San Diego-based Guild Mortgage has hired industry veteran Adam O’Daniel as senior vice president and chief marketing officer.
In this newly created role, O’Daniel, with 15 years of experience in the mortgage and financial services industries, will spearhead the company’s marketing and communications initiatives to expand Guild’s brand presence nationally, the company said.
Prior to joining Guild, O’Daniel served as the senior vice president of marketing at Open Mortgage, based in Austin, Tex. He was responsible for branding, marketing and communications for the residential mortgage lender.
Before that, he served in marketing and communications roles at Movement Mortgage, based in Charlotte, North Carolina. He reportedly contributed to Movement’s growth from $8 billion in annual originations to more than $30 billion.
Before joining the mortgage industry on the corporate side, O’Daniel worked as journalist, including as a financial editor and business reporter for more than a decade. He was a business reporter for The Herald, a McClatchy-owned newspaper in Rock Hill, S.C., and was the finance editor for the Charlotte Business Journal.
“Joining Guild is such an incredible opportunity to combine my unique experience with Guild’s stellar brand and growth story,” O’Daniel told Times of San Diego. “I believe my time as a financial journalist, then as a marketing and communications leader for a fast-growth lender like Movement Mortgage, then most recently leading a marketing restructure and brand refresh at Open Mortgage, will all come together at Guild as we move ahead to a very bright future.”
In 2022, he received the Rising Star recognition from HousingWire Magazine as a top mortgage leader under age 40. His team also received a gold Telly Award for “Grab The Key,” a cause-marketing campaign designed to bring awareness to the history of racial inequities within the mortgage industry.
“Now is the time to invest and grow into the next era of mortgage lending, and Guild Mortgage is well-positioned for this moment with an excellent reputation for its people, products, culture and service,” said O’Daniel. “Leading this team of marketers and creative professionals is an incredible honor. We’re going to expand Guild’s brand presence nationally, deliver best-in-class marketing tools, technology and support for our sales teams, and infuse a culture of creativity and collaboration across the brand.”
“Adam brings relevant experience and fresh creative energy to his role driving Guild’s marketing and branding at a time when Guild is growing and is ready to connect with our clients in new and innovative ways,” said Terry Schmidt, CEO of Guild Mortgage. “He has a successful track record of building high-performing marketing teams in the mortgage industry by focusing on brand storytelling, borrower education, social media and innovation, and we look forward to his leadership as we expand Guild’s presence nationally.”
Founded in 1960, Guild Mortgage is a national mortgage lending company originating and servicing residential loans in 49 states and the District of Columbia. It has more than 4,000 employees and more than 300 retail branches. Customers include first-time homebuyers, those looking for jumbo loans and active duty and retired military personnel who qualify for VA loans with 100 percent financing.
Radio Station 91X Seeking Socks, Underwear for Homeless
Marty Whitney, weekday morning radio host heard from 5 a.m. to 10 a.m. on XTRA-FM 91X, is leading the collection of socks, underwear and bras for the homeless as part of a holiday promotion organized by Local Media San Diego, operators of 91X.
The promotion, which debuted in 2020, is called “Marty’s Sox and Underwear for X-mas.” The station said more than 10,000 pairs of socks, underwear and bras were collected in 2022. This year, clothing items will be donated to People Assisting the Homeless, a nonprofit that calls itself PATH San Diego.
Listeners can drop off donations at the 91X studios, 6160 Cornerstone Court, San Diego, or any San Diego County Toyota dealership.
Also, donations will be accepted at a promotional event starting at 5 p.m., Tuesday, Dec. 19, at Dave & Buster’s, 2931 Camino del Rio North, in Mission Valley. A 91X spokesperson said the event’s goal will be to fill a Toyota Sienna minivan with clothing donations. The automobile will be referred to as a “Sienna Sleigh.”
A 91X statement to Times of San Diego said, “Socks and underwear are the No. 1 and No. 2 most requested items by people experiencing homelessness. As people search for a way to give back over the holiday season, 91X listeners have stepped up and donated tens of thousands of socks and underwear over the last four years. We’re grateful to the San Diego County Toyota Dealers for their support and for lending us a Sienna Sleigh to help collect and deliver all the donations going to PATH San Diego.”
For more information, visit the radio station website, www.91X.com.
Local Media San Diego operates four local stations, including XTRA-FM 91X, XHRM-FM Magic 92.5, XHTZ-FM Z90.3 and KFBG-FM 100.7 BIG-FM.
Jack in the Box’s Jackmas Advertised on Social Media
San Diego-based, fast-food hamburger chain Jack in the Box, is advertising this year’s holiday Jackmas promotion exclusively over social media, a company spokesperson told Times of San Diego.
The promotion features 24 days of free food giveaways with a minimum $1 purchase, from Dec. 1 to 24, to customers who use the Jack app, called the Jack Pack.
The food items include Breakfast Jack on Mondays, two tacos on Tuesdays, Oreo shake on Wednesdays, Jumbo Jack burger on Thursdays, fries (curly, French or halfies) on Fridays and fountain drink on Saturdays. For more details, visit jackinthebox.com.
Starting earlier this month, advertising content began appearing on paid social media, including Instagram, Facebook and X, formerly known as Twitter, along with influencers on TikTok, the spokesperson said. The goal has been to increase Jack app downloads.
A company statement sent to Times of San Diego said, “Every Christmas we celebrate Santa Claus who brings you presents one night a year and only if you’ve been good. That hardly seems like something to celebrate. At Jack, we celebrate and reward everyone no matter if they’ve been naughty or nice, we’re not the judgment type. Plus, we give you 24 days of gifts and deals instead of just one evening.”
The annual Jackmas promotion began with the 2021 Christmas holiday season.
Los Angeles NPR Radio Facing Budget Deficit, Staff Reductions
KCRW-FM 89.9, with studios at Santa Monica Community College, is the latest National Public Radio affiliate dealing with financial woes.
Facing a $3 million budget deficit, the public media station with 155 employees offered voluntary buyout packages in an attempt to avoid layoffs, according to news reports. The buyouts were offered to managers, production engineers, technical directors and content producers.
“This is our attempt to avoid layoffs,” station president Jennifer Ferro told the Los Angeles Times.
KCRW officials blamed lost advertising revenue on strikes by the Writers Guild of America and Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA), which stretched from May until early November. “For Your Consideration” spots to promote entries for major award shows all but vanished, news reports said.
“The biggest reason we are doing this (buyout offers) is because the studio dollars we normally get every year just dried up or were postponed because of the strikes,” said Ferro.
According to Radio Ink, an industry trade news outlet, station officials will wait on headcount reductions until after buyout decisions, which are reportedly due Monday, Dec. 18.
KCRW’s broadcast signal can be heard in Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Ventura, Mojave, Palm Springs and San Luis Obispo, according to its website.
Inside Radio, another industry trade news outlet, noted other NPR affiliates with recent workforce losses.
They include: New York Public Radio (NYPR), which operates WNYC-AM/FM, WQXR-FM, and New Jersey Public Radio; Pittsburgh Community Broadcasting’s WESA-FM and WYEP-FM; California’s Capital Public Radio, which operates two NPR-affiliates, including news-talk KXJZ-FM (90.9) and jazz-and-classical music KXPR-FM (88.9), with studios at Sacramento State University campus.
Also, earlier this year, citing a decline in corporate sponsorship revenue, NPR cut about 10 percent of its workforce at its Washington, D.C. headquarters.
Rick Griffin is a San Diego-based public relations and marketing consultant. His MarketInk column appears weekly on Mondays in Times of San Diego.
