CMO is delighted to release our new CMO50 alumni whitepaper exploring how leading Australian marketers are practising personalisation in a new era of passion points, preferences and purpose.

Stepping outside your comfort zone, embracing a learning mindset, constantly asking ‘why’ – these are just some of the ways our CMO50 alumni for 2022 are exhibiting bravery in a professional capacity.

2022 was a big year for diversity and inclusion, reconciliation and team emphasis for marketing leaders.

Do you have a fork in the road you didn’t take professionally and reflect on as one of your best careers moves to date?

Combining curiosity and an open mindset with a healthy balance of data-driven decision making is critical in the leadership make-up of Adobe’s new vice-president and managing director, Adobe A/NZ, Katrina Troughton

Art versus science, method versus magic, data versus gut – it’s the modern marketing quandary. Just how much of each really goes into the make-up of marketing execution and strategy today?

​From revealing the 2022 edition of the CMO50 list, to a stellar panel discussing CMO career progression and networking aplenty, this year's CMO50 premiere gala event was a highlight on the marketing leaders calendar.

Are marketers proving their contribution to business growth? Or are they more fixated on simply articulating outcomes? Is a rebrand really innovative marketing? Are we entering another golden age of marketers driving product innovation? How far can the CMO’s scope go? Is one marketer’s customer ‘journey’ the same as another’s? And are marketers capitalising on the moments that actually matter in the pursuit of growth?

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.

​More than 100 of Australia's finest marketers joined CMO and our sponsor, Adobe, for the CMO50 2022 gala dinner at the Ivy Ballroom in Sydney. Here are some of the first pics from our evening of this fabulous event.

Late 2010, Natalie Lockwood, VP, head of marketing at Visa, found her husband’s company were relocating him from Singapore to Vietnam. This could have been a career boon or a career bust.

When it comes to how modern marketers lead, Tourism Australia’s Susan Coghill is a big believer in gut, then data, then gut.

In mid-2020, immediately after the first lockdowns ended in many Australian states, Expedia Group pushed ahead with a Stayz campaign called ‘#roadtripledge’, designed to get Australians travelling and supporting regional Australia again.

When Ashley Hughes joined Red Rooster three-and-a-half years ago, it felt like a brave call.

​For Fabian Marrone, CMO of Monash University, good marketing comes down to bravery.

​Years ago, Caitlin Bancroft, the now CMO of Collective Wellness Group (Anytime Fitness), made the decision to leave the advertising industry where she had successfully established herself working in both Sydney and London, and return to Australia to pursue a passion for natural healthcare.

​As Megan Keleher, chief customer officer at Great Southern Bank, admits, if she knew the magic formula of data/gut when it comes to marketing, she'd bottle it and make a fortune.

For Suncorp’s Mim Haysom, data is the fuel giving marketers the power to influence. “It’s critical for marketing leaders to have the ability to access and use data to form your narrative for stakeholders, to build business cases, and to prove your impact as a marketer,” the EGM of brand and marketing advises.

Suzana Ristevski knew National Australia Bank’s ‘JAB campaign’ was going to attract naysayers.

​It was a radio jingle which got Cath Brands, chief marketing and innovation officer of Flintfox International, hooked on marketing.

“Take risks and don’t be afraid to have a contrary point of view” is a mantra for Foxtel’s executive director of marketing, Michael Nearhos.