1. Seth Godin

Based in Hastings-on-Hudson, NY, USA

The most widely read marketing thinker alive. Author of 22 international bestsellers translated into 38 languages, including Permission Marketing, Purple Cow, Tribes, This Is Marketing, and his latest, This Is Strategy: Make Better Plans — published in October 2024 and named among the most important marketing books to read in 2026 by publications worldwide. His daily blog has run continuously for approaching 10,000 entries without a single gap — one of the longest-running daily publishing streaks in the history of the internet. His altMBA continues to develop leaders globally. Five TED talks, one of the most popular in business history. Godin doesn't just comment on marketing — he shaped the conceptual vocabulary the entire profession uses to think about it.

 

2. Mark Ritson

Based in Tasmania, Australia

The most rigorous and commercially trusted marketing educator working today. PhD in Marketing, former Professor at London Business School and MIT, PPA Columnist of the Year a record seven times, and founder of MiniMBA — which has now trained over 40,000 marketers across 40 countries, with the April 2026 cohort open and an Adweek US partnership launched in 2025. Published his Top 10 Marketing Moments of 2025 in December — a brutally analytical, frequently funny review of the year's brand decisions — to enormous industry engagement. Consultant to De Beers, Sephora, News Corp, Hennessy, and others. No one is better at calling out marketing hype, returning to evidenced fundamentals, and making the case that great marketing requires rigour, not trend-chasing.

 

3. Scott Galloway

Based in New York City, NY USA

Professor of Marketing at NYU Stern School of Business and host of The Prof G Pod — currently publishing five episodes per week across the Raging Moderates, China Decode, Conversations, and Office Hours formats. His No Mercy / No Malice newsletter publishes weekly to hundreds of thousands of subscribers, and a dedicated Prof G on Marketing series launched in May 2025 covers brand, strategy, and the future of the profession. Author of The Four and Adrift, and his frank, data-heavy commentary on brand America, tech companies, and the economic forces shaping marketing continued to dominate business media throughout 2025 and into 2026. One of the most cited marketing voices in mainstream media globally.

 

4. Ann Handley

Based in Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Chief Content Officer of MarketingProfs — the training organisation reaching 600,000 subscribers — and the world's first person to hold that title. Author of Everybody Writes and Content Rules, with 350,000+ copies sold and translation into 24 languages. With nearly 500,000 LinkedIn followers and over 1 million social followers total, IBM named her one of seven people shaping modern marketing. Delivered 40 keynotes in 2025 including appearances at CEX25 in Cleveland. Her fourth book is currently in progress for 2026 publication — a significant new output. Total Annarchy, her fortnightly newsletter on writing and marketing, maintains 51,000+ subscribers. The gold standard for practical, human-centred marketing writing and content strategy globally.

 

5. Neil Patel

Based in Los Angeles, California, USA

Co-founder of Neil Patel Digital, Crazy Egg, and Ubersuggest — tools and content that have shaped how millions of marketers understand SEO, content, and digital growth. Throughout 2025-2026, Patel continued his relentless content output across his YouTube channel, podcast, and website, with a particular focus on AI's impact on search and content strategy. His weekly tutorials and data-driven breakdowns remain some of the most practically useful free marketing education available anywhere. Recognised as one of the top global LinkedIn marketing influencers in 2026 by multiple sources. His willingness to share actual data — not just frameworks — gives him credibility that more theoretical voices in the space lack.

 

6. Rory Sutherland

Based in London, UK

Vice Chairman of Ogilvy UK and one of the most original thinkers in the global marketing and advertising industry. Author of Alchemy: The Surprising Power of Ideas That Don't Make Sense — a book that applies behavioural economics and psychological irrationality to marketing and brand strategy with genuine originality. Throughout 2025, Sutherland maintained his reputation as the profession's most provocative contrarian — consistently challenging the assumption that rational, functional messaging is more effective than irrational, surprising, emotionally resonant work. His TED talks and conference appearances throughout the review period continued to make the case for creativity and psychological insight over data-driven optimisation alone. A genuinely important and original voice.

 

7. Jay Baer

Based in Bloomington, Indiana, USA

Founder of Convince & Convert and author of six bestselling books, most recently The Time to Win — his post-pandemic framework for why speed of response has become the primary competitive advantage in customer experience and marketing. Throughout 2025-2026, Baer was among the most active keynote speakers in the marketing community, delivering talks on customer experience, word of mouth, and the speed expectations that AI has supercharged. Active LinkedIn presence throughout the review period, with consistently high-engagement content on brand trust, customer loyalty, and the business case for remarkable service. One of the most practically useful voices for brand marketers navigating customer expectations in real time.

 

8. Joe Pulizzi

Based in Cleveland, OH, USA

Founder of the Content Marketing Institute and author of Content Inc. and Killing Marketing — two of the most strategically important books on the shift from campaign-based to owned-media-based marketing. Throughout 2025, Pulizzi continued to build his The Tilt newsletter and community for content entrepreneurs — a growing space as more marketers transition from agency or brand roles to building independent media businesses. His work addresses a fundamental question that AI has made urgent: if AI can produce unlimited content, what is the strategic value of a content strategy? His framework for audience ownership, monetisation, and the distinction between content marketing and content for content's sake remains essential.

 

9. Rand Fishkin

Based in Seattle, Washington, USA

Co-founder of Moz and founder of SparkToro — the audience intelligence platform that answers the question "what does my target audience read, watch, listen to, and follow?" throughout the review period. Fishkin's writing and research on the transformation of search — including Google's shift to AI-generated answers, zero-click searches, and what this means for content and SEO strategy — was among the most cited in the marketing community throughout 2025. His SparkToro newsletter and his forthright, data-backed commentary on how platforms like Google are fundamentally changing the marketing landscape makes him one of the most important strategic voices for digital marketers navigating a radically shifting environment.

 

10. Jonah Berger

Based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Professor at the Wharton School and author of Contagious — still one of the most widely referenced books in marketing, explaining the science of why things go viral — and his more recent Magic Words: What to Say to Get What You Want, published in 2023 and actively circulating throughout 2025. Berger's research on word of mouth, social transmission, and the psychology of influence continues to be cited by brand strategists globally. His accessible translation of behavioural science into practical marketing frameworks gives him a relevance that purely tactical voices lack. Active speaker and media presence throughout the review period.

 

11. Emily Heyward

Based in Brooklyn, NY, USA

Co-founder and Chief Brand Officer of Red Antler — the brand strategy and design firm behind Casper, Hinge, Allbirds, and dozens of other of the most commercially successful new consumer brands of the past decade. Author of Obsessed: Building a Brand People Love from Day One — still the most practically useful book on brand-building for founders and early-stage companies. Throughout 2025, Heyward and Red Antler continued their work at the intersection of brand strategy and startup growth, maintaining their position as the most influential practitioner voice on how new brands establish identity, purpose, and emotional resonance in competitive markets. Her work answers questions that abstract brand theory doesn't.

 

12. Melissa Rosenthal

Based in San Diego, CA, USA

Co-Founder at Outlever and one of the most credible practitioner voices on creative strategy and brand storytelling at scale. A former executive at BuzzFeed and ClickUp, Rosenthal brings a rare combination of editorial sensibility and commercial rigour to brand creative questions — and her LinkedIn content throughout 2025 consistently generated high engagement on the intersection of creative quality, AI tools, and the brand storytelling decisions that actually drive growth. One of the most practically useful and authentically active voices on the future of creative marketing in an AI-augmented world.

 

13. Rohit Bhargava

Based in Washington DC, USA

Author of the Non-Obvious Megatrends series — an annual trend forecasting publication that has now run for over a decade — and one of the most consistent voices on what marketers need to understand about the cultural and consumer shifts shaping their profession. Throughout 2025-2026, his trend research and speaking work continued to provide the strategic context that marketing leaders need to set direction, not just optimise execution. Founder of the Non-Obvious Company and a sought-after keynote speaker on marketing, brand, and the future of business. One of the most reliably useful annual publications in the space.

 

14. Kieran Flanagan

Based in Ireland

Co-host of the Marketing Against the Grain podcast — one of the most listened-to marketing podcasts globally — and a thought leader on marketing strategy, growth, and the AI transformation of marketing functions. Flanagan, as former VP of Marketing at HubSpot and now entrepreneur, continued active output throughout the review period on how AI is changing not just marketing tactics but marketing team structure and strategy itself. The podcast's combination of practical framework and contrarian debate on conventional marketing wisdom made it one of the most cited sources for senior marketing leaders in 2025-2026.

 

15. Amanda Natividad

Based in Los Angeles, CA, USA

VP of Marketing at SparkToro and one of the most practically influential voices on zero-click content strategy — the idea that most marketing content is designed for clicks that increasingly never come, and that successful marketers in the AI era need to build value into the content itself rather than as a lure toward a destination. Her writing and LinkedIn content throughout 2025 was among the most shared and cited by growth-focused marketers grappling with how AI and platform algorithm changes are fundamentally restructuring digital distribution. An increasingly important strategic voice for a profession trying to navigate a post-SEO world.

 

16. Katelyn Bourgoin

Based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Founder of Customer Camp and creator of the Why We Buy newsletter — covering the psychology and behavioural science behind consumer decisions with consistent practical application for marketers. With 80,000+ Twitter followers including marketing leaders from Target, Holiday Inn, and major consumer brands, Bourgoin's work throughout 2025 continued to translate buyer psychology research into immediately usable marketing frameworks. One of the most rigorous and educational voices on why customers actually make the decisions they do, and what marketers can do with that understanding.

 

17. Marcus Sheridan

Based in Heathsville, VA, USA

Author of They Ask, You Answer — one of the most practically transformative books for B2B marketers, built around his experience of turning a struggling swimming pool company into one of the most visited websites in the industry by simply answering every question their customers asked. Throughout 2025, Sheridan continued building IMPACT — a B2B sales and marketing training company — and his writing and speaking on content strategy, trust-building, and the primacy of customer questions over brand messaging continued to resonate with practitioners. His videoselling framework in particular gained traction as video becomes the default format for brand and demand generation.

 

18. Andrew Davis

Based in Boca Raton, FL, USA

Author of Brandscaping and Town Inc., and one of the most engaging keynote speakers in the marketing world — known for his research on the intersection of brand, content, and community. Throughout 2025-2026, Davis continued his keynote work on the economics of attention, why brands that build genuine audience communities outperform those that rely on advertising alone, and the practical implications of shrinking organic reach for content marketers. His content on how marketers can survive the transition from a platform-dominated to an AI-dominated distribution environment is increasingly relevant and increasingly cited.

 

19. Tiffani Bova

Based in Los Angeles, CA, USA

Chief Strategy Research Officer at the Futurum Group and author of Growth IQ — a framework for understanding the ten paths to growth and why most companies default to the wrong ones. Throughout 2025, Bova was one of the most active keynote speakers in the marketing and growth strategy space, appearing at major brand and sales conferences with data-backed frameworks on how companies can identify their optimal growth path in an AI-augmented, post-pandemic market. Her combination of practitioner credibility (Salesforce) and accessible strategic thinking makes her one of the most trusted voices on growth marketing strategy.

 

20. David Aaker

Based in San Francisco, CA, USA

Professor Emeritus at the Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley, and the world's most cited academic on brand strategy — the creator of the Brand Equity model and Brand Identity framework that remains the foundational operating system for how large organisations think about and manage their brands. Author of over 20 books. Throughout 2025, Aaker remained active via his newsletter, LinkedIn content, and speaking engagements, publishing timely analysis on brand relevance, brand architecture, and the challenge of maintaining brand equity in an AI-saturated media environment. The academic whose work underpins what most CMOs actually do, still actively contributing in his eighties.

 

21. Tyrona Heath

Based in New York City, NY, USA

Director of Market Engagement at LinkedIn's B2B Institute and one of the most important voices on how B2B brands should think about brand building, long-term marketing investment, and the evidence base for brand strategy decisions. Throughout 2025, Heath's work at LinkedIn's B2B Institute produced some of the most cited original research in the B2B marketing community — including data on the 95/5 rule (that 95% of your potential buyers are not currently in market, and what that means for brand strategy), the long and short of it applied to B2B contexts, and the business case for fame-building marketing over pure performance. A rigorous, evidence-based practitioner voice in a profession that too often conflates activity with strategy.

 

22. Steph Hay

Based in New York, NY, USA

A rising voice on the future of content strategy and brand communication in the age of conversational AI — bringing a UX and human-centred design perspective to questions that most marketing voices approach from a purely strategic or data angle. Throughout 2025, Hay's work with Google on how brand voice, content structure, and conversation design interact in an era where AI is doing more and more of the communication continued to gain traction among senior marketing leaders trying to maintain brand distinctiveness in automated environments. One of the more original and underappreciated thinkers in the space.

 

23. Phil Barden

Based in St Albans, UK

Author of Decoded: The Science Behind Why We Buy and one of the most forensic translators of neuroscience and behavioural science into actionable brand strategy. Barden's work applies the latest findings from cognitive neuroscience to questions like how brand codes are processed, why certain visual and verbal elements trigger purchase intent, and how marketers can design brand experiences that work with the brain's actual decision-making processes rather than against them. Throughout 2025, his consultancy and speaking work continued to influence major brand teams globally. One of the most intellectually rigorous voices at the intersection of science and brand practice.

 

24. Dorie Clark

Based in Miami, FL, USA

Thinkers50 top 50, Duke Fuqua adjunct professor, and author of The Long Game — one of the most important books on how professionals and brands build durable reputations over time rather than chasing short-term attention. Throughout 2025, Clark continued active keynoting, writing, and her Getting to Next newsletter, with particular focus on the challenge of maintaining strategic patience in an era that rewards immediacy. Her work sits precisely at the intersection of personal branding, marketing strategy, and the long-term thinking that distinguishes enduring brands from attention-seeking ones. A consistently high-value voice for senior marketers and brand leaders.

 

25. Bozoma Saint John

Based in Beverly Hills, LA, USA

One of the most high-profile CMO voices in the world — formerly EVP at Netflix, CMO at Endeavor, Apple Music, and Uber — and author of The Urgent Life. Throughout 2025, Saint John remained one of the most sought-after keynote speakers on brand, culture, and the intersection of marketing and identity. A Hall of Fame inducted Marketing Executive, her combination of elite brand experience and willingness to speak honestly about the human dimensions of marketing leadership — including race, gender, and authenticity — makes her one of the most distinctive and influential voices in the global marketing community. Her reach and credibility extend well beyond the marketing profession into mainstream culture.

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Congratulations to All 25 Honourees

 

Think a Marketing or Brand Strategy professional belongs on next year's list? 

 

Nominations for the 2027 Industry Leaders Top 25 can be made here https://www.theindustryleaders.org/nominate

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Selections are made at the sole editorial discretion of The Industry Leaders based on publicly available information. Inclusion or exclusion does not constitute an endorsement, and positions within the list do not reflect a definitive ranking of merit.