This year's CMO50 list of Australia's most innovative and effective marketers is dominated by iconic brands, three new faces and a strong retail showing
Suncorp Group EGM brand and marketing, Mim Haysom, has been crowned #1 in this year’s CMO50 list of Australia’s most innovative and effective marketing leaders, the second time the insurance brand has been recognised in the top spot.
At the first annual CMO50 gala dinner held in person since 2019, Haysom, who was making her third appearance on the annual list, joined a stellar list of faces in the top 10, which included three CMOs making their debut in the CMO50 this year. The CMO50 program was once again sponsored by Adobe.
Flipping the narrative and focus to resilience has been a multi-year program of work for Haysom at Suncorp and it’s one that impressed CMO50 judges. Bold, innovative and extensive, her commitment to resilience has resulted in the One House project, through to Resilience Road, an industry-first insuretech platform and clever data-driven campaigns that have elevated brand consideration and importantly, delivered commercial payback. It’s also infused into Suncorp’s broader strategy and is influencing industry and government policy.
“It took bravery to stay the course with the project and the vision through Covid, lockdowns and all of the challenges thrown at us,” Haysom told CMO. “But the results in terms of business, brand and customer impact definitely made it worth it.”
Haysom has now become the second Suncorp marketing chief to top the CMO50: In the inaugural CMO50 2015 list, Suncorp’s Mark Reinke was recognised as our #1 CMO.
Second on the 8th annual CMO50 list was new entrant, Myer chief customer officer, Geoff Ikin, who presented judges with a commercially-led transformation story during his tenure with the retailer so far. It was one demonstrative of exercising the full 4Ps of marketing as well as a commitment to change.
“I’ve been lucky to work for some great brands over my time and Myer is a special one,” Ikin said in his submission. “Myer has heritage and has a unique and much-loved place in the hearts of Australians. There are some amazing people to boot. But just like many things from time to time, it has needed a little help to get it back on track.”
In third position was another new face to the CMO50 list, Uber director of marketing A/NZ, Andy Morley. Building a culture of risk-taking and teamwork to realise the vision of being the bravest, most impactful marketing team around was certainly paying dividends for Morley, judges agreed. From a new platform challenging perceptions of Uber drivers to signing up consumers to Uber’s membership program, Andy has influenced not only sales growth, but customer and employee retention.
In fourth position for the second consecutive year on the CMO50 was Optus VP of marketing, Melissa Hopkins, who was recognised for the consistent commitment she has presented around the telco’s ‘yes’ platform and efforts to put optimism into action.
Fifth spot in this year’s CMO50 is held by another new face to the list, Seven West Media CMO, Charlotte Valente. As was clear to judges, Seven West Media has achieved unparalleled years of results off the back of tentpole events, significant audience data investment, robust personalisation programs and creative work. And behind this success has been Valente, the broadcaster’s first group CMO. Her contribution to growth and commercial achievement put Charlotte firmly in our top 10 this year.
Rounding out this year’s top 10 were:
6th - Baiada head of marketing, Yash Gandhi
7th – Woolworths Group CMO, Andrew Hicks
8th – Dan Ferguson, CMO, Adore Beauty
9th – Ryan Gracie, CMO, MyDeal
10th – Jenni Dill, CMO, The Arnott’s Group.
The wider top 50 reflect a cross-section of Australian businesses and categories and marketing leaders from both across the spectrum of small to large organisations. Across the CMO50 this year, average tenure sat at 3 years 3 month, and 65 per cent reported directly to the MD, CEO or country chief.
In all, 25 of this year’s 50 are new entrants to the list, while two individuals returned to the list with new organisations. It was a record year for women gracing the CMO50, with 31 of the top 50 women.
Three-quarters of the CMO50 2022 come from ASX-listed or Australian-owned organisations. It was also a strong showing from the retail sector, with four of the top 10 representing traditional or pure-play retail brands. Notably, seven of the top 10 in 2022 come from well entrenched companies with longstanding iconic and heritage brands.
Judges also chose this year to recognise 3 ‘Ones to watch’ – emerging CMOs or recently appointed marketing chiefs expected to deliver significant impact in the years to come.
You can find the full list, including profiles of all our top 50 and Ones to Watch, here.
Criteria for the CMO50 list
The CMO50 program highlights and celebrates the stellar work Australian-based marketing chiefs – and by extension, their whole marketing functions – are doing to drive growth and customer engagement in their organisations today. It’s about celebrating the discipline of marketing as a strategic business contributor, an essential part of the c-suite, and as a function delivering sustainable commercial outcomes. Marketers needed to complete this year’s questionnaire in order to be considered for the list.
Judges read and rated every submission on:
Each submission is given a score, with the final combined score and ranking used as the basis for our list. Judges convened to debate the final order of the CMO50. All scores are kept confidential and final selection is not open to negotiation.
A massive thank you needs to go to this year’s CMO50 judges, who faced a huge job in coming to our final list. Judges brought their expertise in marketing, strategy, leadership and innovation to the table. CMO extends our heartfelt thanks to this group of individuals.
You can find the full list, including profiles of all our top 50 and Ones to Watch, here.
In the third and final episode of our 3-part CMO50 video series exploring modern marketing and why it’s become a matter of trust, we’re delighted to be joined by Telstra’s former CMO and now digital services and sales executive, Jeremy Nicholas, and Adobe VP Marketing Asia-Pacific and Japan, Duncan Egan.
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