ANA Brand Leadership Council
The ANA Brand Leadership Council is an invitation‑only group of senior brand leaders convened to help shape the future of brand leadership, brand experience, and brand value. Serving as trusted advisors, Council members provide strategic guidance that informs both the direction of the ANA Brand Practice and the broader marketing industry.
Through candid peer‑level engagement, the Council helps advance the profession by bringing clarity to emerging issues, elevating evidence‑based decision‑making, and defining the skills and capabilities required of tomorrow’s marketers. Its work enables ANA members — and the industry at large — to move from debate to definition, from intuition to evidence, and from activity to measurable impact.
The ANA Brand Leadership Council is overseen by the following ANA staff:
Why It Matters
Marketing is at an inflection point. Brand leaders are expected to drive growth, demonstrate measurable business impact, and create enduring value — all while managing increasing complexity across technology, culture, customer experience, and accountability.
Yet the industry lacks a shared, modern definition of what effective brand leadership looks like today, or the capabilities marketers must develop to lead tomorrow. Brand building is too often separated from performance, creativity from measurement, and cultural relevance from commercial outcomes. This fragmentation has created a credibility gap that limits marketing’s influence within the enterprise and obscures the true value of brand as a strategic growth driver.
Closing this gap requires greater clarity, stronger evidence, and closer alignment between brand, business outcomes, and long‑term growth. Without clearer standards for modern brand leadership and more credible approaches to measuring brand value, marketers will continue to struggle to demonstrate impact, earn executive confidence, and position brand as essential to trust, loyalty, and sustainable success.
Areas of Focus
- Brand Value: Positioning brand as a measurable driver of business value
- Creativity: Advancing creativity as a source of differentiation and growth
- Brand and Culture: Aligning brands with cultural relevance and societal impact
- Brand Marketing and AI: Leveraging AI to enhance brand strategy, execution, and measurement
- Brand Experience: Designing cohesive, customer‑centered brand experiences
- Brand Equity: Building, measuring, and sustaining long‑term brand equity
- Brand Design: Strengthening brand identity through design and visual systems
Interested in Joining?
If your brand is an ANA member and interested in joining the ANA Brand Leadership Council, we welcome your participation. Council membership is open to the senior‑most leader or department head responsible for brand marketing at ANA member brands.
Participation delivers meaningful enterprise‑level value. By placing a senior brand leader at the table, organizations gain early access to — and influence over — how modern brand leadership is being defined, measured, and operationalized across the industry.
Council members receive early visibility into forward‑looking frameworks, research, and measurement approaches, enabling faster adoption of best practices and better anticipation of shifts in brand strategy, customer experience, and growth. Participation also strengthens marketing’s internal credibility by providing clearer language and evidence to articulate the business value of brand, driving stronger alignment with executive leadership and long‑term investment confidence.
To learn more or get involved, please contact the ANA Brand Practice.