Whether it’s taking advantage of a cultural moment to insert their brand into the conversation, innovating beyond competitors in the metaverse, or using sales gains from the pandemic to position their company for future success, the trendiest brands in America are getting buzz.
Ad Age’s annual list of America’s Hottest Brands takes a look at which brands have risen to the top and why. On July 12, join Ad Age as we talk to some of the executives behind these brands to find out about their strategies for success, and take a look at what’s ahead for them in 2022.
Cashing in on social media
Going viral is a marketer’s dream, but how can a brand get there? These brands open up their playbooks and talk about how they used social media and savvy marketing to grow their businesses. One decades-old beauty brand recently re-established itself as a go-to for younger generations, thanks to TikTok, for example.
For more information, please email aaevents@adage.com.
To inquire about available sponsorship opportunities, email aasales@adage.com.
Gabe joined Viral Nation in 2017, and works within the internal Business Development team. Prior to Viral Nation, he owned an influencer MCN (multi-channel network) and managed the activations for a network of over 5,000 influencers cross-platform.Gabe specializes in developing meaningful creative strategies and content distribution plans for startup and Fortune 500 brands including ViewSonic, Activision Blizzard, Monster Energy, Canon, Coca-Cola, Walmart, and Logitech.
About Company X description goes here
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Praesent massa nisi, semper at tincidunt at, hendrerit ac magna. Praesent diam lectus, laoreet a rhoncus sagittis, ultrices eu lorem. Nulla sed urna vel urna aliquet varius. Orci varius natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia curae; Aliquam id tellus blandit urna maximus hendrerit. Proin pharetra ipsum velit, a sagittis libero pellentesque ac. Class aptent taciti sociosqu ad litora torquent per conubia nostra, per inceptos himenaeos. Fusce ac nisl eget risus cursus vehicula. Morbi pharetra, mauris nec mattis pulvinar, ligula sapien mollis lacus, non ullamcorper nibh quam ac metus. Vivamus erat turpis, tempus blandit lacus in, dictum pulvinar eros. Duis vitae commodo elit. Phasellus tristique leo in nunc facilisis luctus. Nunc non ipsum turpis.
Sameer Agarwal is the VP of Marketing for Clinique North America. He leads a 45+ person team and $150MM+ budget across consumer engagement, product marketing, promotions and creative development for the $1.2B Clinique brand. Under his leadership Clinique has returned to sales and share growth across key product segments through new media strategies, clear portfolio choices and more efficient promotional programs. He has been a champion of multi-cultural marketing, media channels expansion and data driven decision making.
Before joining the Estee Lauder Companies, Sameer was Vice President, Customer Solutions Strategy at MetLife, where he was responsible for identifying and enabling the creation of value driving, differentiated customer solutions globally.
Prior to that, Sameer held multiple roles in marketing strategy at Johnson & Johnson. In his role as Senior Marketing Director he was responsible for leading equity, innovation, and communication strategy for the Neutrogena brand across 60 markets globally.
Sameer started his brand management career at General Mills where he worked on iconic brands such as Progresso Soup, Nature Valley and Yoplait Yogurt.
Sameer received his MBA from the Ross School of Business. He lives in New Jersey with his wife and 10 year old daughter.
Norma Delaney is the Vice President, Global Brand Marketing at HOKA, part of the Performance Lifestyle Group at Deckers Brands. She initially joined HOKA in 2017 as a strategic brand consultant, collaborating with the HOKA team on its way to becoming one of the fastest-growing performance footwear brands in history.
Norma is responsible for strategic leadership of the HOKA global brand marketing organization, ensuring clear positioning, messaging and integrated programming across the rapidly changing digital landscape. Norma brings a consumer-centric approach to brand building, driven by curiosity, informed by insights and ensuring that the brand can surprise and delight the consumer throughout their journey. A true believer in the power of great ideas to change culture and build brands, Norma focuses on harnessing the passion of the HOKA fanbase and unleashing the power of the brand as it reaches new consumers, expands into new categories and enters new markets. With a strategic focus and creative vision, Norma will ensure that HOKA continues on its path of explosive growth and insatiable consumer demand.
A champion of passion brands, Norma brings over 20 years of industry experience holding various leadership roles in the active lifestyle and performance footwear and apparel categories. At New Balance, she notably launched and served as Global Head of Marketing for NB Women: a cross-category, multi-platform marketing effort that contributed significantly to New Balance’s expansion from $1.5 billion to $4 billion in annual global revenue. Prior to joining Deckers, Norma also held positions with global passion brands such as Burton, Rockport, Prince Tennis, W.L. Gore, Sperry and Keds. Throughout these roles, Norma developed a proven track record driving OmniChannel growth through her understanding of brand-building and conversion-driving strategies that will be of significant importance as the HOKA brand scales its DTC footprint.
Norma graduated from Colby College with a degree in English and Sociology, and went on to earn her Masters of Business Administration from Boston College, with a concentration in marketing. She credits her years as a student-athlete playing tennis and squash for her competitive spirit, leadership skills and love of teamwork. When she’s not helping consumers fall in love with brands, Norma cherishes spending time with her twin daughters, husband and loyal four-legged friends. To stay energized and focused, Norma enjoys a sweaty workout, sunny day at the beach or getting lost in a book.
Gabe joined Viral Nation in 2017, and works within the internal Business Development team. Prior to Viral Nation, he owned an influencer MCN (multi-channel network) and managed the activations for a network of over 5,000 influencers cross-platform.Gabe specializes in developing meaningful creative strategies and content distribution plans for startup and Fortune 500 brands including ViewSonic, Activision Blizzard, Monster Energy, Canon, Coca-Cola, Walmart, and Logitech.
As the Chief Business Development Officer at Viral Nation, Emma is responsible for driving business growth through identifying new clients and customizing strategic approaches for their success. Throughout her tenure at Viral Nation, Emma has built a reputation for strategies that inspire virality across creative, influencer, performance media, social, and experiential campaigns.
With an extensive consumer goods background, John Fieldly, is a results-driven executive with over 20 years of broad financial and operational experience. In April of 2018, Fieldly was named Celsius Holdings Inc.’s CEO. Prior to that, he served as the company’s CFO since 2012. Since beginning his accelerated career at Celsius, John has demonstrated a proven track record of driving robust business results and shareholder value. In his current role as CEO, Fieldly uses his strong background in financial leadership and operational expertise to focus on to maximize resources to drive revenue, corporate efficiencies, and shareholder value.
Fieldly began his career in retail within the food/drug/mass (FDM) channel through various leadership roles with the Eckerd Corporation. His work included sales training, merchandising, impulse sales strategy and quality control. Fieldly supported the acquisition to CVS in 2004. At the time, Eckerd had more than 2,800 stores nationwide.
Between 2004 and 2012—and prior to joining Celsius Holdings Inc.—Fieldly held a leadership role at Lebhar-Friedman, where he was responsible for business planning, financial reporting, and overseeing financial operations. He also worked for Oragenics, Inc. (OGEN), where he was responsible for all their finance functions, including financial planning, public reporting requirements and optimizing operational efficiencies and implementing procurement strategies to maximize operations.
Mr. Fieldly is a Certified Public Accountant in Florida and a graduate of University of South Florida, where he earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting. Married with two children, John and his family reside in Boca Raton, FL.
Julian Holguin is a partner and CEO of Doodles. Formerly Holguin was known as the president of Billboard where he led the strategic growth and innovation efforts at Billboard. He was responsible for transforming the brand from a B2B music trade magazine to an international multi-platform experience for fans. Having over 14 years of professional experience as a media and entertainment executive, he has had several leadership roles in companies such as MRC Studios, Dick Clark Productions, and NBC Universal.
In his new position at Doodles, while working alongside the founders, Julian is committed to helping to transform the Doodles brand into the next era as a leading web3 entertainment and lifestyle consumer brand.
Manu Orssaud joined Duolingo in September 2020, initially focusing on growing the brand and business across international markets. Manu was appointed as Global Head of Marketing in June 2022. Prior to this, Manu worked at Spotify leading Global Marketing Strategy for the music technology company, and was responsible for the award-winning Wrapped annual campaign. Manu also spent 9 years at Sony PlayStation developing the digital marketing function across EMEA for the global entertainment brand.
Luis Velasco is the Senior Vice President of Marketing of the Jollibee Group, responsible for overall brand and business development, and restaurant sales and profit growth of the Jollibee, Red Ribbon and Chowking businesses in North America—brands that originated from the Philippines but have grown aggressively in the U.S. and Canada.
He is an accomplished sales and marketing professional with an MBA degree and extensive global restaurant experience. He was recently awarded the Outstanding Achievement in Overseas Marketing by the Agora Awards, considered the beacon of marketing excellence in the Philippines that spotlight admirable qualities of innovativeness, ingenuity, excellence and great work. He drives sustainable brand and business results through brand and product development, cut-through digital marketing and memorable mainline marketing communications.
He has spent over twenty years with the Jollibee Group, one of the fastest-growing restaurant companies in the world operating in 34 countries with over 6,200 restaurants globally.
Adrianne Pasquarelli is a senior reporter at Ad Age, covering marketing in retail and finance, as well as in travel and health care. She is also a host of the Marketer’s Brief podcast and spearheads special reports including 40 Under 40 and Hottest Brands. Pasquarelli joined Ad Age in 2015 after writing for Crain's New York Business, where she also focused on the retail industry.
E.J. Schultz is the News Editor for Ad Age, overseeing breaking news and daily coverage. He also contributes reporting on the beverage, automotive and sports marketing industries. He is a former reporter for McClatchy newspapers, including the Fresno Bee, where he covered business and state government and politics.
John Dioso has been the Editor of Ad Age Studio 30, the creative content arm of Ad Age, since August 2018. Built on the same bedrock of journalistic integrity, Ad Age Studio 30 specializes in multichannel membership content for Ad Age subscribers, as well as custom and sponsored content that resonates with its audience.
During his career, Dioso has overseen some of the most popular and celebrated media brands in the world, including Cosmopolitan, Rolling Stone, Glamour, Martha Stewart Living and Us Weekly. As Executive Managing Editor of Cosmopolitan, his management of the editorial team helped lead the magazine to the first National Magazine Award in its history.
Before that, Dioso was the longtime Deputy Managing Editor of Rolling Stone. During his tenure, Rolling Stone won numerous awards, including the 2007 National Magazine Award for General Excellence. In 2010, he edited Rolling Stone’’s best-selling special issue “The Beatles: 100 Greatest Songs.”
Dioso lives in Brooklyn with his wife, cat, and way too many guitars. They have three daughters.
Natalie Zfat is a social media entrepreneur and Ad Age Contributing Editor who has partnered with some of the most iconic brands in the world, including Facebook, Samsung, LinkedIn and American Express. Zfat's beloved social media community of 150K+ followers are dreamers, doers and entrepreneurs, from college students to CEOs.