The creation and launch of Vanguard’s new brand strategy and campaign in 2021 was a key moment for the business as well as its CMO, Louise Eyres.

​When non-alcoholic ‘spirits’ company, Lyre’s Spirit Co, was launched in Australia in 2019, the founding team knew success depended on Lyre’s mission to lead change in entrenched social and cultural drinking behaviours around the world – quite a tall order.

“The world may have felt like it stopped spinning during the pandemic, but consumer behaviours didn’t,” Qantas CMO, Jo Boundy, tells CMO. “They have changed considerably.”

Guzman y Gomez may have been fortunate enough to escape full shut down and being too negatively impacted by Covid as a food provider. But the crisis certainly “brought the fight out in us”, its global CMO, Lara Thom, says.

The Australian private health insurance (PHI) industry is facing significant challenges. Only 41 per cent of Australians have private hospital cover – a record 15-year low.

The past year has been one without near-term reference for Matt Fletcher and the Fitness First team. “This year, the playbook went out the window. It was not a year for iteration or rote,” he says.

There’s no doubt every one of us needs to do more to drive diversity, equity and inclusion in workplaces. And it’s something Google senior director of marketing for A/NZ, Aisling Finch, says has been particularly important to her team during the crisis.

Afterpay challenged Andrew Balint to catapult the brand to a new league. So when the opportunity arose to become the sponsor of Australian Fashion Week, the VP marketing A/NZ and APAC knew this was not to be missed.

On June 1, Megan Keleher was delighted to see a suited man ride a unicorn down a busy street.

Since its inception in 2012, Youfoodz has transformed from privately owned business to ASX-listed company. Its meteoric growth has carved out a sizable chunk of the AUD$3.2billion A/NZ market for ready-made meals.

It’s been a multi-year journey for Chaminda Ranasinghe to bring agile ways of working and a customer experience-led approach to RMIT University. Which is why the shift towards developing integrated, customer-centric cross functional teams based on value streams over the past year has been such a leadership achievement – not to mention a real win for the team.

Yash Gandhi is the first to suggest his role is “possibly a little more unusual” than that held by many CMOs in Australia today. As marketing chief of poultry giant, Baiada, he sits across both iconic B2C brands, Steggles and Lilydale, along with a significant B2B FMCG operation.

To take decisive action as a marketer, it’s critical to balance data-driven insights and human intuition, especially in times of ambiguity, says UNSW’s Sofia Lloyd-Jones.

Over the last 12 months, McMillan Shakespeare Group chief customer officer, Julia Edwards-Smith, has worked with the executive leadership team, internal teams and external partners to realign the company purpose to focus on its ‘why’. The program of work, the first company vision project of her career, has seen her working to define a vision grounded in how MMS can improve the financial wellbeing of its customers.

As an organisation used to dealing with disasters, Australian Red Cross’ ability to shift thinking, pivot campaigns and focus resources on the issues of the moment is an incredibly important skill, says director of engage and support, Belinda Dimovski.

For Freedom Furniture’s GM marketing, Jason Piggott, the highlight of theyear has been the ‘root and branch’ reinvigoration of the Freedom brand.

For Anand Surujpal, one of the highlights of this year has been achieving all-time record market shares for Patties brands across retail channels. To make this happen, Surujpal and the team have embraced agility and continuously monitoring the external environment and then moving quickly to respond to opportunities.

One of the unique aspects of the past year has been finding ways to keep team culture alive without forcing it in an environment of remote working.

When Mel Hopkins met her new CEO, Kelly Rosmarin, for the first time, she posed a direct question: What’s one thing I can do to demonstrate I’m a key player on your management team?

Fabian Marrone’s number one ally at Monash University is the chief information officer. “We work in unison to implement the digital experience, delight our audiences and delivery for Monash,” the CMO says

Xero’s marketing director AU, Vladka Kazda, was quick to recognise the land-grab opportunity the ATO created overnight in 2019 when announced Single Touch Payroll (STP) for small businesses which are the accounting software platform’s audience.