For ABC director of audience and marketing, Leisa Bacon, modern CMO leadership is an art in influencing and working more collaboratively with other parts of the organisation as well as the increasingly diverse marketing function.

Marketing working closely with sales and category teams is key to success, Suzanne Harman, general manager, marketing of Simplot Australia, believes.

​There are not many marketers who can take a brand disaster and turn into around into a brand success, and then be willing to be open and talk about it frankly.

Since taking up the CMO mantle at ANZ last July, Sweta Mehra has been striving to go well beyond commercialisation and focus on building capabilities that will future-proof the bank. These, she says, are rooted firmly in the financial services group’s purpose across three levels: Enterprise, divisions and marketing.

​Carlton and United Breweries (CUB) has undergone a stunning transformation in challenging trading times, and marketing has been central to this achievement.

“Marketing can be all pervasive today, so focus on what matters and where you can make a difference.”

“Consumers are not rational and never will be,” National Heart Foundation’s Chris Taylor says. “Connect on an emotional level and you’re half-way there.”

Over the last two years, Nicole Papoutsis has led the brand development of Genea Horizon, Australia’s first egg freezing clinic.

Anand Surujpal is on a mission: To shift the Patties Foods business from brand focused business to category-led superstar.

​Ryan Gracie, CMO of Catch Group, says having a brand is the difference between love and sex.

The a2 Milk Company is an A/NZ success story, rapidly growing to $8 billion market capitalisation and NZ$922 million in revenue in the 2018 financial year.

With so much pressure on marketers to perform and prove their worth, Brent Smart is unsurprised many pull the nearest and quickest levers to show impact. The problem is, those short wins aren’t going to build you a brand for the long term.

“Relationships really matter. If you want to be successful in your business as a CMO, you have to have relationships outside of your team.”

One of the most important decisions Neil Ridgway says he’s made over his 15 years as CMO of the Rip Curl brand is to support the group’s pro team with the resources they need to win 10 world surfing titles in 10 years. It’s this dedicated and focus that’s made the brand what it is today, he says.

Whether it’s electrification of vehicles or new mobility concepts, automotive companies are facing significant change right now, Volkswagen’s Ben Wilks says. Increasingly, this means differentiating not just by product, but by experience as well.

When Alexander Meyer joined ecommerce fashion retailer, The Iconic, in 2016, he was tasked with nothing short of building a cult brand.

Chobani has come a long way. From a virtual unknown player in an overcrowded market seven years ago, to last year’s number one brand, Chobani has been playing a long game, a game that has paid off in spades.

For OFX CMO, Rebecca Shears, being a marketer is often an art in holding your nerve.

2017 was a very big year for Martine Jager and the Westpac marketing team. Tasked with helping the organisation celebrate 200 years in the Australian market, she joined forces with her leadership team and a cross-functional group to inject history, traditional and emotional back into the Westpac brand.

It might feel like the latest corporate buzz phrase, but AIA Australia CMO, Renae Smith, doesn’t believe customer centricity is a new strategy for organisations to be adopting. What has been missing, she says, is the connection between customer and people.

Alicia Tillman was only two months into her role as chief marketing officer at German-based enterprise software maker, SAP, when she found herself in front of the company’s executive and supervisory boards.