The 2022 CMO 50

This year’s honorees led their companies through the aftermath of the pandemic, navigating the shift to hybrid work, life and play, while helping their businesses connect with consumers in a hyper-polarized society. 

From DoorDash to Instacart, from Lyft to Airbnb, the brands and marketers on this list capture the evolution of our on-demand society and show that, despite people venturing back outside, our habits have permanently changed.

We’ve nodded to the future of entertainment with FanDuel and Twitch, as gaming and sports betting continue to take share away from traditional options. We’ve acknowledged the work of automakers, from Volvo to Polestar, in shepherding the global push to electric vehicles. We’ve paid homage to purposeful pioneers such as Ben & Jerry’s, Verizon and Mastercard, which continue to set the standard for inclusive marketing.  

And, of course, we set our sights to the metaverse, where brands such as Epic Games and FTX are creating the future, and tipped our hats to those setting the standards for how to show up in these spaces, such as Chipotle and Crocs. 

Most pressingly, however, we’ve recognized the changing face of healthcare in a post-Roe world, with brands such as Elvie and Hims & Hers. A very special nod to Planned Parenthood, which is at the heart of the fight for abortion rights and continues to do lifesaving work to ensure women in this country can receive necessary healthcare.

This year’s list also turned out to be a microcosm of The Great Resignation and the high turnover among CMOs. As anyone who puts together a list like this knows, people change jobs and adjustments must be made. But this year’s list felt like an anomaly, as more than a half dozen marketers got new titles or new jobs in the time it took to create and publish this package.

Marketers are operating in a high-stress, high-demand role in a world where consumer changes happen so quickly, you could blink and miss them. Major kudos to the 50 stars on this list who have done what might seem to some like an impossible job with poise, foresight and deftness.

We can’t wait to see what you bring to 2023.