Announcing the 2016 CMO50 list

Marketing leaders from as a wide a field as pizza production and retail to superannuation, tertiary education and cloud-based software have taken top 10 honours in the second annual CMO50 list.

Now in its second year, the CMO50 is an annual list celebrating Australia’s most innovative marketers. Specifically, it’s designed to highlight core pillars of modern marketing, such as effecting business change and growth, improving customer engagement, demonstrating data- and technology-led strategic thinking and creativity.This year's list was sponsored by Adobe.

Top honours in 2016 was taken by Domino’s Pizza group chief marketing officer, Allan Collins, who showcased a host of innovative marketing, digital and customer-led work over the past year, from geo-location services tracking customers to improve the quality of their pizza experience to new prototyping methodologies that are ensuring the pizza maker gets its products right every time.

Second in our CMO50 for 2016 and a new entrant to the list was Sydney Opera House CMO, Anna Reid, who is spearheading an ongoing program of change that stretches from a brand renewal to digital transformation.

Rounding out the top three is eBay senior director, marketing and retail innovation, Steve Brennen, whose bold bets over the past year include the launch of the world’s first virtual reality retail store.

In total 28 of this year’s CMO50 are new to the list, a figure that represents both the great cross-section of talent and industry represented this year, as well as the shortening tenure of CMOs across the country. Average tenure across the list was about three years, and 30 per cent of the inaugural CMO2015 were found to have either been promoted to global roles, gained an expanded remit, or moved organisations in the past 12 months.

Across the wider CMO50 list, change was a recurring theme across every submission this year, and it’s clear Australian marketing leaders are taking up this mantle with gusto. If we ever wanted to prove marketing is undergoing systematic transformation, then this year’s CMO50 is it.

Popular transformational programs include harnessing and on-boarding real-time customer insights for campaign optimisation and frontline engagement, marketing technology investment, customer journey and personalisation strategies and strategic division restructuring bringing together traditional above-the-line and below-the-line teams.

This year’s list was defined by CMO’s 14-strong judging panel, which included a mix of industry and marketing leaders and commentators.

You can find the full list, along with detailed profiles of this year’s most innovative CMOs, in our dedicated CMO50 portal.