by Seth MatlinsManaging Director, Forbes CMO Network
circleWhile those looking for statistical relevance in a figure of just 50 companies will be disappointed, there are still some insights, facts, and perhaps trivia to be gleaned from the Forbes World’s Most Influential CMOs list for 2024. Consider the numbers in two categories.
1. CMOs
2. The companies they control
CMOs
The 50 CMOs on this year’s list are:
- Of the 50, 14 are making their first appearance this year, the 12th time the awards have been held. Forbes’ Most Powerful CMOs in the World list.
- Twenty-nine of the marketing leaders who appeared on the 2023 list also appear on this year’s list. Year-over-year turnover is determined by a variety of factors, including retirements, new roles and score differences.
- There were three candidates eligible to be selected as this year’s CMO. Forbes CMO Hall of Fame Class 2, Andrea Brimmer and Dara Treseder, both of whom would have appeared on the most influential list five times, came in 20th.Number And 21st The CMO has been appointed.
- This year’s list includes five CMOs from privately held companies who weren’t included until last year: (in alphabetical order) marketing leaders from Canva, IKEA, the National Football League, the NBA and New Balance.
- In 2024, certified CMOs received, on average, four times more media mentions compared to eligible CMOs overall.
- On average, honored CMOs received nearly three times as many high-profile media appearances as CMOs who met all other qualifications.
- The positive sentiment scores of media coverage of these 50 CMOs were, on average, 150% higher than the scores of the other CMOs in the study.
- As Sprinklr Reports Looking more closely, the data inputs and variables span five impact dimensions: 1) CMO attention, sentiment, and salience; 2) CMO community visibility; 3) brand attention, sentiment, and salience; 4) campaign attention and salience; and 5) financial performance.
- Some highly influential CMOs lead brands that garner a lot of attention online, but CMOs and brand awareness don’t move in lockstep. An influential CMO can bring a lot of attention to their brand without having an equal amount of attention on their own social media. And some of the 50 CMOs lead brands with smaller followings but still manage to attract a lot of attention. While both types of CMOs appear on this year’s list, the CMOs who rank high are typically the ones who frequently appear in online press and conversations.
The companies they control
Between conglomerates and even within categories, it can be difficult to assign categories to individual companies/brands. For example, Ferrari is a car company, but it is also a luxury brand. The companies whose CMOs honored this year manage their brands and businesses are:
- World’s most valuable company by market capitalization (Apple, as of market close on June 13)
- The world’s largest companies as identified by Forbes Global 2000 (JP Morgan Chase).
- The world’s largest retailer (Walmart) and the largest company in the United States based on sales (also Walmart)
- Most valuable luxury goods and alcohol company (LVMH)
- The world’s largest brewer (AB InBev)
- The world’s largest restaurant company (McDonald’s)
- China’s largest e-commerce company (Alibaba Group)
- 1st place (Netflix), 2nd placeand (Disney) is the largest media company in the world based on market capitalization as of this writing.
- All 50 CMOs honored represent global/multinational brands and companies – a first for this year.
- For the first time in years, there will be just four car companies, down from seven in 2022 and five last year. Also notable is that, for the first time, all of the participating car companies are luxury brands (in alphabetical order: Audi, Ferrari, Jaguar Land Rover, and Porsche).
As of market close on June 7, 2024, the 41 individual and public companies on the list and for which data is available (this does not include private companies such as Canva or New Balance, or companies grouped together into holding companies such as Cartier or Taco Bell) have a combined market capitalization of US$10.58 trillion, an increase of approximately 15% compared to the 2023 list.
- The average market capitalization of the 41 companies was $258 billion, up $30 billion from the previous year.
- Among the companies profiled, Apple has the largest valuation at US$3.02 trillion, and together with Meta, another US$1 trillion company (US$1,250 trillion), account for 40% of the total.
- Crocs is the smallest publicly traded company, with a market capitalization of $8.92 billion as of the market close on June 7.
- The aggregate and reported estimates for nine privately held or portfolio-held companies add $334 billion (USD) to the total valuation, of which the NFL accounts for nearly half, with the league estimated to be valued at $142 billion (USD).
In terms of employee numbers, the 50 companies combined:
- It employs around 9 million people in more than 150 countries around the world. This represents a decrease of around 25% compared to the 2023 list and an increase of around 15% compared to the 2022 list.
- Walmart is the largest employer, employing 2.1 million people, about 25% of the total.
- According to the reported data, the NFL, a privately held company, has about 1,000 employees, the fewest of the 50 companies surveyed.
- These 50 marketing leaders represent companies that have been in business for a combined total of 3,703 years, an average of almost 75 years.
- Founded in 2013, DoorDash is the youngest company on the 2024 list.
- The oldest brand on this year’s list is Stella Artois. The Belgian brewery, now owned by AB InBev, was founded in 1366.
Geographically, the 50 participating companies are headquartered in 11 countries around the world.
- Thirty of the companies are based in the United States, up 4% from last year. Of the other 20, 14 are headquartered in EU countries, which together with the US account for 88% of the total.
- Within the EU, France and Germany are home to the most companies with five each. Other countries with headquarters are:
- United Kingdom: 3
- Australia: 1
- Belgium: 1
- China: 1
- India: 1
- Ireland: 1
- Italy: 1
- Netherlands: 1
You can learn more about the methodology behind this year’s list and the list creators here.
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