9 Veteran CMOs Share Their Insightful Priorities For 2023

Annual planning provides the opportunity to refocus an organization on what matters most. The fifth tenet of The CMO Manifesto puts it this way – “We can do anything but we can’t do everything, so we must be focused and intentional if we are to be great.” Veteran CMOs have learned this lesson over time. So what are they focused on for next year? Tony Rogers, all-star CMO and new marketing leader at Signet Jewelers SIG says his top priority is, “Expanding our ability to personalize our marketing at scale.” Here are the top priorities of other leading CMOs as they prepare for 2023.

Linda Lee, CMO, Campbell’s Soup Company – “Our focus in 2023 will be centered on strengthening how we are ‘of value’ to our consumers, particularly given the challenging economic times. Our job is to support our consumers as they feed and nourish their families recognizing that they are wallet and time crunched. An iconic brand like Campbell’s brings comfort and reassurance with quality food that fits into busy lives as well as innovation that fuels discovery. We know our brands are trusted and resonate, and we have the chance through our activations and innovations to further engage and be relevant.”

John Taylor, CMO, AMD – “Our top priority for 2023 is to continue building the AMD brand reputation as the high-performance and adaptive computing leader — across our now much-wider market set. As AMD expands from our strength in high performance computing for data centers, PCs, and gaming to adaptive computing for automotive, industrial, health care, 5G Communications, aerospace and more, we must build brand familiarity and trust with a wider set of customers and industries. Our marketing organization will focus on three key unifying themes of technology leadership: first is sustainable, more energy-efficient computing, second is the significant benefits of AI, and third is our focus on more confidential and secure computing – these are the building blocks for how we will create solutions to some of the world’s most important challenges.

Meredith Madden, Chief Marketing and Category Officer, Chobani – “Chobani’s top marketing priorities for 2023 are to increase revenue and attract new consumers to the brand through audience-first marketing, while improving ROI and spending efficiency. Our in-house Consumer Insights team will play a critical role in determining where to find new audiences and how to reach them in the right way, whether that be through TikTok, YouTube, retailer media, etc. By being data informed, we’re able to strategically assess and understand ROI by channel and tactic, and course correct if needed, at a much faster pace.”

Carl Loredo, CMO, Wendy’s – “As we look to 2023, we understand customers will look to get more for every dollar - and that is exactly what they will get at Wendy's. From flavor and Made to Crave innovation to value offers and digital convenience, we are focused on showing up for our customers every time, in every way. It's no secret that QSR is a competitive category - and we plan to earn each customer's visit by delivering a quality experience with every bite, click and visit."

Laura Heisman, CMO, VMware VMW – “At VMware, we’re innovating to help companies tame one of their biggest technology problems: the chaos of operating in multiple clouds. To support this industry evolution, the marketing team is prioritizing four things in 2023: updating our brand to help customers know who we are today; aligning our go-to-market approach to address customers’ biggest challenges: executing best-in-class global events and experiences that embrace our long-standing and newer customers; and continuing to invest in growth opportunities for our people. We put the customer at the center of everything we do, so we’re passionate about helping customers be successful wherever they are in their journey.”

Martyn Etherington, CMO, BMC – “My number one priority for 2023 is relevancy - to our customers, partners, employees and ultimately to our business. BMC has a strong heritage of supporting our customers for 42 years in their technology evolution through automation, intelligent operations, and AI-driven service management. And our greatest opportunity today is to capitalize on the milestones of our past for even greater relevance in shaping their future. Unfortunately, many of our customer’s perception of BMC was cast 5, 10, or 15 years ago and therefore do not necessarily see us for who we are today. BMC continues to be an innovation-led company, but we have not done a great job communicating our relevancy to our customers; this will change.”

Jessica Jensen, CMO, Indeed – Given the current macroeconomic climate, all CMOs are scrutinizing budgets, media mix, and more. Indeed is the largest jobs site in the world and our mission is to help people get jobs, so I'm focused on ensuring that we have the right investment levels by country, and analyzing our brand versus performance marketing levels. The labor force dynamics are very different in different parts of the world whether that’s Germany, Japan, the UK, US, or Canada, and therefore we have to tune our media and messages accordingly to align with those audiences. Similarly, on the employer side, some markets are being hit by inflation and uncertainty much more than others, so we have to dial up or down our marketing activities, depending on the local nuances. We are also embracing the rise of TikTok, Instagram Stories, and other high growth digital platforms that will ensure that we are capturing younger workers as they enter and rise through the job market.

Aron North, CMO, Mint Mobile – Mint Mobile’s top priority is to continue to create distinction and disruption in the wireless category. Mint remains focused on achieving this by showcasing value for the money and ease of switching. We see broad economic headwinds for the US consumer and believe these messages will resonate and continue to accelerate Mint Mobile’s growth.