Steve Brennen
Uber
Director of marketing, A/NZ
2019 list revealed!
Recognising Australia's innovative and most effective marketing leaders
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CMO50 2019
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1
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2 
Leisa Bacon
ABC
Director of audiences
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3 
Paul Connell
Unilever
General manager and marketing director, refreshments division, A/NZ
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4 
Brent Smart
IAG
Chief marketing officer
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5 
Jeremy Nicholas
Telstra
Marketing executive and chief brand officer
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6 
Alexander Meyer
The Iconic
Chief marketing officer
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7 
Dean Chadwick
Virgin Velocity
Chief marketing officer
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8 
Jonathan Kerr
Auto & General (Budget Direct)
Chief marketing officer
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9 
David McNeil
Campbell Arnott's
Chief marketing officer
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10 
Sweta Mehra
ANZ
Chief marketing officer and digital sales experience tribe lead
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11 
Chris Taylor
National Heart Foundation
Chief marketing officer
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12 
Fiona Docherty
University of New South Wales
Vice president, external relations (CMO)
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13 
Pip Arthur
Microsoft Australia
CMO and head of communications
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14 
Allan Collins
Domino’s Pizza Enterprises
Chief Marketing Officer A/NZ
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15 
Jayne Andrews
Carnival Cruise Line Australia
Director of marketing
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16 
Natalie Sarich-Dayton
Brownes Dairy
Director, sales and marketing
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17 
Tamara Howe
Kellogg Australia & New Zealand
Marketing and corporate affairs director
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18 
Yves Calmette
World Wide Fund For Nature Australia
Chief marketing officer
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19 
Paul Stern
Kathmandu
General manager, marketing and online
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20 
Louise Eyres
Sport Australia
Executive general manager, marketing, customer insights and analytics
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21 
Suzanne Morrison
Mars Wrigley Australia
Marketing director
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22 
Ryan Gracie
Catch Group
Chief marketing officer
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23 
Aisling Finch
Google
Director of marketing, A/NZ
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24 
Brent Hill
South Australia Tourism Commission
Executive director of marketing
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25 
Pamela Cass
VMware
Vice-president and chief marketing officer, APJ
26 - 50 (In alphabetical order)
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Adriane McDermott
Seafolly
Chief marketing officer
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Amanda Johnston-Pell
IBM
Chief marketing officer
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Andrew Chanmugam
Bankwest
Executive general manager, customer experience
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Anthony Xydis
Australian Radio Network
Chief marketing officer
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Anthony Lieu
LegalVision
Head of marketing
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Catherine Anderson
Powershop
Chief customer officer
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Diane Belan
Forever New
Global corporate GM, marketing and digital
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Fabian Marrone
Monash University
Chief marketing officer
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George Hughes
The Star Entertainment Group
Chief marketing officer
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Ingrid Purcell
ME Bank
Chief experience officer
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Kate Massey
JCurve
Chief marketing officer
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Kenton Elliot
Target
Marketing director
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Luke Bould
Football Federation Australia
Chief marketing officer
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Mathew Hayward
RM Williams
Chief marketing officer
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Matt Vince
Freedom Foods Group
Chief commercial officer
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Michael Doyle
City Beach Australia
Head of marketing
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Mim Haysom
Suncorp
Executive general manager, brand and marketing
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Neil Ridgway
Rip Curl
Chief brand and marketing officer
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Nikki Warburton
Audi Australia
Chief customer and marketing officer
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Renee Davidson
RACQ
General manager, marketing and digital
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Russell Schulman
Krispy Kreme
Chief marketing officer
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Samantha Bartlett
Australian Red Cross Blood Service
Chief marketing officer
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Stacey Pennicott
RACT
Executive general manager, membership and community
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Tony Quarmby
Tourism Northern Territory
Executive general manager, marketing
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Vanessa Lyons
Wilson Parking
General manager, marketing and customer experience
Ones to Watch (In alphabetical order)
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Amy Lee-Hopkins
Anglicare
Head of marketing and communications
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Malini Sietaram
Finder.com.au
Chief marketing officer
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Tom Willis
Lawpath
Chief marketing officer
1 |
Steve Brennen | Director of marketing, A/NZ | Uber |
2 |
Leisa Bacon | Director of audiences | ABC |
3 |
Paul Connell | General manager and marketing director, refreshments division, A/NZ | Unilever |
4 |
Brent Smart | Chief marketing officer | IAG |
5 |
Jeremy Nicholas | Marketing executive and chief brand officer | Telstra |
6 |
Alexander Meyer | Chief marketing officer | The Iconic |
7 |
Dean Chadwick | Chief marketing officer | Virgin Velocity |
8 |
Jonathan Kerr | Chief marketing officer | Auto & General (Budget Direct) |
9 |
David McNeil | Chief marketing officer | Campbell Arnott's |
10 |
Sweta Mehra | Chief marketing officer and digital sales experience tribe lead | ANZ |
11 |
Chris Taylor | Chief marketing officer | National Heart Foundation |
12 |
Fiona Docherty | Vice president, external relations (CMO) | University of New South Wales |
13 |
Pip Arthur | CMO and head of communications | Microsoft Australia |
14 |
Allan Collins | Chief Marketing Officer A/NZ | Domino’s Pizza Enterprises |
15 |
Jayne Andrews | Director of marketing | Carnival Cruise Line Australia |
16 |
Natalie Sarich-Dayton | Director, sales and marketing | Brownes Dairy |
17 |
Tamara Howe | Marketing and corporate affairs director | Kellogg Australia & New Zealand |
18 |
Yves Calmette | Chief marketing officer | World Wide Fund For Nature Australia |
19 |
Paul Stern | General manager, marketing and online | Kathmandu |
20 |
Louise Eyres | Executive general manager, marketing, customer insights and analytics | Sport Australia |
21 |
Suzanne Morrison | Marketing director | Mars Wrigley Australia |
22 |
Ryan Gracie | Chief marketing officer | Catch Group |
23 |
Aisling Finch | Director of marketing, A/NZ | |
24 |
Brent Hill | Executive director of marketing | South Australia Tourism Commission |
25 |
Pamela Cass | Vice-president and chief marketing officer, APJ | VMware |
26 - 50 (In alphabetical order)
| Catherine Anderson | Chief customer officer | Powershop |
| Samantha Bartlett | Chief marketing officer | Australian Red Cross Blood Service |
| Diane Belan | Global corporate GM, marketing and digital | Forever New |
| Luke Bould | Chief marketing officer | Football Federation Australia |
| Andrew Chanmugam | Executive general manager, customer experience | Bankwest |
| Renee Davidson | General manager, marketing and digital | RACQ |
| Michael Doyle | Head of marketing | City Beach Australia |
| Kenton Elliot | Marketing director | Target |
| Mim Haysom | Executive general manager, brand and marketing | Suncorp |
| Mathew Hayward | Chief marketing officer | RM Williams |
| George Hughes | Chief marketing officer | The Star Entertainment Group |
| Amanda Johnston-Pell | Chief marketing officer | IBM |
| Anthony Lieu | Head of marketing | LegalVision |
| Vanessa Lyons | General manager, marketing and customer experience | Wilson Parking |
| Fabian Marrone | Chief marketing officer | Monash University |
| Kate Massey | Chief marketing officer | JCurve |
| Adriane McDermott | Chief marketing officer | Seafolly |
| Stacey Pennicott | Executive general manager, membership and community | RACT |
| Ingrid Purcell | Chief experience officer | ME Bank |
| Tony Quarmby | Executive general manager, marketing | Tourism Northern Territory |
| Neil Ridgway | Chief brand and marketing officer | Rip Curl |
| Russell Schulman | Chief marketing officer | Krispy Kreme |
| Matt Vince | Chief commercial officer | Freedom Foods Group |
| Nikki Warburton | Chief customer and marketing officer | Audi Australia |
| Anthony Xydis | Chief marketing officer | Australian Radio Network |
Ones to watch (In alphabetical order)
| Amy Lee-Hopkins | Head of marketing and communications | Anglicare |
| Malini Sietaram | Chief marketing officer | Finder.com.au |
| Tom Willis | Chief marketing officer | Lawpath |
A leading light
Doing things differently versus systematically, commercial acumen and innovative spirit were all in the spotlight during this year’s CMO50 judging. NADIA CAMERON reports
Are today’s chief marketing officers doing enough to be in the running for CEO? To what extent must they do things differently versus systemically? How much of being a CMO is responding to what the CEO says versus proactively leading the proverbial horse to the waters of customer centricity? Should we really be putting so much emphasis on the wow of one campaign execution? Are Australian marketers using martech in a way that’s realising value or is it a race to the bottom? And what does balancing the craft of marketing with commerciality actually look like?
These were just some questions posed and reflected on by this year’s CMO50 judges as we strived to finalise the list of Australia’s 50 most innovative and effective marketing leaders for 2019.
It’s the fifth year of the CMO50, an annual list designed to recognise and celebrate work reflecting modern marketing leadership innovation and effectiveness. The top theme to emerge from this year’s submissions was yet again the diversity of skillset and remit required in marketing leadership and functions today, as well as the transformative change Australian CMOs continue to lead. This is being driven largely by the emphasis on growth and customer-led ambitions (if not realities), underpinned by significant disruption presented by technology, data and digital.
Former tier-one brand CMO and now marketing strategy consultant, David Morgan, who has judged the CMO50 list every year, agreed 2019 has been the hardest yet. He attributed this firstly to the breadth of remit. Other factors include size of organisation and differing levels of maturity of what marketing entails across industry sectors.
“Marketing leaders are required to be commercially savvy, martech savvy, own communications, juggle a lot of different business objectives, build customer personalisation, own services and more,” he said. “We had nominees with 300 staff in their function, then startups with a handful of staff.”
Even with such an assortment, judges agreed this year’s CMO50 crop exhibited solid, good work, with a shorter tail in nominations and higher calibre of submissions overall. For example, while many talked about rebranding work, it was often couched in purpose and customer insights rather than what a company wanted their brand to be.
“What we did see was a lot still doing structural work, versus the ‘sexy’ work,” Zuni MD, Mike Zeederberg, said. “But we are definitely seeing people endeavouring to do things differently.”
Solid grounding
Yet some judges bemoaned the lack of inspirational leadership, even as they struggled to put their finger on what makes such an individual in a modern context. Morgan, for one, saw CMOs being directed by the executive team, with a lot of reactive rather than proactive leadership. University of Sydney Professor, Vince Mitchell, described CMOs as doing the job well.
“Submissions are a celebration of the basics as we build discipline in marketing,” he commented. “In some categories, it remains harder to be a marketer. We also saw nominees doing great work in individual aspects. There was certainly many wanting to get in and change things, which is a good sign.”
UM CEO, Fiona Johnston, saw many CMOs striving but not quite capturing the true essence of innovation.
“On the innovation piece, I felt we were to some extent ticking the boxes. The reason why [you innovate] has to be tied to context and purpose,” she said.
Former Accenture Interactive MD, Michael Buckley, noted submissions were often a story of work-in-progress transformation, reflecting the significant change CMOs are required to navigate.
Experienced marketer, John Batistich, agreed to a much shorter tail in submissions this year, but less high-end standouts. “That high-level CMO working with peers and the board to achieve alignment focus is disproportional. So I see very strong potential in our group, but not a lot at that top tier.”
Mitchell, however, suggested this was relative to the opportunity being presented to CMOs versus what’s beyond their scope of evolution.
Former Coca-Cola marketer, Lisa Winn, noted marketers are ticking the box on systems and technology. “I hope martech isn’t a race to the bottom – the signs from submissions are that more and more CMOs are finding their martech investments useful and realising value,” she said. “But quality is still missing in many cases around the outputs.”
Yet frameworks and systematic thinking are clearly being embraced, with processes, ways of working, change management programs and data- and customer-led decision making highlighted across CMO50 nominees.
“You do see far more operational / CMO hybrids talking less about brand impressions and more about sales. They’re closer to reflecting strategic business leaders,” Zeederberg said.
“We’re certainly seeing CMOs embrace frameworks and guidelines in order achieve what is expected of them.”
Commerciality was raised as the ongoing hill to climb. Former CMO and now board director, Georgie Williams, said EBIT results were scarce. “If you’re going to run an organisation, you have to know about goodwill, EBIT – things on the balance sheet,” she said. “To understand the true power of what they control, CMOs must think about the way they do things, and drive hard on value.”
Road to CEO
It’s the importance of commercial and leadership acumen that led CMO50 judges to then consider the blurring line between recognising effective marketing leadership, and recognising those with the potential to become CEO.
“I found it easy to rank people a six or seven out of 10, but harder to find those nine out of 10 leaders,” former Telstra group marketing and media executive, Joe Pollard, said of the judging process. “The struggle with the CMO role is it’s still not seen as a future leader of the company. You’d want to be a nine out of 10 to be opening up that leadership opportunity. I want to see more instances where I feel marketers could lead the companies they work for.”
While it’s true many marketers are going to bigger CMO jobs, rather than divisional or company-wide leadership, there are instances. Across CMO50 honoraries between 2015 and 2019, CMO found 11 examples of individuals who’ve risen to a CEO position, either in private or listed enterprises, or as industry association leaders.
Of course, while it’s great to see more CEOs as an output of marketing, Morgan recognised some CMOs won’t want to be CEOs. Nevertheless, as an industry, many CMO50 judges agreed marketing needs to do a much better job of having CMOs see their path to CEO.
“The other debate is the CMO as scientist versus artist. I still want to see the big ideas,” Pollard said. “That is what will truly help change the company.”
CMO50 judges also agreed in rewarding what great marketing leadership looks like, they’re highlighting attributes and work that pave the way to CEO. Because it’s the combination of creative thinking, commerciality, inspiring leadership and customer centricity which present the keys to successful business leadership today.
Whatever the career trajectory, Batistich advised all marketers to work harder to improve clarity of ROI.
“Even if you can’t own all the results, the context of commercial is so important,” Johnston added. “Market yourself; personality does stand out. We are trying to be everything to everyone, and these challenges are key. It comes back to balancing the craft of marketing and its commerciality.”