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Linda Yaccarino, chief executive of X, formerly known as Twitter, is reinstating its “client council”, an invitation-only group of marketing and advertising agency executives, in the latest attempt to rebuild brand relationships that were shattered after Elon Musk’s takeover of the platform.
“Excited to continue momentum in our business and we are officially bringing back the client council in the fall,” Yaccarino said in a tweet on Thursday. The platform has not determined who will be in the revived network.
Yaccarino, in her first live television interview since taking the helm at the company in May, told CNBC that some brands including Coca-Cola and Visa had returned to the platform, and that the operational run rate at the company was “pretty close to break even”.
She responded to questions from users and advertisers about whether she was able to operate without interference from Musk. “I have autonomy,” she said. “Think about it simply as almost like a relay race. Elon works on the technology, dreams of what’s next, passes the baton to me, I bring it to market.”
Silicon Valley social media platforms such as Meta have long created clubby forums to help bring in advertising dollars, typically giving top spenders an inside look at up-and-coming products, seeking their advice on thorny issues and making reassurances around “brand safety” — an industry term referring to the risk that ads appear alongside problematic content and misinformation.
Before Musk’s takeover, X had a client council that would meet several times a year. The meetings were attended by up to 100 marketing executives from big brands, as well as heads of buying at advertising agencies, according to people familiar with the matter.
When Musk bought the platform for $44bn in October last year, the council met one last time in early November. Advertisers there raised concerns about brand safety after the billionaire decided to loosen content moderation policies and cut the jobs of many moderators and sales workers.
One person who attended that November meeting said Musk seemed unhappy with the questions. Shortly afterwards, X ceased to communicate with the longstanding group.
Its revival comes as Yaccarino, the former advertising head at NBCUniversal, continues a charm offensive to bring back advertisers, many of whom have left the platform over Musk’s unorthodox leadership style and moderation changes. The company’s advertising revenue has fallen by about 50 per cent since Musk took over and the platform still has negative cash flow, according to Musk.
So far, Yaccarino, who has a reputation for deep relationships with advertisers, has had some success, enticing several big companies such as Mondelez to return and launching new brand safety controls.
She also met talent agents at Creative Artists Agency and United Talent Agency as well as A-list celebrities in Hollywood last month, as the platform tries to win high-profile entertainers to boost engagement.
During Thursday’s interview, she said that users would soon be able to make video calls without having to share their phone numbers with anyone. She reiterated the company’s commitment to facilitating payments on the platform.
However, many advertising and media industry executives warn that Musk’s controversial behaviour could undermine any goodwill Yaccarino brings.
Some noted her absence from the rebranding announcement to users from Musk last month when he said Twitter would lose its well-known bird logo and become “X”.
She later wrote on the platform: “X is the future state of unlimited interactivity — centred in audio, video, messaging, payments/banking — creating a global marketplace for ideas, goods, services, and opportunities.”
