Delta Airlines' Marketing Genius

Welcome back to The Friday Fortune! We’ve arrived in that wonderfully weird week between Christmas and New Year’s—a time when days lose meaning, pajamas count as workwear, and the only pressing question is whether it’s too soon to finish the holiday cookies. (Spoiler: it’s not.)

This is the perfect window to reflect, recharge, and sneak in a little inspiration before the calendar flips. Whether you're easing back into work or fully embracing “out of office” mode, we’ve got you covered with fresh marketing insights to carry you into the new year.

Each week, we deliver wisdom from top CMOs, industry experts, and creative innovators to keep you sharp—even when the world slows down.

Here’s what’s on deck this week:

• A conversation with Delta CMO Alicia Tillman

• Marketing Brew’s best and worst brand collabs of 2024

• Another top-tier holiday meme (Daniel Murray, you’re on fire!)

📈 Marketer of the Week

If there’s anyone redefining what it means to be a modern CMO, it’s Alicia Tillman, Chief Marketing Officer of Delta Airlines. With a career spanning finance, global marketing, and transformative leadership roles, Alicia’s story is one of resilience, creativity, and purpose.

With a career that began in M&A strategy and evolved into marketing leadership at American Express and SAP, Alicia has spent decades transforming iconic brands. Now, she’s focused on taking Delta beyond the skies—crafting a brand experience that touches every part of a customer’s journey.

Alicia’s career began in finance, but it was in acquisition meetings at Rosenbluth International that she realized the power of a strong narrative. Reflecting on those moments, she shared, “I learned through all of that that the power of your story really matters...how well you know your customers, how well you build a story of relevance for them, how well you sell that.”

At American Express, Alicia stood at the forefront of the company’s digital evolution. “I introduced the first marketing automation system within American Express,” she explained, underscoring her drive to modernize a historic brand. Later, at SAP, Alicia tackled the challenge of revitalizing a legacy B2B technology company. During her tenure, she helped the brand achieve “four consecutive years of sustained brand growth,” an achievement she attributes to redefining relevance while staying true to the company’s origins. “You’ve got to spend a lot of time understanding [the company],” she said, adding, “I needed to tell that story based on today’s problems that customers were trying to solve for.”

Joining Delta in 2023, Alicia entered a brand already synonymous with reliability and premium service. “I wasn’t coming in to necessarily fix anything,” she noted, “It was more about how do you just continue to build the love for the Delta brand.” For her, the answer lay in tapping into consumers’ growing desire for experiences. “People want to invest more in experiences than they want to invest in products,” she said, emphasizing the importance of building personalized, memorable moments.

Delta’s lounge pop-up at South by Southwest exemplified this shift. The activation featured five days of premium service and drew lines wrapped around the building. “We start to recognize that if we can deliver the same service experience, the same care and attention that we’re known for...then we start to appeal more emotionally,” Alicia explained.

In true Delta fashion, the execution didn’t stop there. Alicia described how their new retail experience at JFK Airport curated products from local artisans and offered exclusive experiential packages, such as “a pregame shoot-around with Jalen Brunson and the New York Knicks, courtside seats, and a coveted dinner reservation at Carbone.” The packages sold out in just 72 hours, proving that Delta’s expansion beyond the skies was resonating deeply with its customers.

At the heart of it all, Alicia remains focused on delivering Delta’s core promise: getting passengers to their destinations safely and on time. “That is our number one priority as a brand,” she emphasized. It’s this foundation that gives Delta “permission to expand into some of these category adjacencies,” she explained, bridging operational excellence with bold new ideas.

Alicia’s Takeaway

Alicia’s leadership philosophy is rooted in optimism and energy. “People are drawn to people with energy,” she reflected, adding, “I’m driven by optimism, I’m inspired by what’s possible.” Her advice for the next generation? “Never let [the world] take your energy out of you because it’s the greatest gift that you have.”

To hear more about how Alicia is transforming Delta into a lifestyle brand and pioneering the future of travel experiences, tune into the full episode of CMO Weekly.

🥠 The Cookie Jar

Crack open a handful of the week’s best marketing links—because good fortune favors the curious.

• The best and worst brand collabs of 2024. And yes, we’re putting our ‘Misfortunes’ collab with Liquid Death at the top of the ‘best’ list."
  

• The best holiday ads of 2024. Nothing better than a holiday ad that just nails it.

• How JBL’s college marketing is delivering long-term brand value. There is still so much upside in the NIL space.
  

That’s a wrap for this week’s Friday fortune.

If you enjoyed the read, pass it along to your favorite marketer who could use a little extra inspo in their inbox.

Until next time, may your marketing be memorable and your cookies always be fortunate!

— The OpenFortune team