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

How one marketer now owns CX, creative and growth, with SharkNinja's brand chief

Ad Age Marketer's Brief

How one marketer now owns CX, creative and growth, with SharkNinja's brand chief