Radar Report #005 – Week of April 6, 2026
7 Accounts Showing Buying Signals Each week, the Radar Report highlights companies showing signals of potential marketing investment. These moments often lead organizations to reassess agency relationships and growth initiatives. For agencies looking for new business opportunities, Radar Report surfaces companies likely preparing to invest in marketing and brand. 7. Cents Cents’ $140 million Series C signals a company moving from category traction into scaled market expansion across software, payments, hardware, and customer experience. Trigger Cents raised $140 million in a Series C led by Sumeru Equity Partners. The company said the funding will support AI product development, customer experience investment, product expansion, distributor and operator partnerships, and new payments infrastructure. Why This Matters This looks like a scale-up moment. The company is investing across product, support, partnerships, and infrastructure at the same time, which usually signals a push to widen category leadership and accelerate adoption in a fragmented SMB market. That often creates pressure to sharpen positioning, prove category authority, and support more complex go-to-market execution. Agency Opportunity Category positioning Product marketing Partner marketing Customer lifecycle marketing Corporate communications Smart Outreach Angle Lead with ideas for turning category leadership into a stronger growth narrative across operators, partners, and investors as Cents expands beyond core platform adoption. Company Context Cents provides software, hardware, and payments tools for laundromats, dry cleaners, and related laundry operators. It serves an essential but historically under-digitized SMB category. 6. University of Maryland Global Campus University of Maryland Global Campus’ external CMO hire points to a likely push to sharpen brand strategy, enrollment marketing, and communications across a large higher education institution. Trigger University of Maryland Global Campus appointed Daron Rodriguez as SVP and Chief Marketing and Enrollment Officer. He joined externally. Why This Matters External senior marketing and enrollment hires often signal a willingness to rethink how brand, student acquisition, and communications work together. In higher education, that can point to increased focus on market positioning, enrollment growth, and message clarity across a broad audience base. Agency Opportunity Brand positioning Enrollment marketing Audience segmentation Creative and messaging strategy Corporate communications Smart Outreach Angle Lead with a perspective on how a large higher education brand can connect enrollment growth, audience targeting, and message clarity without creating disconnected campaigns across programs and audiences. Company Context University of Maryland Global Campus operates in higher education. Its scale suggests meaningful complexity across brand, enrollment, and communications efforts.
Global Website Platform Rebuild (Private Introduction)
We are supporting a selective introduction between the Chief Marketing Officer of a global organization and a small number of agencies with experience building large-scale, multi-region digital platforms. Our role is to identify and introduce a limited number of highly relevant partners based on fit, experience, and alignment with the scope. What We Can Share (At a High Level) The organization operates globally across 70+ countries and 12,000+ local entities The business f… 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
Ocean County Multi-Media Advertising Opportunity With Countywide Department Support
At a Glance Buyer: County of Ocean Industry: Public sector/county government Location/markets: Ocean County, New Jersey; campaign targeting based on geographic reach and audience demographics Primary scope: Multi-media advertising platforms for website, mobile, outdoor, digital, streaming, radio, television, billboard, and social media placements Key deliverables/channels: Media planning and placement, campaign flight schedules, targeting strategy, performance reporting, geo… 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
North Carolina Department of Public Safety Invites Marketing Agency Partners for Multi-Channel Support
At a Glance Buyer: North Carolina Department of Public Safety (DPS) Industry: Public sector/public safety Location/markets: North Carolina Primary scope: Prequalification for marketing, advertising, and public relations services on an as-needed basis Key deliverables/channels: Market research, creative services, print, billboards, websites, social media, video, audio, script writing, account management, reporting, advertising, SEO, media buying, print production, copywriting… 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
Pinellas County Seeks Destination Public Relations Partner With Multi-Year Agency Upside
At a Glance Buyer: Pinellas County/Visit St. Pete-Clearwater Industry: Destination marketing and tourism Location/markets: Pinellas County, Florida; United States and Canada Primary scope: Domestic public relations services for Visit St. Pete-Clearwater Key deliverables/channels: Media relations, press releases, trend stories, influencer strategy, crisis communications, media visits, market missions, social media support, CRM tracking, monthly and annual reporting Budget: No… 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
Oregon Health Authority Launches $10M Strategic Communications Search for Statewide Outreach
At a Glance Buyer: Oregon Health Authority, Public Health Division, Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Prevention Section Industry: Public health Location/markets: Oregon statewide Primary scope: Strategic communications and social marketing services to prevent and reduce excessive alcohol use and related harms Key deliverables/channels: Audience and message research, creative development and testing, advertising purchase and placement, social media strategy and maintenance, website strategy and maintenance, community engagement, campaign monitoring and evaluation, training and technical assistance, public relations Budget: Estimated not-to-exceed $500,000 for the first year; estimated total five-year not-to-exceed amount of $10M, subject to future budget approvals Contract type/term: One contract anticipated; initial term through June 30, 2031, with options to amend for additional related work and funding up to a cumulative maximum of seven years Key dates: Proposal deadline April 30, 2026, at 3:00 PM PT; optional Round 2 interviews June 5, 2026; notice of intent to award approximately June 10, 2026 Eligibility/must-haves: At least one key person with health communications, public health social marketing, and community co-creation experience; at least one senior management key person with experience working with culturally specific communities; no direct or indirect relationship with tobacco, alcohol, or cannabis industries Why This Could Be Interesting The Oregon Health Authority is hiring for a statewide strategic communications and social marketing engagement tied to one of its highest-priority public health issues: reducing excessive alcohol use and related harms. In plain English, this is a broad public-sector communications brief. The selected partner would help manage brand strategy, research, campaign development, paid media, social, website work, community engagement, reporting, technical assistance, and public relations for Rethink the Drink and related prevention efforts. What makes this notable is the combination of scale, term length, and breadth. This is not a narrow creative project. It is a multi-year operating role inside a statewide public health initiative, with an estimated first-year ceiling of $500,000 and a projected five-year ceiling of $10M. The scope also signals complexity. The agency will need to work across priority populations, support culturally responsive communications, provide translation and transcreation on request, and collaborate with local public health authorities, community groups, coalitions, and Tribal and Tribal-serving organizations. Best suited for agencies with deep public health or public-sector communications experience, strong multicultural strategy and community engagement chops, and the operational discipline to manage complex stakeholder environments and public funding accountability. Proposal deadline: April 30, 2026, at 3:00 PM PT Download the full RFP here.
The Talent and Process Shifts Shaping Appriss Retail Marketing
At a Glance Interviewee: Sarah Cascone, Chief Marketing Officer Company: Appriss Retail Website: apprissretail.com Industry: B2B retail technology and profit protection software Company Notes: Enterprise platform helping large retailers reduce returns, fraud, and shrink across stores and ecommerce Best-Fit Agencies: B2B SaaS positioning, ABM and lifecycle, retail thought leadership, experiential and field, PR and comms, data storytelling Source: CMO Journeys Interview The… 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
Inside Visa’s Push to Win Trust in AI Commerce
At a Glance Interviewee: Frank Cooper III, Chief Marketing Officer Company: Visa Estimated Revenue: $40B Website: visa.com Industry: Digital payments and commerce infrastructure Company Notes: Visa operates in more than 200 countries and territories and is pushing beyond payments into trust, AI commerce, and merchant intelligence Best-Fit Agencies: Brand strategy, integrated creative, commerce marketing, sponsorship activation, CRM and lifecycle, marketing analytics Source:… 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
CMO Moves – Week of April 6, 2026
Highlights Katelyn Zborowski named Chief Marketing Officer at Jack in the Box Jack in the Box is a major quick-service restaurant chain. The appointment comes with a stated focus on driving demand through innovation, delivering profitable value, and bringing “Jack’s Way” to life across the brand. The company also framed the hire as part of a broader push to strengthen the brand and improve how it shows up for guests. Agency lens: Expect continued emphasis on traffi… 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
Josh Churnick’s Eclectic Path to Practical Marketing Leadership
Executive: Josh Churnick, Chief Marketing OfficerCompany: Vertex Service PartnersIndustry: Residential exterior home services (roofing-led, multi-brand platform)Company Snapshot: A platform of regional brands supported by shared servicesFormat: CMO Journeys Interview Why It Matters Josh Churnick didn’t take a straight line into the CMO seat. His path runs through very different worlds, and it shaped a leadership style that’s both creative and deeply practical. He talks about marketing as a craft you can measure—because the customer always tells you what’s working. And for agencies, his viewpoint is refreshingly direct: he’s clear on what earns trust, what breaks it, and what a real partnership actually requires. Their Path, in Short Josh describes his career as “eclectic” until he found the lane that fit. Early on, he wasn’t trying to become a “home services marketing guy.” He was trying to become a better marketer—period—by learning different categories and different ways customers make decisions. One of his earliest chapters forced him to learn the basics in a hands-on way. After high school, he built a digital platform for independent music artists. The idea was simple: give artists a place to create profiles, share show dates, and grow an audience. He partnered with Billboard magazine and worked around performance venues connected to that ecosystem. It wasn’t a neat corporate role with a neat job description. It was the messy kind of work where you learn what people care about because you have to earn attention. From there, he moved through a mix of industries—entertainment, consumer packaged goods, restaurant groups, and insurance—building a broader sense of what makes marketing click. Over time, he noticed he was drawn to roles where the feedback loop was clear. He liked being able to set up tracking, run a campaign, and see the results plainly—“in black and white”—instead of having performance judged by taste or office politics. That preference eventually led him into home services, where response can be direct and attribution can be tight if it’s set up correctly. For Josh, that environment made marketing feel honest. If something works, you see it. If it doesn’t, you see that too. And that’s where his voice as a leader sharpened: do the creative work, yes—but let reality decide. Big Themes From the Conversation Josh sees marketing as the bridge between what a company offers and what a customer needs. When marketing is great, it doesn’t just “look good.” It communicates value in a way a consumer understands and acts on. That’s why he keeps circling back to the balance of art and science. Creative matters. Messaging matters. But he doesn’t treat creative like a mystery that can’t be tested. He talks about trying things, comparing performance, and learning through outcomes. The goal isn’t to win an internal argument about what’s best. The goal is to find what customers respond to. A mentor’s advice helped lock in that mindset: don’t worry about what you like—worry about what works. Josh repeats that because it’s a trap he’s seen again and again. Teams fall in love with their own ideas. They chase the “cool factor.” And then they confuse their preferences with the customer’s reality. He also talks about personal growth in a way that feels honest. Earlier in his career, he admits he cared too much about how “cool” the brand seemed. Over time, that changed. Now he defines success by impact: if marketing helps the business run better, helps the teams downstream perform, and supports the people doing the work, then marketing is doing its job. Even when he touches on technology like AI, he frames it as exactly what it is: a tool. Useful, powerful, worth exploring—but not a replacement for judgment. In his view, marketing still needs people to guide it because marketing is still aimed at people. Watch CMO Journeys Interview How They Choose the Right Agency Partners When I asked Josh what makes an agency relationship work, he didn’t start with awards or big names. He started with behavior—and he didn’t point the finger only at agencies. His philosophy is that agencies are extensions of a marketing team. That means partnership has to be real, not performative. And the first test of “real” is transparency. If an agency is expected to drive leads, then the client has to share what happens to those leads. Without that, the agency is flying blind. Josh’s clearest example is disposition data—what happens after the lead comes in. Did the lead convert? Did it not convert? What were the common reasons? If the client withholds that information, then optimization becomes guesswork. In his view, that’s a fast way to create frustration on both sides: the agency can’t improve what it can’t see, and the client can’t get better results from a partner it refuses to equip. He also has a sharp definition of credibility: outcomes. In home services, he says, attribution can be very clear when tracking is built correctly. That means performance can’t hide behind pretty reporting. Results show up—or they don’t. So when agencies talk about expertise, Josh listens, but he ultimately checks whether the work drives measurable impact. That’s why he’s cautious about “category claims.” Some agencies say they know home services, but when you look closer, their experience is thin or short-lived. Josh doesn’t say agencies can’t learn. He’s saying the learning curve can be expensive if the client becomes the training ground. At the same time, he doesn’t want partners who only know one world. Josh credits his own mixed background with giving him ideas he can apply in new places. He values a partner with range—someone who can bring in outside lessons without losing respect for the category’s realities. But range alone isn’t enough. He’s wary of agencies that feel “all over the place,” because they may not understand the mechanics that matter in a performance-heavy environment. The best partners, in his telling, combine real proof with real curiosity: they show they understand the category, and they show they’re still