NEW YORK — The Holmes Report today launches the Influence 100 2019, which identifies, profiles and surveys the 100 most influential chief communications officers and chief marketing officers of leading brands around the world.

Now in its eighth year, the Influence 100 showcases the in-house communicators and marketers who have the most clout, in terms of their personal voice, their senior counsel to powerful CEOs, the status of the companies they work for, their budgets, and the agency hiring decisions they make. The 2019 report is sponsored by Lippe Taylor, PAN and Zignal Labs.

In this first tranche of research, the report profiles all 100 influencers, including Q&A interviews. It also provides insights into the demographics: their backgrounds, educations, early years, careers and the sectors they work in, from FMCG, finance/fintech, industry and healthcare, to entertainment, social media and technology.

For the first time, the list is close to being gender-balanced, with 48% women and 52% men – a 9% rise in the proportion of women on the list.

In terms of geography, this year 58% of the influencers are from North America, 31% come from EMEA, and 10% are from Asia-Pacific – a similar breakdown to 2018’s listing. 

A second section of insights, to be released in the coming days, will look at budgets, organisational structures, and how agencies are hired. This will be followed by more in-depth qualitative research into the challenges and opportunities the influencers face, diversity, measurement, and their sources of inspiration – including the companies, agencies and individuals they most admire.

The study will also identify the Crossover Stars – our ‘hall of fame’ of those former CCOs and CMOs who have taken the rare step of moving into a broader management role within their organisation – along with Rising Stars, our annual list of potential CCOs and CMOs of the future.

You can find the Influence 100 Profiles here, along with research into their backgrounds and demographics here.