The most innovative CMOs in the world — The Rebels

Business Insider

Business Insider has published its inaugural ranking of the 50 most innovative CMOs in the world.

Here we celebrate the "rebels."

These are the CMOs who are taking their marketing a completely different direction from their peers; the marketers who are not afraid to challenge the status quo; and those who are leading communications designed to spark a debate.

Scroll down to see which CMOs made the cut. Our "Rebels" list is organized in alphabetical order.

Additional reporting from Lori Janjigian and Hannah Roberts.

Andy Donkin, Under Armour

Under Armour hired Donkin from Amazon in August, so we've yet to really see what his effect on the sports apparel business will be.

But we can get a flavor from his work at Amazon, where Donkin served as head of worldwide brand and mass marketing. He led campaigns for products including FireTV, Kindle, and Prime.

Amazon launched its first Super Bowl campaign this year to promote the Echo wireless voice-command device. The spot showed actor Alec Baldwin throwing a Super Bowl party with the help of Echo. Guests included former Miami Dolphins quarterback Dan Marino, actor Jason Schwartzman, and Missy Elliott. Amazon also assembled a team of about 20 people to interact with people on social media before, during, and after the game.

In an interview with VentureBeat, Donkin explained how he approached marketing at Amazon: "How do we move from this idea, from being a functional brand to an emotional brand? How do you begin to tell the story of a category that sounds very complicated?"

Andy Nairn, founder of Amazon's ad agency, Lucky Generals, said of Donkin: "He is a great client to work with. Straightforward, decent, and ambitious. The kind of person you want right next to you in the trenches."

Rand Harbert, State Farm

This summer, Harbert took a decadeslong positioning that insurance is for when things go wrong and took a 180 view: Insurance is for when things go right.

The new brand platform, "Here to help life go right" — moving away from its "good neighbor" tagline — was launched during the first game of the NBA Finals, of which the brand is a sponsor. In the cinematic 60-second launch ad, a child asks, "What if we woke up one day and everything just stopped going wrong?"

Harbert said of the rebrand, "We thought it was time to hit the refresh button in a category that's got a lot of clutter today — everyone seems to be talking to the consumer in the same way."

Harbert probably has more insight into his industry and company than most — he started as a State Farm agent in 1992.

Ann Lewnes, Adobe

Lewnes has been Adobe's CMO since 2006 and has been working to help realize the brand's potential to not only be known for its creative products like Photoshop, but also its entire marketing suite.

This year, Lewnes led the launch of the Adobe Digital Price Index — using insights such as online purchasing patterns and partnerships with professors from Stanford and the University of Chicago to launch a monthly report on various economic indicators affecting marketers' businesses.

Lewnes has also transitioned Adobe's approach to customer experience from what she dubbed an "inside-out" approach to an "outside-in" approach. So instead of Adobe telling the customer what they want to hear, all marketing material now starts with the customer's problem and how Adobe can help solve it.

Adobe has also launched some cinematic ad campaigns — more reminiscent of a consumer brand — to showcase those problems its products help solve. Recently, for example, Adobe released an ad featuring a fictional basketball player about to sign a billion-dollar contract. He gets tired of the endless paperwork and accepts an offer from a rival team. The ad promoted Adobe Sign and carried the tagline: "How's your customer experience? We can help."

Lewnes is a board member of the Advertising Council. Last year, she helped launch its anti-bullying campaign, encouraging young people to post a custom emoji any time they see bullying.