenue, then remove friction. For agencies, she’s unusually clear about what earns trust—and what gets ignored. Their Path, in Short After undergrad, McLeod struggled to land a marketing job in a saturated market. So she went back to school for an MBA. She later interviewed at The Dwyer Group (now Neighborly), a franchise home services organization, and said the fit felt right because she loved the people she met. That “people first” instinct became a pattern. “I’m a big believer that iron sharpens iron,” she said, explaining that she seeks leaders who make her stronger. Her first role in that world was as marketing manager for Rainbow International, a water, fire, mold, and smoke restoration business. She said she knew nothing about the category, so she immersed herself—spending time with franchise owners and letting them teach her what they needed and what would “move the needle.” She later moved to Mr. Rooter and worked for Mary Thompson, who would later become CEO of BNI. McLeod pointed out how relationships compound: the people you learn from early can reappear later, in bigger roles, when the stakes are higher. Over time, her definition of marketing expanded. She said she thinks broadly about what belongs in the “marketing bucket,” always asking: what are the revenue drivers, and how do we maximize impact there? In franchising, she explained, marketing is a major lever. Another lever is locations—helping existing locations market more effectively and putting more dots on the map through franchise sales. That mindset expanded her scope beyond traditional marketing. Big Themes From the Conversation McLeod’s energy comes from operators. She said spending time with franchise owners and master franchisees motivates her to do great work on their behalf. She also respects how complex multi-location really is. In her world, there are different owners in every market, different contact information, and a constant need for localization—“everything has to be able to be localized,” she said. Finally, she keeps coming back to scale. Franchise budgets, she explained, aren’t built like corporate-owned budgets because the corporate office is collecting a percentage fee to provide support. That’s why she needs solutions that scale, and why she often prefers approaches where “tech is doing the work and not people man hours.” Watch CMO Journeys Interview How They Choose the Right Agency Partners When I asked McLeod what she looks for in an agency partner, she started with a practical advantage: shorten the ramp. She likes partners who have worked in the industry because it reduces how much she has to teach. She’s happy to educate on brand. She wants industry best practices coming from the agency side. But she quickly clarified that “industry experience” is really about multi-location understanding. It doesn’t have to be the exact same niche, she said. What matters is knowing how to localize at scale and solve for complexity without costs going “through the roof.” In her world, that often means tech-enabled solutions that don’t rely on endless manual hours. Then she talked about delivery. She values agencies that deliver on what they commit to, and she prefers “over-delivering and under-promising versus the opposite.” She also noted a common frustration: the sales process can set one expectation, and the shift to account management can feel different. And she cares about chemistry. She wants partners she trusts and enjoys working with. On getting noticed, she didn’t mince words: stop with the really long LinkedIn messages. The kind that makes you scroll. “I can’t stand it,” she said. The bigger issue is timing. Most of the time, she doesn’t want to talk until she’s actively solving a problem. She gave a concrete example from her own work: she needed a website tool that could help users translate and move across multiple languages because she supports many countries. So she started hunting, checked what G2 said, researched options, and then booked calls. That’s why cold outreach usually doesn’t work on her. The exception, she said, can be face-to-face at events. And referrals matter. She leans on peers to ask, “Have you used a great agency in this space?” She uses those recommendations to validate options and shortcut decisions. She told one story that captured it. She worked with a social agency out of New York to help her show up more on LinkedIn. She wanted to post more, but she didn’t feel like anyone cared what she had to say. The agency helped her “get my feet under me” and find her voice. Later, someone at BNI noticed her LinkedIn and asked how to do something similar. When McLeod reached out, the agency founder replied with a twist: he was already in a BNI chapter in New York. McLeod loved that because he “got it.” What Stood Out McLeod is warm about the people she serves and blunt about what wastes time. One line captured her compass: “I want people who I can trust. I want people who I know are going to deliver on the things that they say.” It’s simple, human, and consistent with everything else she described. Inside Scoop This article focuses on the journey, the leadership philosophy, and how this CMO works with agency partners. To access the exclusive analysis, including priorities, initiatives, and opportunities, become a Next Big Win Pro member.