The nuclear option is gaining traction as web traffic collapses and Google refuses to negotiate with content creators
This story was originally published in On Background with Mark Stenberg, a free, weekly newsletter that explores the key themes shaping the media industry. You can sign up for it here.
For decades, publishers have done everything in their power, from the legal to the not-explicitly illegal, to rank as highly in Google Search as possible. For many websites, traffic from the search engine was their single greatest source of audience and, as a result, revenue.
Now though, a handful of influential players in the digital media ecosystem have begun moving in the opposite direction, laying the groundwork for what was once unthinkable: removing themselves from Google Search.
Last week, the content delivery network Cloudflare, which hosts roughly one-fifth of the websites in the world, gave Google an ultimatum.
Beginning Sept. 15, all new websites signing up for Cloudflare, as well as all the customers on its free tier, will have the default settings in their bot management protocol set to block “multi-purpose crawlers” on any webpage that has ads. This means that any crawler that scrapes for both search indexing and AI training will be turned away at the door, unless the site owner decides otherwise.
“We’ve been clear about what we want,” said Cloudflare chief strategy officer Stephanie Cohen. “We want a technical solution that allows you to be discoverable without having to give your content away for free.”
While a handful of crawlers fit this description—Apple and Bing, among others—the primary, unnamed target of this action is Google, which infamously uses one crawler to both index sites and train its AI models.
In doing so, Google forces publishers to make an impossible choice: They either allow both functions, enabling Google to scrape their content to train the AI products that are regurgitating their data without compensation; or they shut off both functions and disappear from Google Search, presumably losing their largest source of traffic in the process.
To be fair, Google recently introduced an option called Google Extended, which nominally allows publishers to opt out of AI training without disappearing from Search. But publishers are wary that the program will penalize their search visibility, according to executives at two media companies.
Similarly, new controls introduced in the U.K. enable publishers greater agency over what Google can do with their scraped content, but publishers are similarly hesitant to trust a solution that relies on the discretion of Google rather than an outright block of its crawler.
“We provide web publishers with clear, granular controls to manage their content, including Google-Extended for AI training and a new Search Console control we are testing for generative AI Search features, neither of which impact traditional Search visibility,” said a Google spokesperson in a statement. “We are committed to designing AI experiences that highlight the web, drive valuable traffic to publishers, and provide the insights they need to succeed.”
Historically, abandoning Google Search would have been commercial suicide, according to SEO consultant Lily Ray. It is simply too valuable of a source of audience discovery and traffic.
“It’s a really hard tradeoff. Some publishers have already blocked OpenAI until it strikes partnerships, but with Google it’s hard,” Ray said. “Google is a different conversation because it has so many more users than other AI firms.”
But the gradual erosion of search traffic in recent years has, paradoxically, given publishers more agency to consider walking away from the platform.
USA Today Inc., which encompasses not just USA Today but a nationwide network of news sites, is weighing its options on the matter, according to CEO Mike Reed.
The company, like many others, has responded to declines in search traffic by bolstering audience from other sources, like newsletters, social media, and events. Its traffic has remained relatively stable in recent years, hitting its goal of 1 billion pageviews every month for the last three years, according to Reed.
Still, its monetization strategy going forward as it relates to AI will come from licensing agreements, which the company has struck with Meta, Microsoft, and Amazon, among others. Google, unlike its hyperscaler peers or pure-play AI firms like OpenAI and Anthropic, has not struck any licensing deals with any publishers. It does have a licensing agreement with The Associated Press, which is a wire service.
As a result, USA Today Inc. is prepared to delist from Google in the next six to twelve months, according to Reed. Likewise, the creator network Beehiiv announced in a recent partnership with Cloudflare that its network of creators now has the ability to block the Google crawler.
“I wouldn’t call it a big decision because we’re blocking other crawlers,” Reed said. “For those with licensing agreements, they get our content. For those without, we block them.”
While USA Today Inc., Beehiiv, and Cloudflare are the first major players to take this step, executives at every major media company have a model for what it would look like if they blocked the Google Bot, according to one executive who wished to remain anonymous because of business engagements with Google.
The decision of when to make that call is mostly a matter of math: Once search traffic drops below a certain threshold, the value of appearing there becomes less than the value of withholding that content as a bargaining tactic. And to be clear, every publisher would prefer Google to come to the negotiating table.
But the alternative is bleak. If Google refuses to strike licensing agreements, more premium publishers could follow suit in denying its crawlers access. Doing so would degrade the quality of search results, making it harder for consumers to find accurate news. Just as social media has become a cesspool of misinformation, the open web could be overcome with untrustworthy content too.
“Our content is showing up and powering generative experiences on Google at least hundreds of millions of times a day,” said the media executive. “If we weren’t in it, every one of those experiences would be worse.”
Still, executives at other media companies are not so sure. The existing deal is a lose-lose situation for publishers: Allowing Google to scrape their content for free is self-defeating, but opting out has no clear material benefit either, according to one media operator who also wished to remain anonymous because of business dealings with the company.
Plus, if a company opts out now, there is no telling what negative externalities that could create in the future, the operator added. Google is not compensating publishers for their data now, but if it does in the future, could those payouts be harmed by restricting the Google crawler in the interim? The options are unappealing.
Nonetheless, that publishers are considering opting out of Google Search marks a symbolic milestone in the lifecycle of the open web. The posturing is all part of a broader negotiation, to be sure, but the threats are no longer empty.
No publisher wants to make do without Google, but many are increasingly prepared to do so. Google, on the other hand, has no such backup plan.
Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to include information on GoogleExtended and the new data controls available to websites in the U.K.
Talking Heds
Newsweek Weakens (SCOOP): Traffic has fallen across the industry, but few have been hit harder than Newsweek, whose readership has declined from 100 million in May 2025 to 23 million last month, a drop of nearly 75%, according to Similarweb data. These declines have taken their toll: The company saw sales and product layoffs in June, rankings team layoffs in March, and video team layoffs in May, according to people familiar with the matter. Two key executives, the head of events Megan Knapp and chief product officer Bharat Krish, have both left the company in recent months. Last January, I chronicled the unlikely turnaround story Newsweek CEO Dev Pragad had authored at the outlet, based largely on the strength of its programmatic advertising business. With audiences dwindling, the business has contracted in tandem.
The YouTubification of Netflix: On Tuesday, Netflix announced a sweeping new series of deals with digital publishers from Condé Nast, People Inc., Hearst Magazines, and more. The licensing arrangements will see premium video produced by the publishers brought to Netflix, meaning fans can find series like Walking Tours from Architectural Digest and Struggle Meals from Tastemade on the streaming service. The move is yet another foray from Netflix into bringing digital video into its ecosystem, following its tie-up last year to bring Ringer and Barstool podcasts onto the platform. So far, the company has stopped short of bringing user-generated content inside its gates, but this deal brings it one step closer. Video content from these publishers matches the Netflix pedigree and ensures a brand safe environment for advertisers, but it furthers the transformation of Netflix into a subscription-supported YouTube.
Business Outsider (SCOOP): When Axel Springer executive Christian Baesler took over as interim CEO of Business Insider in May, he made it clear that his tenure as top lieutenant would be temporary. But given his wealth of experience atop media organizations—Baesler served as the COO of BuzzFeed and CEO of Complex, among other roles—it was not exactly clear why. It turns out that the German executive is raising funds for a separate project, according to two people familiar with the matter. I am told that Baesler has put those efforts on the shelf while leading BI, but that when Axel Springer names a new CEO, which is set to happen in the coming months, Baesler will resume his fundraising and recommit his focus to the new venture. I have scant few details about the project—Baesler did not respond to my request for comment—but given his track record, media would be my first bet.
Weather Vanes: Yahoo is planning to relaunch its Weather App in the coming weeks, accompanied by a buzzy new marketing campaign to promote the update. The effort is the latest in a series of new, weather-centric offerings to debut from publishers, which are presumably interested in capitalizing on users’ daily habit of checking the forecast. CNN has made weather a central tenet of its new digital offering, and Byron Allen, who owns the Weather Channel, aims to plug BuzzFeed into its Local Now service. While I enjoy checking the weather as much as the next guy, I have yet to wrap my head around how such a service could offer anything more than incremental value to a preexisting product. The real weather heads have their own universe of hyper-scientific services, while most casual users can make do with the built-in Weather app in their phones. If anyone can explain this uptick in investment, please do.
After School at Cannes (PODCAST): I spoke with Casey Lewis, author of the Substack newsletter After School, at Cannes the other week, and the kindly folks at Sounds Profitable recorded the interview, which you can watch in full here. Casey, who covers youth trends, talked about the decline of text-based media among younger audiences, the performative rise in analog hobbies, and how she anticipates creators growing their businesses in the coming years.
Side Projects at Cannes (PODCAST): Similarly, I joined Clare Malley and Eli Williams, hosts of the Day One Agency podcast Side Projects, at Cannes to talk about what I was seeing on the ground. I made the case that Cannes is not the place for launching products, but rather where industry leaders come to build consensus about what is and is not working in the space. We talked about the declining focus on creative, the rising focus on creators, and why executives are finally admitting behind closed doors that artificial intelligence is not worth the cost. You can listen here.
Quote/Unquote
At Cannes, I moderated a one-on-one panel with Mike Peralta, the chief revenue officer of Future, a publicly traded digital media company that houses over 130 editorial brands, including Marie Claire, Tom’s Guide, and Who What Wear, among others.
In the conversation, Mike and I discussed how Future is responding to the challenges posed by AI, especially as it relates to declining traffic, as well as how the company is working to be compensated for the use of its data and improving its answer engine optimization.
This interview has been edited.
Mark Stenberg: Should part of publisher revenue come from AI companies themselves?
Mike Peralta: AI is nothing but a hallucination without our content—not just Future’s content, but every publisher’s. It’s incumbent upon all of us to ensure there’s the correct value exchange. Every publisher is playing both offense and defense: Our content has been scraped for years, and now it’s a bit of an arms race. But original content is super important, independent publishers are super important, and without us, the internet’s not quite as interesting.
Mark: What has Future learned about showing up in answer engines?
Mike: What works within the LLMs is authority and trust. If an editor with a real following writes something, that increases the citation. In the end, what did SEO do? It drove clicks to your site. What does the LLM do? It gives you a recommendation. So as a publisher, how can I show up in that one place? We’re still early in figuring out how a citation aligns to an actual outcome.
Mark: What does AI-driven traffic loss mean for publishers?
Mike: Audience is probably going down for a majority of publishers. That being said, the audience you do have is probably 10 times better. They’re more passionate—if you’re interested in golf, you’re going to keep coming to Golf Monthly.
Mark: What should we watch for over the next year?
Mike: Agentic. When my college-age son can create his own agents better than I can, I better start paying attention. Agent-to-agent buying and selling is going to come up faster than we think. A year from now, more than half of programmatic buying is probably going to be done through agents.
Pulled Quotes
“Gambling has become a more common leisure activity than reading a book: Last year, 57 percent of Americans placed a bet.” The Atlantic’s Rose Horowitch, on the end of reading READ MORE
“Even if you raise $50 million, no one’s gonna write about you unless you’re doing something crazy.” Startup founder Zuhair Lakhani, on ragebaiting as marketing READ MORE
“I think the demand for philosophers with A.I. training is, if anything, outstripping the supply right now.” NYU professor David Chalmers, on philosophers’ ubiquity in AI READ MORE
“Netflix is struggling to get viewers to stick with its shows for more than a season.” Bloomberg’s Lucas Shaw, on Netflix’s second-season problem READ MORE
Vitaminwater is expanding a branded content platform that celebrates the power of public art with a new installment in its Neighborhue series, Marketing Dive can share.
The Coca-Cola-owned beverage marketer is again spotlighting mural artists and the communities they enliven in season two, which features a mix of outdoor art, documentary and behind-the-scenes video, long-form editorial and social-first content. The effort targeted at Hispanic consumers brings a broader geographical focus for the platform as well, covering New York City — where Vitaminwater is based — as well as Orlando, Florida.
Neighborhue is developed in partnership with My Code, a multicultural media and marketing agency that owns properties including Remezcla Media Group, HipLatina, La Opinión and El Diario. My Code will distribute the Vitaminwater content through its owned channels, including Remezcla’s digital and social footprint, as well as on Instagram Reels, TikTok and YouTube Shorts.
“We have a plethora of exclusive properties that we own outright. It’s going to go across our entire media ecosystem,” said My Code CEO Amani Duncan. “We didn’t just expand the city: We’ve expanded the outreach and all the platforms that we’re going to utilize to get this story out wide.”
The first iteration of Vitaminwater’s Neighborhue concept, which launched last August, zeroed in on a trio of murals and the artists behind them in Latine neighborhoods around New York’s outer boroughs. Season two, subtitled “Still in Color,” profiles Puerto Rican artist Don Rimx, whose real name is David Sepulveda, and Cuban artist Carlos Mateu. The theme shifts from a focus on restoration to one of continuation, or examining how public art provides an enduring pillar of heritage and belonging. The spotlight on Orlando-based Don Rimx debuts Thursday while the content tracking Mateu’s Brooklyn-based endeavors will roll out July 20.
“We believe creativity is a powerful force for connection and self-expression, and the response to the first season of Neighborhue reinforced just how deeply people connect with stories rooted in community and culture,” said Hillary Horton, Vitaminwater’s brand director, in a press statement.
Driving audience connection
Vitaminwater wants to reach a fast-growing cohort of Hispanic consumers in the U.S. with its Neighborhue initiative. Hispanic households make up about $2.7 trillion in spending power, or 15% of consumer spending in the country, according to NIQ data published last year. My Code reaches over 20 million unique Hispanic consumers across its portfolio, per Duncan, and enhances its targeting for brands through an audience graph that is supported by first-party data and a partnership with Experian.
“Our intelligence center is what powers all of our campaigns, it powers all of our strategy,” said Duncan. “It is table stakes for us because we’re sitting on this treasure trove of data and insights that we’ve been mining.”
Part of the agency’s philosophy is that multicultural audiences, which it calls growth audiences, no longer make up a sliver but rather a substantial portion of the consumer pie, a factor that isn’t always accounted for in brand marketing. My Code has worked with other Coca-Cola brands, including Fanta and Sprite.
“People want to support the brands that see them. We’re talking about marginalized groups, we’re talking about people that don’t always get seen on a large scale,” said Duncan. “When you do this in the right way, and you do it consistently, you’re going to see a positive impact to your bottom line.”
Vitaminwater began ramping marketing activity back up in 2024 with “Vitaminwater from New York,” which at the time marked its first ad campaign in two years. Spike Lee directed creative that captured city staples like bodegas, late-night food trucks and the Brooklyn Bridge. Open X, WPP’s bespoke agency unit for the Coke business, was behind “Vitaminwater from New York.”
Drive enterprise growth. Introduce a new product or revive sales for a stagnant one. Bolster confidence in a company across public and private markets. Become a talent magnet. And do it all in a world that grows more agentic by the day. Those are the expectations of today’s chief marketing officers.
CMOs need a quiver of sharp arrows to perform this multifarious job, and one of those arrows is the ability to drive influence. To sell, CMOs need to effectively “tell,” a critical skill from the boardroom to the shop floor. The executive posting daily, speaking everywhere and dominating the trade press may be influential. Or they may simply be visible. These are not the same thing and conflating them has always been one of the field’s more expensive mistakes.
The people on the 2026 Forbes World’s Most Influential CMOs list have achieved something much harder than attracting attention. They have moved things: companies, categories, consumer decisions and cultures. Sometimes quietly, sometimes with enormous public flair — but always with commercial consequence as the North Star, and under pressures almost unimaginable a few years ago. Artificial intelligence is no longer an experiment running in a lab somewhere. It is restructuring marketing functions globally reshaping creative production, collapsing timelines, personalizing at a scale that no human team could manage, all while simultaneously raising profound questions about authenticity, authorship and trust. The CMOs who made our list have the weighty responsibility of determining what AI makes possible and what it should never replace.
Sports—as a business, global cultural force, and commercial platform—has arrived at a new scale of ambition. The appearance on the list of marketing leaders from the NFL, Formula 1, FIFA and the Premier League reflects how these organizations’ CMOs manage some of the world’s most watched and emotionally charged brands across dozens of countries and cultures, using increasingly complex revenue models to do it. The people running marketing for these entities are among the best in the business.
Apparel tells a story about the enduring power of identity. Five brands on this list—Nike, New Balance, Levi’s, American Eagle and Lululemon—sell clothing in the technical sense and culture in every commercially relevant sense. Their CMOs engage in something closer to anthropology than advertising: understanding where their customers’ mindsets are going, and ensuring the brand is already there when they arrive.
The automotive sector is living through one of the most disruptive periods in its history. The vehicle itself is being redefined. The competitive landscape has been redrawn. Five CMOs, from BMW, Renault, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan and Ford, appear on this year’s list—a sign that in industries facing structural reinvention, the ability to hold and reframe a brand is not a soft capability. It is one of survival.
Across the list, the title “CMO” is increasingly shorthand for something larger. Chief Commercial Officer. Chief Growth Officer. Chief Brand Officer. Chief Customer Officer. The function has often absorbed accountability for revenue, experience and transformation that once lived elsewhere, and the titles are catching up. What remains constant is the mandate: connect what an organization offers to what people actually want and do it profitably, at scale, over time.
Many listees are appearing on the list for the second, third or fourth time not because of a single campaign, product launch or moment of cultural relevance, but because their influence has proven durable. Those who would have made the list for the fifth time get elevated to a whole new level: the Forbes CMO Hall of Fame. Those nine special honorees are featured here. We also have identified six more who assumed their role only this year, and whose impact is impossible to ignore: our CMOs to Watch.
The list was created once again through Forbes’ partnership with Sprinklr, with supplemental data from LinkedIn. The starting pool exceeded 1,500 CMOs across industries and regions worldwide. We assessed more than 10 billion data points within 20 domains of marketing influence that encompass:
Attention for Marketing Work: How CMOs drive marketing and advertising innovation with ads and campaigns that generate attention and praise from media and other outlets
CMO Attention, Sentiment & Salience: How CMOs drive interest, awareness and goodwill for their brands through their own media and online presence
Brand Awareness & Sentiment: How CMOs drive their brands’ relevance and share of attention
In a change from previous years, we evaluated leaders at the enterprise brand level only, excluding sub-brand and divisional marketing heads. The data runs from April 2025 through March 2026. Even though a CMO might have left their role after that period, we are including them on the list because of their performance during that time.
The 50 people on this list effect change in ways that don’t always announce themselves. Through their decisions, relationships, creative bets and organizational will, they may remake what their companies do and what their industries consider possible. That is what influence actually looks like. More than a post. More than a panel. It’s driving real growth in a world that is quietly rearranging.
The Forbes World’s Most Influential CMOs List: 2026
#1-10
1. Marian Lee
Chief Marketing Officer, Netflix (United States)
Topping the Forbes World’s Most Influential CMOs list for the third year in a row, Lee has helped redefine what modern entertainment marketing looks like. She has helped transform Netflix from a streaming platform into one of the world’s most influential engines of deeply localized, fan-first storytelling built around culture, behavior and community—leading to Netflix surpassing 300 million paid memberships in 2025 and $39 billion in revenue. Over the past year, she also helped accelerate Netflix’s advertising business, which by May 2026 has grown to reach more than 250 million global monthly active users. Under Lee’s leadership, Netflix has expanded beyond traditional content marketing into live events, sports and immersive fan experiences by supporting major cultural moments, including The Roast of Tom Brady, the Jake Paul-Mike Tyson fight and the company’s partnership with World Wrestling Entertainment. Her teams are known for blending social engagement, creator partnerships, experiential activations and culturally nuanced campaigns that turn programming into global phenomena. Her approach recognizes that viewership is increasingly participatory, personal and shaped by shared experiences both online and offline. “Real impact comes from meeting fans where they actually are,” Lee says. Whether helping transform Squid Game into a worldwide phenomenon or building organic momentum around breakout hits like Baby Reindeer, Lee has helped position Netflix at the center of pop culture. Before becoming CMO in 2022, Lee held senior leadership roles at Spotify, Condé Nast and J.Crew.
2. Emily Prazer
Chief Commercial Officer, Formula 1 and President & CEO, Las Vegas Grand Prix, Inc. (United Kingdom)
Prazer oversees the commercial strategy for one of global sports’ fastest-growing entities. In 2025, Formula 1 generated a record $3.87 billion in revenue, with attendance reaching 6.75 million and viewership up 21% year-over-year as the sport expanded from motorsport into broader entertainment, media, hospitality and consumer experiences. She led the development and launch of the Las Vegas Grand Prix—one of modern sports’ most ambitious events—establishing it as a premier commercial and hospitality platform and securing a long-term extension through 2037. She reshaped Formula 1’s partnership strategy, overseeing major deals with brands like American Express and LVMH to broaden the sport’s commercial footprint. Beyond sponsorships, she has extended F1’s reach through year-round fan experiences, consumer products and media ventures, including support for Apple Original Films’ highly anticipated F1 feature film. “For leaders, the opportunity is to think bigger—moving beyond moments to create communities and experiences people genuinely want to be part of,” Prazer says. In addition to her F1 duties, she serves as President and CEO of Las Vegas Grand Prix, Inc. That 2025 sold-out race drew over 300,000 attendees and generated 1.8 billion social impressions. This is Prazer’s debut on Forbes’ World’s Most Influential CMOs list.
3. Frank Cooper III
Chief Marketing Officer, Visa (United States)
Cooper leads Visa’s global marketing across consumer, B2B, sponsorship, digital and analytics functions in over 200 countries. In 2025, Visa generated over $40 billion in revenue, processed more than 245 billion transactions and expanded its network to 12 billion endpoints. As digital payments increase, Cooper has focused on connecting commerce, culture and technology. His influence is evident in Visa’s work with the Olympic and Paralympic Games and the FIFA Women’s World Cup, where sponsorships support women entrepreneurs and small businesses. He has overseen high-profile campaigns like “Tap In” with Jason Sudeikis and “Pro Move” with Anderson .Paak to educate consumers on financial security and digital commerce. “We are on the verge of a marketing renaissance, where new forms of narrative will arise, AI agents will become a customer segment, and trust will be a precious commodity,” Cooper says. Previously a leader at BlackRock, BuzzFeed, and PepsiCo, this is Cooper’s fourth appearance on the Forbes list.
4. Tim Ellis
Chief Marketing Officer, National Football League (United States)
Under Ellis’s stewardship, the NFL has evolved beyond a sports league into one of the world’s most influential entertainment platforms. Credited with modernizing the league’s brand, he has helped shift the NFL away from traditional corporate messaging toward a more relevant, and inclusive fan experience built around players, communities, and year-round engagement. A cornerstone of Ellis’s strategy is the “Helmets Off” initiative, which repositioned players as multidimensional personalities rather than mere athletes. By highlighting their personal journeys, fashion and diverse interests, the league has deepened its connection with younger demographics, women, and Hispanic audiences, cultivating the largest and most diverse fan base in NFL history. Furthermore, Ellis has spearheaded the league’s expansion into gaming, social media and creator platforms while accelerating global reach through international fixtures and the promotion of flag football ahead of its 2028 Olympic debut. In 2025, the league generated more than $23 billion in revenue and accounted for 86 of the 100 most-watched television broadcasts in the United States. Ellis’s honors have included induction into both the American Advertising Federation Hall of Fame and the Marketing Hall of Fame, multiple Emmy Awards, and being named Ad Age’s Marketer of the Year. This is Ellis’s fourth consecutive appearance on the World’s Most Influential CMOs list.
5. Mark Weinstein
Chief Marketing Officer and Head of Luxury Brands, Hilton (United States)
In leading Hilton’s brand, performance marketing and luxury strategy, Weinstein oversees a global portfolio that spans 28 brands and more than 9,200 hotels across 144 countries and territories. He has spearheaded the company’s enduring “Hilton. For the Stay.” platform and the “It Matters Where You Stay” campaign, while concurrently driving the record-breaking growth of Hilton Honors, which has surpassed 250 million members through strategic partnerships with American Express, Mastercard, McLaren Racing, the GRAMMYs, AutoCamp and Explora Journeys. Under his leadership—and during Hilton’s expansion of 500,000 hotel rooms planned or under construction worldwide—the brand continues to meet global demand for luxury, lifestyle and premium experiences. “The future of marketing belongs to brands with conviction,” Weinstein says. “AI will make creativity more accessible and relevance more scalable, but the brands that truly break through will be the ones that pair technology with humanity.” Prior to Hilton, Mark was a consultant at MarketBridge and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
6. Chris Davis
Global Brand President & Chief Marketing Officer, New Balance (United States)
Following New Balance’s “Fearlessly Independent Since 1906” ethos, Davis has helped lead the company’s transformation from product-led to brand-led. He prioritizes long-term brand equity over short-term hype, positioning the company as a preeminent brand across elite sports, streetwear and luxury fashion. Through a co-authored partnership model, Davis has built collaborations across sports, entertainment, and luxury, with athletes such as Coco Gauff, Shohei Ohtani and Cooper Flagg, as well as Prada, Moncler and LVMH. “The future will not be defined by what technology can do, but by what human instinct, empathy and imagination can create,” Davis says. He oversees the company’s global product architecture, merchandising and demand-generation strategy across 130 countries. Since 2021, New Balance more than doubled its global sales to $9.2 billion in 2025.
7. Jochen Goller
Member of the Board of Management for Customer, Brands, Sales, BMW AG (Germany)
Goller oversees customer strategy, global sales, brand management and marketing for BMW, Mini and Rolls-Royce at a pivotal moment for the automotive industry. In 2025, BMW generated $156 billion in revenue while continuing to expand sales of electrified vehicles and prepare for the launch of Neue Klasse, the company’s next-generation platform designed to integrate electric drivetrains, software, AI and digital experiences. His leadership comes as automakers navigate intensifying competition in electric vehicles, shifting consumer expectations and growing geopolitical pressures. Drawing on more than two decades at BMW—including eight years leading the company’s operations in China, its largest market—Goller has played a central role in shaping Neue Klasse’s commercial strategy, beginning with the highly anticipated BMW iX3. He has also continued BMW’s rollout of its agency sales model across Europe, part of a broader effort to strengthen direct customer relationships and modernize the retail experience. Goller has helped steer BMW through market volatility, including tariff uncertainty and increased price competition in China, while maintaining the company’s focus on premium positioning. “The future of marketing is built on relevance and a human-centered approach that amplifies creativity,” Goller says. This is Goller’s first appearance on Forbes World’s Most Influential CMOs list.
8. Marc Speichert
Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts (Canada)
Under Speichert’s leadership, Four Seasons has pursued one of the hospitality industry’s most ambitious expansion strategies by broadening its business across hotels, residences, private aviation, yachts, wellness, retail and experiential travel. As luxury becomes increasingly defined by personalization rather than exclusivity alone, Speichert says that technology should enhance—not replace—the human experience. “At Four Seasons, we call this AI meets EI, where advancements in technology come together with the emotional intelligence and genuine care of our people,” he says. Since joining Four Seasons in 2021 as the company’s first chief commercial officer, Speichert has also helped push the brand beyond traditional hospitality by leaning on consumer insights and digital innovation. That vision is taking shape through ventures such as Four Seasons Yachts, the company’s first entry into luxury maritime travel, which is expected to launch later this year and reflects the brand’s broader move beyond traditional hospitality. Before Four Seasons, he held senior leadership roles at GSK Consumer Healthcare, Google, L’Oréal, and Colgate-Palmolive.
9. Kate Rouch
Former Chief Marketing Officer, OpenAI (United States)
Before stepping down in April for health reasons, Rouch helped shape the public narrative around one of the world’s most disruptive technology companies. As OpenAI’s first CMO, she led global marketing as ChatGPT evolved from a breakthrough curiosity to a mainstream platform with hundreds of millions of users. During her tenure, OpenAI’s annual revenue surpassed $20 billion as generative AI adoption accelerated across consumers, businesses and governments. Rouch influenced OpenAI’s expansion beyond the tech community into popular culture—notably overseeing the company’s first Super Bowl campaign, “Introducing the Intelligence Age”, a milestone that positioned AI alongside previous technological revolutions to a massive global audience. She also helped shape OpenAI’s public-facing approach to trust, transparency and commercialization amid intensifying sector competition. Previously, Rouch spent over a decade at Meta scaling Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, and served as Coinbase’s first CMO. “Every generation gets a handful of technologies that fundamentally change what’s possible,” Rouch says. “The brands that matter most in the AI era are those that make powerful technology feel useful, understandable, and deeply human.” Rouch says. This is her first appearance on Forbes World’s Most Influential CMOs list.
10. Romy Gai
Chief Business Officer, FIFA (Switzerland)
Since assuming his role in 2022, Gai has modernized FIFA’s commercial and fan engagement strategies ahead of the 2026 World Cup. Under his direction, FIFA launched pioneering “Preferred Platform” partnerships with YouTube and TikTok to deliver real-time, behind-the-scenes content through creator programs and AI-driven coverage. High-profile deals with Kraken, Unilever and Salesforce helped drive over $2.6 billion in 2025 revenue. “At FIFA, we harness the power of football to unite the world, and that same principle should guide modern marketing in building experiences that are inclusive, authentic and emotionally meaningful on a global stage,” Gai says. With the 2026 tournament projected to generate $8.9 billion and potentially $40 billion global GDP impact, the former Juventus executive continues to solidify soccer as a premier global business platform.
#11-20
11. Nicole Hubbard Graham
Executive Vice President & Chief Marketing Officer, Nike (United States)
Graham oversees the Nike, Jordan and Converse portfolios, helping drive the world’s largest athletic brand’s “Sport Offense” strategy. She helped lead “Winning Isn’t For Everyone,” Nike’s global Paris Olympics campaign that generated more than 12 billion impressions globally and was ranked first, by the consumer intelligence platform Engagement Labs, among Olympic sponsors for emotional engagement and memorability. Helping Nike generate $46.3 billion in 2025 revenue, she also expanded the iconic “Just Do It” platform through the “Why Do It?” campaign, which focused on youth and shifted the narrative from pure performance pressure to internal purpose and reflection. It reinterprets the emotional elements of sports by focusing on the psychological challenges today’s youth face, adjusting the slogan from an uncompromising command into a thoughtful question. A Nike veteran who returned to the company in 2024, Graham has also helped integrate live sports moments, athlete storytelling and Nike’s digital ecosystem into a more unified consumer experience.
12. Craig Brommers
Chief Marketing Officer, American Eagle (United States)
Brommers helped turn American Eagle into one of the most culturally relevant brands for Gen Z, helping the company generate more than $5.3 billion in annual revenue in 2025. Under his leadership, the company has sharpened its voice through campaigns that blend fashion and entertainment while sparking conversation—and at times controversy—such as the brand’s ads featuring Sydney Sweeney and the homophone of “jeans” and “genes” that led critics to accuse the ad of inadvertently promoting eugenics and genetic superiority. His influence comes as brands increasingly compete for attention in fragmented digital communities. “I like to say that great brands must program themselves like a streaming service: give your audience recurring moments they love and storylines that keep them on the edge of their seats, with plot twists they never saw coming,” Brommers says. “And, above all, never be boring.” Before joining American Eagle, Brommers held senior marketing leadership roles at Gap, Abercrombie & Fitch and Calvin Klein, building a career around modernizing legacy brands for new generations.
13. Vineet Mehra
Chief Growth and Marketing Officer, Chime (United States)
Since joining Chime in 2022, Mehra has unified brand, product and data into a single engine that helped drive Chime’s 2025 public market debut, $2.2 billion in revenue, and 31% year-over-year growth. By backing innovations such as MyPay and the Chime Card, he has strengthened the company’s position as a top banking-services brand. “We are unquestionably living in the golden age of marketing,” Mehra says. “The tools are available to everyone. What separates the winners is how they use them to build brands that matter to people and drive durable growth.” Mehra’s strategy is characteristic of a career built on creating categories, not just competing in them. Before Chime, he spurred digital transformation at Walgreens and helped bring consumer genomics into the mainstream at AncestryDNA.
14. Tressie Lieberman
Executive Vice President and Global Chief Brand Officer, Starbucks (United States)
In a newly created role for Starbucks, Lieberman is tasked with sharpening the company’s focus on its core coffee heritage. Bridging her deep expertise and modern consumer expectations, Lieberman’s approach is rooted in assessing shifts in loyalty and convenience for a company that generates $36 billion in annual revenue. She oversees a vast portfolio—from marketing and product to digital insights and CPG—while architecting the next chapter of Starbucks’ global position. “Winning brands are built by teams obsessed with understanding how the world is changing, what customers truly need, and how their brand can add real value,” Lieberman says. “In a world moving faster every day, relevance belongs to the curious.” Her career has been defined by high-stakes reinvention, most notably enhancing Chipotle’s digital efforts (such as self-ordering on tablets) and revitalizing the Yahoo brand for a new generation. This is Lieberman’s first appearance on the Forbes list.
15. Takeshi Numoto
Executive Vice President & Chief Marketing Officer, Microsoft (United States)
Numoto directs the global brand, product and commercial strategy for Microsoft’s expansive portfolio, spanning Azure, Windows, Xbox and Copilot. He sits at the nexus of the industry’s most critical shift, scaling Microsoft’s AI strategy beyond chat interfaces to include sophisticated agentic systems and enterprise-wide platforms. A key architect of Microsoft’s growth—reaching $281 billion in fiscal 2025 revenue—Numoto is helping redirect the future of work as Microsoft embeds AI directly into the fabric of daily productivity through Microsoft 365 and GitHub. “The future of marketing isn’t about doing more. It’s about shortening the distance between an idea and its impact. AI makes that possible, but it also raises the bar on craft and judgment,” Numoto says.
16. Jane Wakely
Executive Vice President, Chief Consumer & Marketing Officer and Chief Growth Officer, International Foods, PepsiCo (United States)
Wakely leads PepsiCo’s global consumer organization across marketing, insights, R&D, design, and category strategy while also overseeing growth for the company’s international foods business. In 2025, PepsiCo generated more than $92 billion in annual revenue, with digital accounting for over 70% of its advertising investment as the company expanded its use of AI, commerce media and data-driven marketing capabilities. Her responsibilities include Growth Navigator, a data and analytics platform used to identify category, consumer and market opportunities across PepsiCo’s global portfolio. She also oversees one of the industry’s largest in-house creative organizations, a 500-person team that has earned more than 160 Cannes Lions and 100 Effie Awards over the past decade. “Technology may change how brands are found, but it’s human understanding and creativity that ultimately determine whether they’re chosen and loved,” Wakely says. Wakely’s responsibilities extend beyond marketing into product innovation, design, and long-term growth strategy. Her influence is evident in major global partnerships, including PepsiCo’s Formula 1 agreement, which integrates brands such as Gatorade, Doritos, and Sting Energy.
17. Sumit Virmani
Global Chief Marketing Officer, Infosys (United States)
Virmani drives the global brand, marketing strategies, and communications for Infosys, emphasizing authenticity at the core of the brand and helping generate more than $19 billion in revenue in fiscal 2025. His leadership extends beyond marketing: by spearheading high-profile global partnerships (most notably in elite and grassroots tennis), he leveraged sports to tell brand stories and showcase the company’s technology. He also directly manages marketing for the products and platforms portfolio, fueling the expansion of flagship brands like Finacle. Beyond his primary role, Virmani serves on several boards and is Trustee of the Infosys Foundation. “The future of marketing will belong not to brands that simply use AI to become more efficient, but to those that create deeper human relevance at scale,” Virmani says. “In the race for efficiency, authenticity will be the true differentiator.” This is his fourth consecutive year on the Forbes Most Influential CMOs list.
Mollica leads Bose’s global brand strategy and consumer engagement alongside its luxury audio division, which includes McIntosh and Sonus faber. As Bose expands across personal audio, home entertainment and automotive partnerships, Mollica oversees a portfolio within a global luxury audio market that surpassed $125 billion in revenue in 2025. His leadership reflects a strategic pivot toward earned relevance over traditional advertising; in 2026, he launched Bose Studios to support emerging artists and produce original content. This shift from hardware-centric marketing to a content model emphasizes platform-specific programming across social media and creator partnerships. “Future-leading brands won’t be built through one-off campaigns or constant paid reach,” Mollica says. “They’ll be built through a consistent stream of mission-driven content that earns people’s attention over time.” Mollica’s background includes senior roles at Under Armour, Disney, Viacom/MTV Networks, Ralph Lauren and Nissan.
Orssaud oversees marketing for Duolingo, the language-learning platform that surpassed $1 billion in revenue in 2025 as it expanded into math, music and literacy. Since joining the company in 2020, he has helped transform Duolingo’s green owl mascot into one of the most visible characters on social media, generating billions of organic impressions and helping establish the brand as a case study in earned attention. Under Orssaud’s leadership, Duolingo became known for a distinctive social strategy that prioritized participation in internet culture over traditional advertising. The approach helped the company reach younger audiences. “The future of marketing is less about buying attention and more about earning relevance,” Orssaud says. “The brands that win will feel more like creators and communities than advertisers.” Among the company’s more notable efforts was a five-second Super Bowl advertisement that was timed to coincide with app notifications sent to millions of users, linking a major media moment directly to customer action. As Duolingo’s audience and visibility have grown, Orssaud has also broadened the company’s marketing mix beyond social media, expanding creator partnerships and integrating the brand more directly into the product experience. Before joining Duolingo, Orssaud held senior marketing leadership roles at Spotify and Sony Interactive Entertainment.
Persson has spent nearly a decade helping build Snowflake from an emerging technology company into one of the most important players in enterprise software. “AI is fundamentally changing what marketers can do, from personalization to real-time decision-making, but none of it matters if customers don’t trust how their data is being used,” Persson says. Snowflake revenue grew nearly 30% in 2025 to $4.68 billion. Before joining Snowflake in 2016, Persson served as CMO at Apigee and held senior leadership roles at Genesys, helping guide those tech companies through IPOs and acquisitions. This is Persson’s first appearance on Forbes’ Most Influential CMOs list.
#21-30
21. Zach Kitschke
Global Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, Canva (Australia)
As employee No. 5 at Canva, Kitschke has spent 13 years scaling the company into a global design leader. By 2025, Canva’s focus on visual communication and AI innovation propelled the company beyond $3 billion in revenue. “We’re entering a great creative renaissance,” Kitschke says. “The brands that define the next chapter won’t simply be the fastest or the loudest. They’ll be the ones with a clear point of view, a deep sense of responsibility, and the imagination to create work that truly matters.” Under Kitschke’s leadership, Canva has become a universal platform for collaboration, redefining how organizations can tell their stories visually. As generative AI reshapes the industry, he advocates for technology that enhances creativity more efficiently. This marks Kitschke’s fourth consecutive appearance on this Forbes list.
22. Marc Hazan
SVP, Marketing and Partnerships, Spotify (Sweden)
Hazan oversees Spotify’s growth, partnership and commercial initiatives, helping drive the platform which reached 678 million monthly active users and generated $19.4 billion in revenue in 2025. Since joining the company in 2011, he has played a key role in expanding Spotify Premium from 1 million to 268 million subscribers while shaping the partnerships strategy behind some of the company’s most visible consumer and business growth efforts. Spotify’s landmark partnership with FC Barcelona reimagined traditional sports sponsorship by integrating artists directly into the club’s global platform. The collaboration featured special matchday jerseys that highlighted artists including Drake and Rosalía. Hazan also leads the global execution of Spotify Wrapped, the company’s annual personalized listening campaign that has evolved into a widely anticipated and shared marketing moment. “The most powerful thing a brand can do today is make someone feel like they belong to something,” Hazan says. “When fandom becomes your strategy, you stop interrupting people’s lives and start becoming part of them.” As Spotify expands across video, creator monetization, and new partnership models, Hazan continues to help shape how the company turns audience scale into deeper engagement, loyalty and cultural relevance.
23. Juan Manuel Cendoya
Vice Chair, Santander España, and Senior Vice President and Head of Communications, Corporate Marketing and Research, Grupo Santander (Spain)
Cendoya leads communications, marketing and research for Grupo Santander, which recorded $67.3 billion in 2025 revenue and serves 175 million customers. In over two decades at the bank, he has established Santander as a leading global financial brand, overseeing its public voice across regulatory, investor and consumer markets. His leadership included the global brand unification and high-profile partnerships with Formula 1 and Ferrari. Recently, Cendoya streamlined global marketing via Publicis Flame, an agency integrating creative, media, and data services. He also heads Santander’s Public Policy and Research Centre, where he advocates for simplified European regulatory frameworks for small businesses to foster innovation. “The future of marketing lies in hyper-personalization, but the challenge goes far beyond,”Cendoya says. “The brands that will truly stand out are those capable of using technologies not only to sell more effectively, but to connect more meaningfully and responsibly with society.”
24. Arnaud Belloni
Chief Branding Officer, Renault Group (France)
Belloni drives the brand strategy for Renault—which generated $65 billion in revenue in 2025—through a shift toward electrification, software-defined mobility and performance. Overseeing the Renault, Dacia, Alpine and Mobilize brands, he has accelerated EV ambitions with high-profile launches such as the Renault 5 E-Tech, as well as Alpine’s global expansion. In 2025, Renault’s EV sales cemented the company as one of Europe’s fastest-growing automotive groups. This marks his first appearance on the Forbes World’s Most Influential CMOs list.
25. Will Brass
Chief Commercial Officer, Premier League (United Kingdom)
Brass oversees the commercial future of the world’s most-watched soccer league, whose reach and cultural influence span every continent. Helping the Premier League generate more than $8.9 billion in 2025, he leads a complex ecosystem of global partnerships, licensing, brand development and event strategy. Since joining the organization in 2016, Brass has elevated the Premier League brand by attracting blue-chip partners such as Microsoft, Adobe, Coca-Cola and Puma. Brass’s prior career stops spanned law, finance and sports management—he advised European football clubs at Rothschild, led business development for Tottenham Hotspur and represented talent at Creative Artists Agency. Today, he extends that expertise as a board member of Rezzil and an advisory board member for the England Women’s Player Partnership.
26. Lara Balazs
Chief Marketing Officer & EVP, Global Marketing, Adobe (United States)
Balazs leads Adobe’s global marketing and communications, overseeing brand, growth, customer engagement and corporate reputation for a company that generated more than $23 billion in revenue in 2025. Since joining Adobe in 2024, she has played a central role in positioning the company at the intersection of creativity, marketing and artificial intelligence as generative AI reshapes how content is created and distributed. “The future won’t belong to brands that simply use AI,” Balazs says. “It will belong to those that combine marketing, creativity and technology with human ingenuity, empathy and sound judgment.” By 2025, customers had generated more than 24 billion assets using Firefly, making it one of the most widely used generative AI platforms in the creative industry. Balazs has also helped expand Adobe’s enterprise AI capabilities through initiatives that allow organizations to embed brand standards directly into creative workflows. Beyond technology, she has worked to broaden Adobe’s connection to creator communities through partnerships that span sports, entertainment and design, including investments in women’s sports and creator-focused experiences. Before joining Adobe, Balazs served as Chief Marketing Officer at Intuit and held senior leadership roles at Amazon, Visa and Nike.
27. Melody Lee
Chief Marketing Officer, Mercedes-Benz USA (United States)
Lee oversees brand positioning, marketing strategy and customer engagement for a company that generated more than $143 billion in revenue in 2025 and maintained its position as the world’s second-most valuable luxury brand. Under her leadership, Mercedes-Benz has broadened its focus beyond today’s luxury buyers to include tomorrow’s aspirational consumers through a “drivers and dreamers” approach, which extends the brand’s presence across sports, entertainment and experiential platforms. Lee has championed what she calls “luxury of choice” strategy, which positions electric and combustion vehicles not as competing concepts, but complementary paths to the same premium experience. Lee has also helped deepen the brand’s cultural relevance through initiatives such as The Table, a platform that connects Mercedes-Benz with influential artists, creators,and entrepreneurs. As luxury increasingly converges with technology, personalization and experience, Lee is helping ensure that Mercedes-Benz remains as enticing for the next generation as it has been for a century.
28. Edward Bell
General Manager, Brand, Insights and Marketing Communications, Cathay Pacific (China)
Helping Cathay Pacific generate about $15 billion in 2025 revenue, Bell has been central to rebuilding the carrier following the pandemic, reconnecting with travelers through a strategy that balances emotion, experience, product and service. Under his direction, Cathay debuted the Aria Suite—a reimagining of premium travel—alongside the global ‘Where Artistry Takes Flight’ campaign, where the airline partnered with an ethical AI platform to create an interactive art tool. Users were invited to submit text prompts describing their dream vacation destinations. The platform then instantly transformed those text ideas into unique, digital master paintings that resulted in framing the flight cabin’s architecture and texture as a curated art form. Bell also spearheaded the rollout of Cathay’s master brand strategy, driving the “Move Beyond” philosophy which focuses on exceeding passenger expectations and driving service excellence.
29. Kenny Mitchell
Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, Levi Strauss & Co. (United States)
Since joining Levi Strauss & Co. in 2023, Mitchell has overseen efforts to continue to expand its global denim leadership (built over more than 170 years) and deepen engagement with younger consumers. Mitchell’s influence was particularly visible through Levi’s growing presence in music, sports, and entertainment. In 2025, while generating more than $6.3 billion in revenue, the company partnered with Beyoncé on its “REIIMAGINE” campaign, reinterpreting iconic Levi’s advertisements for a new generation following the momentum created by her Cowboy Carter album and “Levii’s Jeans.” Mitchell also led Levi’s return to the Super Bowl after more than two decades through the global “Behind Every Original” campaign, featuring a multi-generational cast that included Beyoncé, Rosé, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Questlove and Pixar’s Woody. Beyond campaigns, Mitchell has reshaped Levi’s creative operating model by moving away from a traditional agency-of-record structure in favor of a more flexible network of creative partners designed to reflect local markets, emerging culture and evolving consumer behavior. “The brands that are winning don’t chase attention—they earn it by moving with culture, showing up in ways that feel real, and staying true to who they are,” Mitchell says. Before joining Levi’s, Mitchell held senior marketing leadership roles at Snap, McDonald’s, Gatorade and NASCAR.
30. Asmita Dubey
Chief Digital & Marketing Officer, L’Oréal Groupe (France)
Dubey is steering the L’Oréal Groupe towards augmented marketing with digital and beauty tech at the core. She oversees brand strategy, digital innovation and transformation across a portfolio including L’Oréal Paris, Lancôme, Maybelline, Kérastase, and CeraVe. She has positioned the world’s largest beauty company at the forefront of ‘Beauty Tech,’ integrating data, creativity and AI to enhance consumer experiences. In 2025, the expansion of L’Oréal’s generative AI platform, CreAItech, accelerated content creation and localization across 150+ markets while maintaining brand consistency. “We can be more demanding of AI to augment marketing for both the marketer and consumer journey,” Dubey said. Under her leadership, L’Oréal generated about $49 billion in revenue in 2025, outperforming the global beauty sector through a robust digital ecosystem and more than 60,000 creator collaborations.
Witherspoon oversees global brand strategy, U.S. marketing and data innovation for the $76 billion automotive giant. With over two decades in the industry, she has transitioned Nissan from a traditional car advertiser into an agile, data-driven brand, scaling AI from isolated experimental pilots into the backbone of Nissan’s global marketing. Witherspoon is driving the rollout of a next-generation portfolio—from EVs to electrified crossovers—to satisfy modern consumer demands. This is her first appearance on the Forbes Most Influential CMOs list.
32. Antonia Wade
Global Chief Marketing Officer, PwC (United Kingdom)
Wade is leading PwC’s first global brand refresh in 14 years, repositioning the firm as a more technology-forward, AI-driven organization through a broad visual and verbal identity overhaul, global advertising campaign and integrated media strategy. The transformation arrives as PwC accelerates its global AI initiatives, including investments in generative AI capabilities designed to reshape how clients operate, innovate and create value. “It’s both exciting and daunting to reimagine what marketing will look like in the world of AI,” Wade says. “I’m leaning in—with curiosity and an open mind.” She oversees brand strategy, global campaigns, marketing technology and digital transformation across PwC’s $56.9 billion network of 364,000 people in 137 countries. In that role, she helps modernize how the firm connects with clients across industries and markets. Wade also leads PwC’s ongoing agentic AI transformation, increasing speed to market, improving efficiency and reshaping global collaboration at scale.
Since joining in 2023, Dubey has elevated Tech Mahindra’s brand value to $3.4 billion, making it the fourth-largest India-headquartered company, in brand strength index in the annual Brand Finance report. Complementing this growth, the company generated approximately $6.3 billion in 2025 revenue. To mark the company’s 40th anniversary, Dubey spearheaded a brand identity refresh by introducing a modernized red icon. Operationally, he re-engineered the company’s B2B marketing framework to reduce sales friction and optimize pipelines through advanced mar-tech, while championing an AI-driven digital strategy that includes scaling the creative-tech arm, BORN, to compete with global digital networks, IT-consulting giants and elite B2B agencies. “The most effective leaders unite data-driven precision and authentic storytelling into a single growth agenda that builds lasting business value,” Dubey says. This approach and strategic partnerships, such as with Formula E, the World Economic Forum and the Global Chess League, have sharpened the brand’s global footprint across 90 countries.
34. Emma Chalwin
Chief Marketing Officer, Workday (United States)
Chalwin is driving customers’ demand for platforms that integrate AI into daily operations, helping Workday generate $8.4 billion in 2025 revenue while serving over 11,000 organizations. She championed the “B2Human” (Business-to-Human) philosophy, advocating that technology should amplify people’s capabilities rather than supersede our essential human qualities. Workday’s “Rock Star” campaign—starring Billy Idol, Joan Jett, Gwen Stefani and Paul Stanley—earned a Cannes Gold Lion and multiple Effie Awards by aligning brand storytelling with customer advocacy and business outcomes. She has also prioritized marketing accountability, introducing measurement frameworks that link investment to pipeline performance as well as internal programs to cultivate future leaders. “The marketers who lead the next decade will pair intelligence with vulnerability, empathy with creativity, and innovation with purpose,” Chalwin says. Previously holding senior leadership roles at Salesforce, Adobe, McAfee and Macrovision, Chalwin is making her debut on Forbes’ World’s Most Influential CMOs list.
35. Jill Hazelbaker
President and Chief Corporate Affairs Officer, Uber (United States)
Hazelbaker was promoted last month to President and Chief Corporate Affairs Officer, which expanded her oversight beyond marketing and public affairs. The role integrates communications, public policy, people operations, recruiting, real estate and safety as Uber navigates its next phase of mobility, delivery, autonomous transportation, and freight. In 2025, Uber generated over $52 billion in revenue and served roughly 200 million monthly active consumers. Hazelbaker has shaped Uber’s narrative through initiatives including the global “On Our Way” brand platform and the company’s first sonic identity, while guiding policy efforts for autonomous-vehicle deployment and Waymo partnerships in Austin and Atlanta. Following her promotion, Hazelbaker restructured Uber’s People and Places organization by consolidating key operational and corporate functions under a more centralized leadership structure. The move reflected Uber’s focus on aligning culture, trust, governance and business strategy as it expands into new technologies. Previously, Hazelbaker held senior leadership roles in politics, communications and public affairs.
Mahoney oversees Ulta Beauty’s brand and growth strategy, including marketing, loyalty, insights, and retail media. In 2025, Ulta generated over $12 billion in revenue, anchored by its 46-million-member rewards program, which drives the vast majority of sales. Her tenure coincides with the transformation of beauty retail through social commerce, creator-led discovery, and AI-driven personalization. Under her leadership, Ulta has leveraged first-party data and automation to better tailor the customer journey. Mahoney has also elevated the brand’s cultural presence through initiatives like its first Super Bowl campaign and the expansion of the “Beauty Happens Here” platform, which centers on self-expression and community. This platform has become the foundation for influencer partnerships and deeper consumer engagement. “Marketing is entering a new era where discovery, commerce, culture, and community are merging into one connected experience,” Mahoney says.
37. Peggy Roe
Executive Vice President & Chief Customer Officer, Marriott International (United States)
Roe is part of Marriott’s transition from traditional hotel operator to comprehensive, multi-branded portfolio of travel experiences. Spearheading global consumer strategy, she integrates brand, marketing, design, data and personalization across the company’s 30-plus brands and nearly 10,000 properties. A special focus is the Marriott Bonvoy loyalty platform, which beyond its traditional rewards-points system has added gateways to luxury yachts, private homes and curated events. “Marketing today is not about being the loudest brand in the room, it’s about being the brand people trust. Consumers are more discerning than ever, and trust is built through every experience and interaction they have with you, not just through advertising or campaigns,” Roe says. Under her guidance, the program has grown to over 230 million members, a key driver in Marriott’s $26 billion in 2025 revenue. Since joining the company in 2003, Roe has held diverse leadership roles in innovation, sales and customer experience at GE Capital, Amazon, and Homestead in Silicon Valley.
Trumbull oversees global marketing for Domino’s, which generated $4.94 billion in 2025 revenue across over 21,300 locations. Amid intensifying industry competition for consumer attention and spending, Trumbull—who joined the company in 2011—has differentiated the brand through campaigns blending utility, entertainment and cultural relevance. Most recently, she has shifted focus from discounting to value, highlighting menu innovations alongside their economic context. Trumbull has expanded Domino’s reach in entertainment and sports via partnerships such as with Netflix’s Squid Game and the successful “Emergency Pizza” loyalty platform. She also steered a global brand refresh across more than 90 countries, modernizing visual identity and packaging while preserving the brand’s heritage. “I tell my team that I would rather they get speeding tickets than parking tickets,” Trumbull says. “To me, that’s the future of marketing: take calculated risks, move quickly, and don’t be afraid to challenge conventional thinking.”
39. Mathilde Delhoume-Debreu
Brand Equity Advisor, LVMH (France)
After nine years as LVMH’s global brand officer, Delhoume-Debreu now serves as brand-equity advisor to general management, guiding the long-term growth of a company that generated $87 billion in revenue in 2025 while facing luxury sector headwinds. Her advisory role comes as LVMH continues to invest in the long-term desirability of its brands, reinforcing a strategy that prioritizes brand equity over short-term demand cycles. She built and led LVMH’s first centralized brand-building function, raising marketing capabilities and establishing a shared approach to brand equity while preserving each house’s distinct identity. “This means mastering the craft of positioning, the craft of consumer understanding, and the craft of creativity with humans at the center,” Delhoume-Debreu says. Before joining LVMH, she led global brand equity and integrated communications at Procter & Gamble. Beyond her executive work, she has become a respected voice in the industry, serving on the boards of major marketing organizations and chairing the Cannes Lions Luxury Jury in 2025. This is Delhoume-Debreu’s fourth consecutive year on the list.
40. Kipp Bodnar
Chief Marketing Officer, HubSpot (United States)
Bodnar oversees HubSpot’s global marketing strategy across brand, demand generation, customer acquisition and strategic partnerships at a company that surpassed $3.1 billion in 2025 revenue. Throughout more than 15 years at HubSpot, he has helped shape the evolution of inbound marketing while guiding the company’s transition toward AI-powered growth. That shift became more tangible in 2025 with the introduction of Breeze Agents, HubSpot’s suite of AI-powered tools designed to automate functions including prospecting, customer support and content creation, reflecting a broader move toward agentic business systems. “AI produces infinite content, [but] judgment is what makes any of it matter,” he says. “The CMOs who win the next decade will be the ones who treat taste as their most valuable asset, not their softest one.” Before becoming CMO, Bodnar helped build HubSpot’s international marketing operations across EMEA and APAC while overseeing global demand generation during a period of rapid growth. Beyond HubSpot, he has become a prominent voice on the future of marketing through his podcast Marketing Against the Grain and his work as an advisor, investor, and board member.
Zain Lakhani, 23, was still a teenager during the initial ChatGPT boom of 2022. After founding and selling a startup, he’s now the chief AI officer at software firm Pendo—a role he nabbed in part thanks to his youth
“He’s got experiences we don’t have. He’s got perspective we don’t have,” said Pendo co-founder and Chief Executive Todd Olson, 50.
Lakhani is a member of the class of “AI natives” comfortable playing and building with the AI tools that still seem foreign to those decades into their careers. That made him a prime candidate for a C-level role at the Raleigh, N.C., company, according to Olson.
Olson said Lakhani brings a unique take to everything from integrating AI more deeply into Pendo’s products to marketing to an increasingly younger sales demographic.
“His bias towards solving problems with technology leans on the usage of AI more,” said Olson.
In the past, Pendo’s analytics products would serve up deterministic answers to customers. Now Lakhani is pushing for more AI in the product experience itself, envisioning an experience where AI suggests analytics to explore and delivers insights based on a broad set of data.
“His strategy often is like, ‘Hey, give AI access to all this data and let it decide what is valuable or not,’” Olson said. “It’s just a completely new way of designing and building applications that honestly no one here would be building that way.”
Generation Z—those born between 1997 and 2012—aren’t exactly storming the C-suite, a move that typically takes years of corporate ladder-climbing. But some firms are putting more weight on youth and AI-native talent.
“As native technology leaders, [Gen Z] are now uniquely in a position to speak to this problem in ways that Millennials and Gen X cannot,” said Eli Mikel, CEO of Miami-based Clockwise Capital. Last year the asset manager hired Eric Harrison, then 26, as its chief AI officer.
A scarcity of AI-literate talent is proving to be one of the major hurdles to enterprise adoption of the technology, said Kory Kantenga, LinkedIn’s head of economics for the Americas. Members of Gen Z “are more likely to have AI skills and that’s probably assisting them in their move into the C-suite,” Kantenga said.
Olson said Lakhani keeps him up to date on the latest AI releases, advising him on which models are best for what tasks at the moment. But Lakhani is also playing a critical role preparing Pendo’s 780 employees for wider AI adoption, Olson said.
Lakhani has reshaped the way Pendo interviews software engineering candidates, suggesting live programming sessions to get a better sense of exactly how they use AI to work through problems.
He also takes a different approach to learning. To get up to speed on AI model evaluations, Lakhani used a Google AI tool called NotebookLM to generate a podcast about the topic that he listened to on a plane. Olson said it’s something he would never have thought to do—until now.
His unique perspective even extends to product marketing. “Things that I think would work, he thinks differently,” said Olson, recounting one episode where Lakhani suggested tapping a popular meme for a marketing campaign. “I would’ve never thought to do that,” Olson said.
At larger companies, there is a reluctance to give Gen Z the responsibility and accountability of a C-suite level role, said Martha Heller, CEO of technology executive recruiting firm Heller Search Associates.
“What big companies need in a head of AI is somebody who can move mountains in terms of change…There’s no 23-year-old in the world who can do that,” Heller said.
But as more large companies hire chief AI officers, the metrics for evaluating candidates are shifting, she said.
Heller recalled asking a chief information officer of a consumer packaged goods company about what she was looking for in an AI chief: “She said, ‘Out of the box thinker, someone who knows consumer packaged goods, who’s a good storyteller and people will listen to.’ And I said, ‘OK, years of experience?’ She said, ‘Irrelevant.’”
For ten years, the brand has leaned on wit and charm in direct creative to connect with a single market.
Finding an apartment you love in New York City is competitive, expensive, and often fraught with drama—not to mention concessions. In other words, it’s nothing short of a miracle.
That’s something the marketing team behind StreetEasy’s ad campaigns has spent a decade trying to imbue into its work. As the company celebrates 10 years of advertising to New Yorkers, predominantly on OOH ads running in the subway, we spoke to the team about some of the brand’s defining work—and what makes it special to speak to one market.
“[We had to] make sure that we were talking to New Yorkers the way that they want to be spoken to,” Bridget Sullivan, StreetEasy’s director of integrated marketing, told us, adding that the brand was inspired by writer Fran Lebowitz’s wit for its tone of voice. “New Yorkers will call you on it if you know you’re not being authentic…We want to bring through our charm and our wit, but also our directness.”
In the early days of the brand marketing efforts, that directness often referenced the challenges of living in New York City—like proximity to neighbors, noises, and the size of an apartment—all things the team, Sullivan said, felt the brand was uniquely equipped to address.
Target market
The company’s first major ad campaign, released in the spring of 2015 and by Goodby Silverstein & Partners, featured ad copy like, “Is it still a bedroom if the bed doesn’t fit?” and “Sure, your window faces a brick wall, but behind that wall is New York City.”
The latter copy became the basis of the long-term strategy for the brand, Paul Caiozzo, former executive creative director at Goodby Silverstein & Partners, told us. Caiozzo worked on the early campaigns for the brand, first at Goodby Silverstein & Partners, and then at the shop he founded, Office of Baby. (He currently serves as chief creative officer at Tombras.)
“[It was] about honesty [and] transparency, but not negativity,” he said. “Yes, New York is hard, but behind that badness is this amazing city…That became the North Star. You can have a little bit of salt, but it always has to finish with sugar.”
The salt and sugar have shown up in many iterations over the years. As one ad from 2016’s “Find Your Formula” campaign pitched, a theoretical rental with “maybe rats,” “definitely cockroaches,” and “the other bugs with all the tiny legs” also was under $1,500 and in the East Village.
The targeted nature of the campaigns, both in audience and in its targeted OOH format, helped hone the voice of the brand,.
“New Yorkers have come to know us as the subway brand,” Sullivan said. “We actually know that our ads are up and running on the MTA before the MTA even has time to confirm it with us, because we get some type of [social post].”
The “subway brand”
Becoming known for work on the subway was no accident, according to Caiozzo, who shared that early on the team used the work of another brand known for its work on the subway, Manhattan Mini Storage, as a benchmark to beat. (And both brands, perhaps, owe something to dermatologist Dr. Zizmor, whose ads used to rule the subway before his retirement.)
Ciaozzo believes that StreetEasy’s marketing arrived at a time when OOH was “secondary” in many media plans. “Creatives didn’t like working on it, agencies mailed it in, and nobody was putting that level of effort into it,” he said.
That may have helped the brand’s efforts to be synonymous with subway advertising.
The creative team at Mother New York, which has been behind StreetEasy’s campaigns since 2024, said the subway connection adds a level of “good pressure” to make the work extra compelling, Nicole Rousseau, group account director at Mother New York, told us.
“Every friend that I have always takes pictures of the StreetEasy ads,” Rousseau said. “We want to make this as good as what we would see on the subway, and be like, ‘Yeah, that’s amazing. That is a true New York insight, not just something surface level.’”
Today’s campaigns
Over the last decade, the brand has evolved its focus from the rental market in Manhattan to the boroughs and, in more recent years, added the question of ownership to the mix.
That expansion has made the brand dig deeper. In 2024, StreetEasy released its first campaign solely pitching ownership, “Let the Journey Begin,” which used a Renaissance painting style for the ads to capture the drama and weight of the question. Since then, the company has released two more campaigns by Mother, 2025’s “Never Become a Former New Yorker” and 2026’s “Be a Forever New Yorker,” both of which are meant to inspire people to think about living situations long-term.
StreetEasy’s recent ads have had to “tap into a bigger emotional part of the process,” Rousseau said. “You have to really be able to talk about the emotional journey of, ‘Should I buy here? Should I stay here?’ That is a big decision…We had to have the balance of that insightful, clever copywriting, but also something emotional behind it.”
Whether the brand is pitching New Yorkers on renting or buying, the goal of entertaining remains the same. Evan Carpenter, group strategy director at Mother, sees StreetEasy’s effort as akin to good energy someone may put out and have come back to them.
“It’s kind of like how you live in the city,” he said. “In New York, you get what you give, and so if you are courteous on the subway, if you walk at the pace of the people, if you make some space, you kind of get a shine back…We want our ads, especially in the subway, to feel like they are like entertainment, and maybe a little bit of a moment-maker for New Yorkers.”
The World Cup’s quarter final stage is set to bring the sport’s big rivalries into sharp relief. France versus Morocco. Norway’s Erling Haaland versus England’s Dan Burn. And, of course, Nike versus Adidas.
The former’s second-quarter earnings, posted at the beginning of the week, contained some clues that the American apparel-maker is enjoying a FIFA dividend despite not sponsoring the competition.
According to Nike CEO Elliot Hill, the company has sold 2.5 times the number of kits it moved during the 2022 tournament. “The World Cup is always a moment to prove ourselves. It’s one of the toughest battlegrounds in sport, and we’re coming with our best,” he said.
Despite flat year-on-year annual revenue growth and a fall in direct sales, the market responded positively to Nike’s recent results, particularly the upswing it’s enjoyed in wholesale revenues — a sales channel Hill has previously pinpointed as key to the company’s long recovery.
Meanwhile, early retail data suggested Adidas merchandise sales also surged during the tournament’s first half. Adidas has enjoyed a 58% share of team jersey sales, compared with Nike’s 36%, per M Science data.
Although both firms launched glitzy brand campaigns prior to the Cup’s kick off, their differing strategies — sponsorship and social versus outsider status married to big TV spending — have become clearer now the tournament is in full swing.
According to Mediasense analysis, Adidas’ sponsorship activations and brand campaigns (“Backyard legends”) have proven the most successful of any FIFA partner, scoring highly for its relevance to soccer culture, fan participation and the “extendability” of the campaign itself.
On the other hand, Nike’s quasi-anarchic “Rip the Script” spot has provided a means for the company to cut up and clip its campaign into dozens of individual moments. The decision to spotlight Haaland as the spot’s last-minute villain also looks wise, given how the Norwegian striker has broken into the wider consciousness following his cool demolition of Brazil.
“The Adidas campaign is a more traditional big creative idea while Nike thought about it as a franchise. Brands are scaling content, but Nike is scaling culture,” said Ishan Chatterjee, vp of global growth at Mediasense.
There’s still a lot to play for, however.
Kit sponsorships provide sportswear makers with a chance of putting their stamp on iconic World Cup moments. Adidas started the tournament with 14 kits to Nike’s 12, but of the eight squads remaining, Nike and Adidas’ designs each adorn three. Puma, which began with 11 teams, still has two — Morocco and Switzerland — in play.
(Numbers aside, Adidas’ Magritte-inspired away shirt for Belgium is surely the coolest kit still in contention.)
As the tournament kicked off, both companies shifted up a gear in their media investments. Nike’s larger spending power in the U.S. shows. Between May 1st and June 30th, the brands deployed a combined $52.8 million in ad spend, according to figures from AdClarity (the above figures are in millions of dollars). The American brand outspent its German counterpart throughout.
In particular, AdClarity data showed that Nike focused much of its spend through May and June on TV, increasing from 42.9% to 50% of its overall media spending — perhaps an attempt to make up for the brand awareness it might have gained, if it were a sponsor like Adidas.
In fact, Nike has been among the most-seen brands running ads on linear TV during the World Cup. According to iSpot data, the company ran its spot 80 times so far, exceeded only by Home Depot. Adidas, by comparison, ranked 30th among the brands monitored, running its spot only 32 times.
Meanwhile, Adidas put its dollars where the conversation was: on social. May through June, the company dialed up its investment on paid social just as Nike was dialing back its own spending on Meta properties and TikTok.
That sets up a neat run into the final stages of the tournament, with Nike aiming to steal the brand spotlight by appealing to game viewers at home, and Adidas gunning for soccer fanatics discussing the highs and lows of each remaining game online.
Is content creation the next act for C-Suite executives?
For the last several years, the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, which takes place every June in Cannes, France, has been synonymous with advertising’s biggest agencies, global brands, and celebrity influencers. But walking down the Croisette this year, another type of creator was increasingly commanding and seeking attention. What was once a field of fashion influencers, travel vloggers, and TikTok personalities is now lined with an increasing number of CEOs, founders, chief marketing officers, and senior executives.
The creator economy is no longer just for creators. Instead, it’s becoming a strategic leadership skill for C-Suite executives.
This year’s Cannes Lions reflected that shift. Focused less on whether executives should have a public voice and more on how they should use their voices and storytelling skills to inspire. From Microsoft Gardens and LinkedIn’s Rooftop to HarbourView Equity’s Yacht and The Female Quotient Beach, dozens of creator-focused activations revealed one theme: audiences, both internally and externally, increasingly want to hear directly from leaders. When I was at the iHeartCafe at Cannes, I met Hoda Kotb, who was there to launch her Joy 101 Podcast. I was excited to share with her that I was a big fan, as was my mother, when she said, “Let’s make a video!” And in that moment, she exclaims, “Hi Mom!” and blows kisses and smiles into an iPhone video for me. It was something that my Mom will never forget, and in the moment, I could see the power of personal connection in action.
Before Cannes Lions, some predicted that this would be the year when AI-created work would break out at the festival, pointing to the direction the ad industry is heading.
For the first time, Cannes Lions added an AI Craft subcategory to the awards. AI was a major topic of conversation on stages in and around the Palais, while major players like OpenAI and Google DeepMind had a notable presence at the festival.
However, this year’s award winners told another story. AI hype has died down. What’s emerged instead is a more nuanced approach to the technology, where AI is used to bolster human creativity.
At this year’s Cannes Lions ad festival, human creativity wrested the spotlight back from AI.
Conversations centered more on the effectiveness of AI versus the bold-but-vague prognostications that came out of last year’s event. They also touched on where AI hasn’t worked for marketers.
“People are a little more grounded,” PMG CEO George Popstefanov told me. “I’m hearing a lot more about, ‘it cannot do this,’ which is great.”
Over iced coffee at the Martinez Hotel, EY CMO John Rudaizky said AI often gives the illusion of accuracy and comprehensiveness. It’s why he’s not yet sold on using AI for things like synthetic testing in market research.
Havas released a study during Cannes that found 84% of brands suffer “indifference” from consumers. The research spanned more than 2,400 brands and included 1,000 consumer interviews.
“Indifference is a real issue,” Mark Sinnock, chief strategy officer of Havas’ creative group, told me. Creativity can create connection and desire for brands, he said.
Over in the Palais, Fernando Machado, chief brand officer of Chipotle, delivered a punchy talk titled “Creativity Has to Strike Back.” He argued that the industry had become too obsessed with optimization, dashboards, and AI hacks to speed up production and lower costs.
He likened using AI to write a brief for an agency or choose a creative idea to “thinking I could play guitar well because I’m good at ‘Guitar Hero.'”
There was a ton of creativity on display at the event’s annual awards, though submissions were down 25% from last year. Cannes Lions organizers tightened the entry requirements after several of last year’s winners drew scrutiny about whether the big claims made in their case studies could be verified.
Creators muscle in
It was also the year of the Cannes creator takeover, with entire conference tracks and spaces dedicated to the craft of influencer marketing.
The clout of creators is growing as marketers look for new ways to reach consumers with content they actually want to watch. US creator ad spend is projected to reach $44 billion this year, according to an April report from the Interactive Advertising Bureau.
“There’s a completely new energy coming in,” former ad exec and founder of MakeLoveNotPorn, Cindy Gallop, told me on the Palais terrace.
“I love that they’re coming here and going, ‘We’re going to make what we want to happen,'” Gallop said. “It’s a whole new relationship with brands and agencies.”
Marketers have to be open to letting creators call the shots — though some are better at loosening the reins than others.
“It’s a collaboration, and obviously, there’s always going to be pushback,” he said. “I’m not going to get to do exactly what I want to do, and I’m not going to do exactly what the brand wants to do. It’s meeting in the middle.”
The biggest creators are taking on Hollywood and becoming media companies in their own right. Take “Insecure” star Issa Rae, whose Hoorae Media is landing deals left and right, including a podcast and the TikTok micro drama “Screen Time.”
“The creator economy has matured into a sophisticated media solution capable of building genuine cultural IP,” Becky Owen, CMO of the social agency Billion Dollar Boy, told me.
The transactional nature of the influencer marketing industry was very much on show at Cannes Lions, too.
One marketing exec was given a sharp reminder when the 10 or so creators he invited to his “friends’ dinner” left the restaurant before the €8,300 (about $9,400) check arrived.
“Influencers are not your friends,” said one of the advertising attendees who helped foot some of the bill.
The biggest winners this past week at Cannes Lions were undoubtedly … the ice cream vendors.
During a scorching week in the south of France, an estimated 13,000-plus Cannes Lions attendees hustled up and down the Croisette in Cannes for meetings, panels and pitches. The glacier carts and kiosks that dish out ice cream, soft serve and sorbets did brisk business all week. The sweet treats probably added to the general sense of optimism and excitement for the marketing, advertising, data and technology leaders who came to talk shop and compare notes at a time of massive transformation in virtually every business sector.
The breadth of Cannes Lions is eye-opening for media and entertainment insiders who get to see and hear how technology and digital disruption are transforming other industries. And at the same time, the business of persuasion is more intertwined with media than ever before – thanks in no small part to the enormous influence of creators. It is no longer just about having a slogan and a catchy commercial jingle. To stay relevant in a social media-wired world, major brands with big consumer profiles have to tell an ongoing story that keeps them in social feeds – and that’s where creators come into play, big-time.
The onslaught of AI, the growth of the attention economy and its impact on linear TV viewership have made Cannes Lions a forum for weighty topics in recent years. In the 12 months since the 2025 festival, there has been a palpable shift in attitudes and approaches to tackling disruption. CMOs came to the show with granular examples of how AI, social media, creators, vertical dramas and more have helped them grow and transform. In marketing-speak, the tagline for Cannes Lions 2026 would be something like: “It’s Time to Slay Your Fears, Because the AI-Powered Revolution is Here.”
Gabrielle Wesley, chief marketing officer for Mars Wrigley North America, expressed that spirit during her Variety In the C-Suite conversation held in the Canva Creative Cabana space on the beach.
“One hundred years ago there was just radio. Radio was what kept your attention and then there was the visual with TV, and now we have so many ways to connect with consumers. Consumers have gotten more savvy and more demanding about what they want. They don’t want to be talked to,” Wesley said. “They want to engage. And because they want to engage, it’s like any other relationship. You have to keep having conversations, you have to keep taking them on dates, you’ve got to keep showing them new things and showing them different parts of you. And so I take that very, very seriously to engage with consumers on a two-way relationship, not just message giving.”
Here are a few more takeaways after a 24/7 week at Cannes Lions:
Big Media Courts Creators for Content and Distribution Deals
The trend here couldn’t be clearer in recent months, and it was much on display at Cannes Lions.
The biggest of big media — from Amazon to Fox and Tubi to Netflix — are aggressively courting creators for deals as marketers scramble to tap into the heat around personalities who ply their trade on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and the like.
The new wrinkle is that the big platforms want to draft off what makes top creators successful in their digital-native realms. In other words, Amazon and Fox don’t want to turn creators into TV stars with new shows exclusive to their platforms. Instead, they want to provide the support services to help creators make more money in their existing realms: YouTube et al, branded live events, endorsements and consumer product launches.
Rob Wade, CEO of Fox Entertainment, was inspired to launch Fox Creator Studios this year after seeing how much commerce Gordon Ramsay was able to generate through his strong social media footprint. Like Fox, Amazon sees potential here and launched its Amazon Creator Services unit last year.
“We saw the way that we could use our content to promote and help grow that business. So all of a sudden, we had all these pieces falling together. It was content, but there were businesses around that content, and although it felt like there was still a lot of gap to bridge between the two worlds, it felt like the right time to me,” Wade told Variety.
Fox’s Tubi unveiled a deal with Amazon’s Fire TV during the festival that will make Tubi’s selection of creator content easily accessible and searchable on the platform.
“Foundationally, it’s about bringing customers the content they want and helping creators have another surface to get their content in front of customers,” said Charlotte Maines, VP of devices content and advertising for Amazon.
Tubi, Fox’s ad-supported streaming platform that reaches more than 100 million users, has become a haven for monetization for creators. It works because Tubi does not insist on exclusivity – quite the contrary.
“If you look at the way that distribution has grown as the internet came up, … it’s really about access and it’s really about no gating, no paywalls, and putting our users first,” said Rachel Berk, senior VP of platform partnerships for Tubi and Fox. “I fully anticipate things to get more creative, both on my the deal side, the platform side, and the create and the creator side, but I also expect them to get even more sophisticated, even more accessible, where we’re really being able to, your point about search and discover, we would really be being able to highlight and platform different kinds of voices and address the needs of our very diverse users.”
What Is Barbie Doing in Coachella?
Mattel staged an activation for Barbie — the toy icon who is now 67 years young — at this year’s Coachella music festival in Indio, California. Roberto Stanichi, Mattel’s chief global brand officer, said data compiled by the company shows Barbie was the music festival’s most talked-about brand. “You would say, like, ‘What is Barbie doing in Coachella?” he said at the Variety in the C-Suite in collaboration with Canva beachfront speaker series. At Coachella, “the Gen Z audience there was so incredibly impacted by the fact that you had this Barbie presence,” Stanichi said.
The line for the Barbie activation at the festival at one point was three and a half hours long. “So you would think about, why does this resonate so much with that audience and it was surprising?” Stanichi said. Undoubtedly helping punch Barbie into the Gen Z zeitgeist was Greta Gerwig’s 2023 “Barbie” blockbuster, which took in $1.45 billion globally at the box office. (He didn’t have an update on plans for a sequel.)
The Coachella experience was just the latest reinvention for Barbie (with more to come, obviously). Stanichi noted that the face of the doll has actually changed almost every 10 years. Managing such a well-known property is a balance of “staying true to the authenticity” of Barbie and knowing that “there’s a line that sometimes we are not willing to cross, but you have to bend it a little bit to drive true innovation.”
Making (Personal Care) Brands Part of Your (Netflix) World
Consumer-products giant Unilever recently teamed with Netflix’s “Bridgerton” for a set of limited-edition Dove products tied to the show. According to Netflix advertising chief Amy Reinhard, speaking on a panel at Variety in the C-Suite in collaboration with Canva, the partnership resulted in a nearly 60% lift in new shoppers for Dove. Leandro Barreto, CMO of Unilever, said this particular initiative delivered a much bigger payoff for the Dove brand than, say, product placement in a TV show. “When you think about culture, it’s very difficult to not think about Netflix because it’s really the epicenter of culture. It’s not only about content, it’s creating worlds, right?” he said. “And it becomes almost inevitable to be part of that cultural movement.”
The Tennis Racket Is Not the Tennis Player
There’s a narrative that generative AI is a soul-sucking, job-killing machine. But Ruba Borno of Amazon Web Services (AWS) offered a different way to think about the technology. Speaking on a special Cannes Lions edition of Variety’s “Strictly Business” podcast presented by AWS & Deloitte, she pointed to advancements in sports technology over the years — noting that when tennis players started using titanium rackets instead of wooden ones, their level of performance soared. “You don’t sit there and say that the tennis racket is now the tennis player,” she said. “It’s not replacing the human. It superpowered the human who was using it and then they were able to compete. And then the interesting thing is, if you’re not using those new tools, you really actually can’t compete anymore… It sets a new standard.”
The Savviest Stars Come Out at Cannes Lions
The creator economy boom has allowed the most fan-connected celebrities to build enormous brands (their own and on behalf of others), businesses — and the fanbases that feed all those ventures. And it’s all built on the foundation of their fame. Oprah Winfrey, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Paris Hilton, Shaquille O’Neal, Mel Robbins, Ludacris, NBA stars Kevin Durant and Draymond Green, designers Stella McCartney and Rachel Zoe and more were there to talk shop to the world’s most influential marketing, advertising and media executives. In other words, fish where the fish are. “What a wonderful time to be an entertainer, to be in the entertainment business, because ideas are your currency,” Chopra Jonas told a Cannes Lions crowd at the Palais des festivals on June 24.
The Joy of a Good Party, or Two
A busy week of pitching, listening and enlightening came to a joyous conclusion on Thursday night with the Pride celebration party held at the Canva Creative Cabana on the beach. Top Paris DJ Dorion kept the dance floor packed with an eclectic mix of hip-shaking favorites spanning generations. And then, the Teletubbies showed up. It was a rainbow spectacle that warmed the hearts of sweaty, exhausted Cannes Lions-goers who grooved with abandon thanks to the cooling effect provided by extra-strength misting fans.
On Wednesday night, Alan Cumming was at the helm as DJ as NBCUniversal hosted a late-night bash to celebrate its late-night franchises. Cumming got toes tapping with a string of danceable favorites, and then NBC doubled down with the charm offensive by bringing Seth Meyers and Colin Jost for a wave and some light chit chat.
“We are going to be the hosts of Bravo’s ‘Winter House,’ “ Meyers quipped in a nod to the buzz around the latest season of Bravo’s “Summer House.” The crowd at the party buzzed around one of that show’s key players, Lindsay Hubbard, who was in attendance.
On Tuesday, Ludacris had hands in the air on the beautiful outdoor deck of the Hotel du Cap, down the road from Cannes in Antibes, as the guest performer at UTA and DoorDash Ads’ Executive Soiree bash. Amazon Ads offered up English indie pop stars The xx at its spacious Amazon Port facility. And as usual, the Spotify Beach installation rocked with two nights of marquee names that included Raye and Mumford & Sons.
