Most marketing leaders get involved after a product is built. SharkNinja Chief Brand and Experience Officer Michelle Crossan-Matos says her role exists because that's too late—she now oversees creative, marketing and customer experience under one roof, with her team co-creating alongside engineers and product teams from the earliest stages of development.

The reasoning is growth, not just structure: Crossan-Matos says double-digit quarterly growth only comes from focusing on the full consumer experience, which is why one person now owns every touch point rather than splitting it across departments.

Crossan-Matos also details the AI Jailbreak Hack Week that produced an internally built tool for predicting which product features will drive sales and five-star ratings—part of how her team stays involved upstream in product development, not just downstream in marketing it.

Dig deeper

~How SharkNinja became a viral marketing machine—and what new hires from Ikea and Ulta Beauty signify

~How Claire's reorganized to meet Gen Alpha demand—starting with squishy hunting for viral NeeDohs

~Raja Rajamannar on why CMOs must become enterprise growth leaders

~The Ad Age CMO Survival Guide

~What CMOs should do in their first 100 days on the job

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