Select Media Appearances
“We Never Stop Question” Consumer Reports ad campaign
Ad Age: Consumer Reports’ CMO on reviving the 90-year-old brand in the misinformation era
Before March, Consumer Reports hadn’t run a brand campaign in five years. Earlier this month, the 90-year-old nonprofit launched “We Never Stop Questioning,” a $3 million push designed to introduce the brand to younger consumers and reinforce loyalty among older generations.
In this week’s Marketer’s Brief podcast, Chief Marketing Officer Khalid El Khatib unpacks the strategy behind the work, which arrives as AI has begun to upend the shopping experience and consumers battle misinformation. He argues that such a charged environment makes Consumer Reports more relevant than ever as people look for trusted and independent sources they can rely on for analysis and testing. Consumers are looking for trust, but they’re also looking for affordability amid high prices and economic upheaval. Consumer Reports is cementing its presence as a source, El Khatib posits, as the brand tries to “marry this notion of trust and utility.”
Buzzfeed Business: Consumer Reports Is Making a Multi-Million Dollar Trust Play for Longtime and New-Gen Fans
Most brands are cutting awareness budgets, but Consumer Reports just cut a $3 million check. The 90-year-old nonprofit has never played by the usual rules. It takes zero advertising and spends tens of millions each year buying the products it tests, which means no affiliate links, no "top 10 picks you need right now," and no incentive to hype something that doesn’t deserve it. When something goes wrong, the job doesn’t end with a bad review, the team goes further, working with manufacturers and lawmakers to push for fixes. That mission is now front and center in its first major brand campaign in five years, aimed at reminding people what Consumer Reports actually does and making sure a new generation knows it exists.
Khalid El Khatib, Consumer Reports' Chief Marketing Officer, is applying a playbook you’d expect from a tech company, not a legacy consumer watchdog. He runs a 50-plus person team and a roughly $60 million budget, bringing a level of rigor more commonly associated with SaaS companies. Before joining Consumer Reports, El Khatib served as CMO at Stack Overflow, helping scale the marketing team from fewer than ten people to nearly 50 during its $1.8 billion acquisition, overseeing a platform with more than 100 million monthly users. El Khatib's background shows up in how he approaches the role today, applying a more numbers-driven lens to an organization that already runs on data.
“We Never Stop Questioning” Consumer Reports ad campaign
The El Khatib family on The TODAY Show
The TODAY Show: Mom behind viral ‘home for the holidays’ food plan gets surprise from Hoda
It was a morning Janet El Khatib won’t soon forget.
On Dec. 20, TODAY anchors Hoda Kotb, Craig Melvin and Sheinelle Jones welcomed the El Khatib family to join them from Dubuque, Iowa during Hoda’s Morning Boost, where she starts the day with good news and heartwarming stories.
Janet El Khatib and her son Khalid recently went viral when Khalid shared a tweet about how his mom takes holiday planning to the next level.