Donald Trump, Marketing Influencer In Chief

Forbes

3 days ago

Last week, Forbes released its 10th annual list of the 50 Most Influential CMOs. But the person who Forbes' Seth Matlins named the Unofficial No. 1 marketing influencer of the year has more sway than all 50 honorees put together: President Donald Trump.
Trump did not receive this somewhat dubious honor because he is a marketing machine—though the president's personal branding is arguably his most consistently successful venture of nearly a half-century in the spotlight. Trump has always made his name and image synonymous with wealth, business aptitude and power, even when the facts didn't back that image up. Instead, this honor was given to Trump because of the way he's run the country during his second term in the Oval Office. As Matlins put it, Trump is the Unofficial No. 1 'for his outsized influence on global uncertainty, its near and long-term consequences, and thus on what CMOs and the brands and companies they help steward do and don't next.'
Marketing is difficult even in the best of times. Figuring out the right ideas, strategies, messages and methods for reaching your targeted customers is far from simple. But when global policy seems to shift daily, with new tariffs, program cuts and military actions being announced on social media at all hours of the day and roiling the business and economic landscape, it's much harder for marketers to deliver a consistent message—and for companies to make any solid plans. How can marketers be counted on to deliver growth when the economic picture changes every day?
Meanwhile, Trump is doing more to push his brand from the White House. A wealth of merchandise featuring the president's name and image is available on an official e-commerce website. $TRUMP and $MELANIA are both memecoins. Last week, the Trump Mobile cellphone and service were announced. And an LLC owned by Trump filed to trademark the Trump name for a plethora of virtual products and a crypto wallet. But how well the Trump brand fares over the long run is likely directly tied to how well he performs in his job as president. The constant chaos from this term in the White House—and the wild changes it brings to society—may be the one thing that pulls the Trump brand down.
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Using copyrighted materials to train AI counts as fair use, a California federal judge ruled this week. A group of authors sued AI company Anthropic, arguing that the company unlawfully used their copyrighted books without permission to train some of their large language models. But U.S. District Judge William Alsup ruled that using the books to train the AI system counts as a transformative use of the works. 'The technology at issue was among the most transformative many of us will see in our lifetimes,' the order states.
However, the ruling doesn't grant a free pass for AI companies to train their LLMs on copyrighted works, writes Forbes' Rashi Shrivastava. Some of the books in this case were purchased—though sometimes as used paper copies that were then digitized—but others were downloaded from a pirated books website. And this, Alsup wrote, is likely not a fair use under copyright law. The order states there will be a separate trial scheduled on the issue of the pirated books that were used to create Anthropic's central library to determine financial damages. The trial will also look at the paper books that Anthropic purchased after downloading the pirated copies—something the order says will not absolve the company of liability. ATTENTION ECONOMY
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It's well known that President Trump prefers to get his information from television, but his opinion on cable news has been souring. He told reporters this week that the channels all broadcast 'garbage,' especially CNN and MSNBC, which he referred to as 'scum,' writes Forbes senior contributor Mark Joyella. He's never been a fan of those two channels—these latest insults came after they questioned how extensively damaged Iranian nuclear sites were by U.S. bombs—but Trump also has been turning on some of his old favorites. After a Fox News poll found that only a slight majority of people approved of his border security policy, and just over half disapproved of his immigration policy, the president posted on Truth Social that the conservative news station has been biased against him for years, and 'They are always always wrong and negative. It's why MAGA HATES Fox News, even though their anchors are GREAT.'
Trump's recent attitude toward TV news is reflective of that of the rest of the country, though millions are still watching Fox News. The station was the clear leader in viewers tuning in last Saturday night after the announcement about the airstrikes on Iran, writes Joyella. Fox News had an average total audience of 4.938 million viewers during primetime on Saturday. ABC was a distant second, with 2.346 million viewers, and CNN was an even further distant third, with 1.809 million viewers.
Legacy media of all kinds are losing their audience. Forbes senior contributor Andy Meek writes that the Washington Post 's total paid subscribers has dropped down to 97,000—a far lower number than many would expect for a global newsroom that has a history of producing consequential journalism. Five years ago, Meek writes, the Post reported a subscriber base of 250,000. Now, more people are consuming news via podcasts. Meek writes that progressive podcast the MeidasTouch recently crossed 5 million subscribers. SOCIAL MEDIA
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Years ago, former WhatsApp CEO Jan Koum kept a note tacked to his desk that said, 'No Ads! No Games! No Gimmicks.' Meta, which bought the messaging platform in 2014, kept that ethos alive until recently. Now, writes Forbes senior contributor Kate O'Flaherty, WhatsApp has introduced advertising in some areas of the app. Right now, the ads don't disrupt the messaging functions of the app. Businesses can promote themselves in the new 'Updates' section of the app, which can feature promotions aimed at gaining followers for their channels or other subscriber content. They can also advertise through status updates that look like Instagram Stories.
While users' conversations and messages on WhatsApp remain encrypted and private, O'Flaherty writes that adding advertisements raises many privacy concerns. A WhatsApp account can be linked to those on Meta's Facebook and Instagram, meaning that targeting information can flow through all three platforms. There also doesn't seem to be an opt-out option, so WhatsApp users are likely to have more of their data collected now. Jake Moore, a global cybersecurity advisor at ESET, said that users should keep an eye on consent settings and whether they change in the future. DEEP DIVE Introducing the 2025 Forbes World's Most Influential CMOs
From left: Alicia Tillman, CMO Delta; Takeshi Numoto, CMO, Microsoft; Asmita Dubey, Chief Digital & Marketing Officer, L'Oréal Groupe, Chris Davis Global Brand President & CMO, New Balance. ILLUSTRATION BY ORIANA FENWICK FOR FORBES
As the marketing world rapidly changes, there are some CMOs that are setting the pace for what is happening now and what will come in the future. For its 10th annual Most Influential CMOs list, Forbes partnered with Sprinklr to analyze data points to determine who these pacesetters are. The analysis looked at the attention CMOs received for their marketing work; how they drove their brand's attention, sentiment and salience; and how well they pushed brand awareness and sentiment. Forbes' Seth Matlins writes that the honorees 'aren't just influencing what a brand says but shaping how a company thinks, what it does, and when, why, and how often others buy. They aren't just steering creative—they're stewarding growth. They're leading from the center, even if their titles—and/or CEOs and Boards—don't always put them there.'
This year's list puts Netflix CMO Marian Lee at the top for her work in bringing integrated events, like the NFL 'Beyoncé Bowl' and fan-favorite shows like the second season of Squid Game to the streaming platform. Lee has also created marketing events that bring immersive fan experiences to different locations, including the Tudum Netflix fan festival. She topped the list last year as well.
Other top honorees include New Balance CMO Chris Davis, whose success in transforming the company from 'dad shoes' to the choice of elite athletes including Cooper Flagg, Shohei Ohtani and Coco Gauff was featured in a story from Forbes' Justin Birnbaum. L'Oreal Chief Digital and Marketing Officer Asmita Dubey is third on the list. Klarna CMO David Sandström, who talked to Forbes CMO last May about the company's marketing 'AI factory,' and DoorDash CMO Kofi Amoo-Gottried, who talked to Forbes CMO earlier this year about Super Bowl ads, are also in the top 10.
Six CMOs joined the Hall of Fame this year, an honor earned by appearing on the Most Influential list five times. They include Ferrari Chief Marketing and Commercial Officer Enrico Galliera, JPMorganChase CMO Carla Hassan, Apple Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing Greg 'Joz' Joswiak, Meta CMO and VP of Analytics Alex Schultz, Delta CMO Alicia Tillman and Walmart CMO William White. COMINGS + GOINGS Life insurance and retirement savings firm Equitable appointed Greg Boosin as its new chief marketing officer. Boosin most recently worked as executive vice president of global B2B & product marketing at Mastercard, and succeeds Connie Weaver.
appointed as its new chief marketing officer. Boosin most recently worked as executive vice president of global B2B & product marketing at Mastercard, and succeeds Connie Weaver. Data and analytics platform Alteryx hired Michelle Huff as chief marketing officer. Huff joins the firm from UserTesting, and has also worked in leadership at Salesforce and Oracle.
hired as chief marketing officer. Huff joins the firm from UserTesting, and has also worked in leadership at Salesforce and Oracle. Cybersecurity and systems management company Tanium selected Tara Ryan to be its chief marketing officer. Ryan previously worked in the same role at Saviynt, Contrast Security and Incorta. STRATEGIES + ADVICE
Email marketing is an important way to get customers' attention, but it can be difficult to produce something that people will read, can earn their trust and inspire sales. Here are some ChatGPT prompts you can use to come up with the topics and writing style to make your emails more effective.
We all know that it pays to build a personal brand, but how much do you need to do to make it work? Optimal personal content production means something different for everyone. Here are some things to do to find what adds up to yours. QUIZ
An NBA franchise sale announced last week has a record-high valuation of $10 billion. Which team is fetching this price?
A. Los Angeles Lakers
B. Miami Heat
C. Chicago Bulls
D. Golden State Warriors
See if you got the answer right here.