Business Insider has published its ranking of the most innovative CMOs of 2017.
Here we focus on The Breakouts.
These are the marketing leaders who are helping newer brands make their mark in categories dominated by traditional incumbents. In many cases, the companies are causing big, old-school brands to follow their lead.
Scroll down to see which CMOs made the cut.
Chris Tung, CMO at Alibaba Group
Often referred to as the “Chinese Amazon” or “that thing Yahoo used to own part of,” Alibaba Group has been on a mission of late to court the U.S. ad world. Tung seems less focused on getting American consumers familiar with Alibaba as an e-commerce vehicle (though that is growing) and more on getting giant ad agencies using its tools and services. To help Tung helped steer a big pitch at the Cannes ad festival last June where it touted its powerful data pool, reported the Drum. That pitch has some marketers excited, and others nervous. “We need to watch out,” said WPP CEO Martin Sorrell, reported Digiday.
Wolfgang Moeller, VP of Global Band Marketing at Jägermeister
Moeller joined Jägermeister in 2011 after holding various leading marketing positions at Red Bull. Today he leads brand strategy, brand identity as well as strategic initiatives for the German liquor brand. Jägermeister remains the No. 1 imported liquor in the U.S., but its reputation precedes it. So it's no surprise that the brand focused its efforts on unveiling a new global strategy and positioning this year in the form of the campaign "Be the Meister." Moeller also led the launch of the brand's first super-premium herbal liquor, the Jägermeister Manifest, and presided over digital initiatives like the Facebook Messenger bot called "Jäm Bot."
Alfonso Gonzalez Loeschen, CMO at Nestle Nespresso
Coffee accounts for almost a fifth of Nestlé revenues, and while the Swiss conglomerate dominates the coffee market globally, the same is not true of the US. Which is why the brand has been betting on a growing demand for "premium" products like the Nespresso coffee system, led by Loeschen. It launched a sustainability-driven global campaign called "The choices we make" that tells real stories from the farmers who produce the brand's coffee. It also expanded its new coffee system called Vertuo globally, after successfully launching it in North America first.
Justin Woolverton, VP of Brand Marketing, Halo Top
Ice-cream and healthy didn't really go hand-in-hand, until Halo Top burst onto the scene. The low-calorie, protein-packed brand managed to surpass all its competitors in the US this year to become the best-selling pint of ice cream in grocery stores. And while its rapid ascent can be attributed to it amassing a dedicated legion of fans, it's as much the result of a well-orchestrated marketing strategy built on the back of social media, food porn, strategic partnerships and its very first all-out marketing campaign this year.
Melissa Waters, VP of Brand Marketing at Lyft
In just over a year, Waters has helped transform Lyft from a challenger brand to a leader in its category - at least as far as consumer love goes. At a time when competitor Uber was reeling from a spate of challenges and uphill battles, Lyft swiftly rose to the occasion, cementing its position as a viable alternative and gaining 30% more market share in the U.S. Under her leadership, the ride hailing company also launched the first fully-integrated marketing campaign in its five year history.
Lindsay Kaplan, Head of Marketing and Brand at Casper
Casper's branded content gamble may not quite have paid off, but there is no denying that the mattress startup has awakened a once-sleepy category with its snappy social media and experiential marketing. Kaplan is the one making all that happen, cleverly mixing tech, design, content and ingenuous digital hacks to make sleep worth talking about: whether through the campaign "Staycation Story Hacks" or its characteristic mattress "unboxing" videos.