If you want to understand where the marketing industry is headed, don’t just look at marketing campaigns—look at where top marketers are going.
CMOs don’t trade logos on a whim. If they’re leaving, it’s not just for a bigger paycheck—it’s a signal. The real question isn’t who’s moving. It’s what they see coming that you don’t. Three months in the making, here's everything I found out:
Q1 2025: A Realignment, Not Just a Marketing Reshuffle
Q1 2025 has exposed a fundamental reordering of brand priorities. Senior marketing talent is making deliberate, strategic moves across retail, luxury, tech, media, and travel. These aren’t routine promotions or internal restructures—they’re the aftershocks of something bigger.
Brands are being re-architected in real time, recalibrating for a consumer landscape that’s shifting faster than most can keep up. The old structures are breaking.
Starbucks is hiring from tech giants to embed AI, first-party data, and platform thinking into its brand model. Meanwhile, luxury brands are shifting away from short-term hype cycles, bringing in heritage storytelling experts to reinforce long-term brand equity. Media powerhouses like Netflix, The Financial Times, and The Economist are prioritising retention over reach. The message is clear: customer lifetime value now outweighs scale.
The blending of FMCG, hospitality, and travel is another major shift. These categories are no longer siloed—brands are designing seamless consumer experiences that stretch across restaurants, grocery, and entertainment. Experience, not just product, is becoming the ultimate differentiator.
CMOs Are Playing Musical Chairs
Starbucks is stacking its marketing bench. Verizon Value’s former CMO has stepped in as SVP of North America Marketing, bringing expertise in loyalty-driven customer acquisition. At the same time, Yahoo!’s ex-CMO has joined Starbucks as Global Chief Brand Officer, reinforcing its digital-first, media-heavy approach.
And the shifts extend beyond coffee. Budweiser Brewing Group UK&I’s Off-Trade & Ecomm Trade Marketing Manager has moved to Head of Restaurants Marketing at Deliveroo, leveraging grocery insights for restaurant partnerships. Meanwhile, Budweiser’s Leffe Marketing Director (Europe) has pivoted to Associate Director, Global Heinz Brand Communications & Creativity at Kraft Heinz UK.
At Diageo, the Global Head of Marketing for Whisky Brands (Johnnie Walker & Malts) is shifting industries entirely, taking on the Head of Marketing role at Cow & Gate, marking a significant move from spirits to baby nutrition.
Luxury’s Leadership Reshuffle
Cartier is taking events and experiences global. The brand has promoted its Marketing & Communication Director (France & Monaco) to International Events & Experiences Director, signalling a shift toward high-impact brand moments on a global scale.
Meanwhile, Burberry has lost its Global VP, Online to Offline—the executive behind its digital integration in retail—to Fortnum & Mason, where they will lead business development. Moncler has also made a major move, poaching Burberry’s Chief Marketing Officer, who led brand elevation and collaborations, to take on the role of International Chief Brand Officer.
For the full list of industry moves—including more cross-sector shifts—subscribe to our newsletter.
The Hidden Message? A New Brand Architecture Is Taking Shape
What we’re witnessing isn’t just talent migration. It’s a fundamental restructuring of brand ecosystems to support long-term value creation.
The traditional brand architecture model, where companies operated in distinct category silos, is dissolving. Retail brands are transforming into media companies, turning first-party data into their most valuable asset. Luxury houses are doubling down on editorial-grade storytelling and immersive brand experiences.
- Hospitality and FMCG are smelting together, as restaurant, grocery, and beverage brands rethink how consumers experience their products across multiple touchpoints.
- Travel and automotive are evolving into lifestyle platforms, where content, partnerships, and loyalty programs are no longer separate from core brand strategy.
For CMOs looking to drive sustainable brand growth, this is about survival. And requires redefining the structure of your brand itself. Not smarter campaigns.
How is your brand positioned for this shift? Does your architecture support seamless cross-category expansion, deeper audience retention, and a fully integrated experience ecosystem?
Q2 needs to be anchored on architecting the next evolution of brand-building.
The Power Shift: Retail & Luxury Raid the Tech Playbook
Retail wants media. Luxury wants legacy. The great repositioning of brand marketing is underway, and hiring trends tell the story.
Starbucks has pulled top talent from Verizon & Yahoo, embedding AI-driven personalisation, loyalty, and platform thinking deep into its brand model. Meanwhile, Cartier, Montblanc, Burberry, and Louis Vuitton are betting on seasoned brand custodians, reinforcing that luxury’s next move isn’t about chasing virality—it’s about reasserting exclusivity.
For retail, the future looks more like media meets tech: data-led customer ecosystems, gamification strategies, and a full embrace of AI. For luxury, it’s a return to heritage storytelling, setting itself apart in a world oversaturated with digital noise.
Is retail becoming the new media? And is luxury finally over the hype era?
Media’s Subscription-Led Future: The FT, Netflix & The Economist Go All-In
The next battle isn’t about getting customers—it’s about keeping them.
Performance marketing, CRM, and retention-focused hiring are dominating top media companies. Acquisition is expensive, retention is the goldmine. The Financial Times, Netflix, and The Economist are doubling down on subscriber loyalty, making it clear that scale means little without long-term value.
Luxury brands are taking notes. Advertising is no longer enough—personalised, club-like content ecosystems are becoming the standard. Consumers are subscribing to a brand’s worldview.
Is the future of media about membership and trust—not just scale?
FMCG x Hospitality: The Invisible Merger
PepsiCo, Budweiser, Deliveroo, and Kraft Heinz aren’t just swapping talent. They’re rewriting category lines.
Restaurants, grocery, and consumer packaged goods are no longer separate industries. Beer marketing leaders are moving into food delivery, while Pepsi executives are stepping into retail pharmacy. Brands aren’t just selling products anymore; they’re building cross-category ecosystems that own every part of the consumer experience—from grocery aisle to cocktail menu.
FMCG isn’t about food and beverage. It’s about experience.
Automotive & Travel: Welcome to the Lifestyle Game
Travel brands are no longer just selling destinations. They’re selling a way of life.
Airbnb just hired Ford’s media lead. American Airlines picked up a Samsung marketing executive. The shift signals something bigger: travel and automotive brands are behaving like entertainment platforms, building immersive brand worlds through content, partnerships, and experiential loyalty programs.
Forget point-based rewards. The new travel marketing strategy looks more like a VIP membership club, blending tech, storytelling, and high-value exclusivity.
Is travel marketing evolving into an entertainment-driven ecosystem?
Luxury & Fashion: Exclusivity is Back—But Make it Content
Luxury’s obsession with hype is fading. Heritage is back.
Burberry, Moncler, Hugo Boss, and Louis Vuitton have reloaded their marketing teams with storytelling and brand experience experts. The era of streetwear collabs and trend-chasing is being replaced by a renewed focus on craftsmanship, legacy, and editorial-grade content.
Hugo Boss hiring from Netflix? Lululemon hiring from Hugo Boss? It’s a sign that fashion is embedding entertainment and media strategies into brand marketing.
Could we be witnessing the beginning of luxury’s “post-hype” era?
The Great Brand Merge Will Not Be Televised
Brand, media, retail, and tech are no longer separate entities—they’re becoming one seamless ecosystem.
- Retention is the new acquisition.
- AI is the new creative director.
- Content is the new commerce.
Marketing is no longer about volume—it’s about value. The inbound, high-volume tactics that dominated the last decade are eroding as AI floods the market with content, automation, and cold outreach. Scale alone won’t win. Precision, trust, and true differentiation will.
How Winning Brands Will Be Playing Out Q2 2025
1) High-impact content that can’t be mass-produced. Podcasts, long-form video, and creator-led storytelling are no longer optional. AI won’t replace them, but it will help scale them smarter. 2) Spending smarter, not just more. The smartest brands are shifting budgets toward incrementality—investing in video, influencer-led storytelling, and measuring real impact, not just reach.
And 3) AI as a depth tool, not just an automation hack. The best teams aren’t using AI to churn out endless content. They’re using it to remix, personalise, and create concierge-level brand experiences that make marketing feel like a warm introduction, not a cold blast.
The Q2 Mind Map for Senior Brand Marketers
How do you build lasting brand value when attention is fleeting?
Retention is now more powerful than reach. Subscription models, loyalty ecosystems, and first-party data strategies are outperforming short-term awareness plays. The smartest brands aren’t chasing virality—they’re building long-term customer ecosystems that turn audiences into invested members.
Is your brand just selling, or is it shaping culture?
Acting like a media company is no longer optional. The most future-proof brands are investing in episodic content, immersive digital experiences, and brand worlds that extend beyond traditional commerce.
Are you using AI to create, or just automate?
AI isn’t just a tool for efficiency—it’s a storytelling engine. The brands that win will be those that use AI to enhance voice, drive hyper-personalisation, and rethink engagement beyond one-size-fits-all campaigns.
Where is your next adjacency?
The biggest marketing plays are happening outside traditional category lines. Hospitality is borrowing from luxury. Grocery is blending into media. Tech is becoming retail. The strongest brands aren’t defending old positions—they’re expanding into new ones.
And finally: is your CEO a voice or a spectator? Executive presence isn’t just PR—it’s strategy. If leadership isn’t shaping industry conversations on LinkedIn or leading with thought leadership, you’re leaving influence on the table. Owned media and executive branding are no longer a nice-to-have—they’re a competitive advantage.
Q2 belongs to the brands that think like experience architects. The merge is already happening. The only question is: are you ahead of it, or simply reacting?
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