LONDON — PRovoke Media today launches the Influence 100 for 2021, which identifies, profiles and surveys the 100 most influential chief communications officers and chief marketing officers of leading brands and companies around the world.

Now in its 10th year, the Influence 100 showcases the in-house communicators and marketers who have the most clout, in terms of their personal voice, their senior counsel to powerful CEOs, the status of the companies they work for, their budgets, and the agency hiring decisions they make.

In this first tranche of research, the report profiles all 100 influencers, and looks at their backgrounds, education and the sectors they work in, from FMCG, finance and healthcare, to entertainment, social media and technology.

We’ve also interviewed 40 of this year’s cohort on their hopes and fears for the communications industry in the second year of the Covid-19 pandemic – and how they are keeping inspired and well - their Q&As are featured on their individual profile pages.

For the second year running, the list is not only gender-balanced, but has more women than men, with 55% women and 44% men.

In terms of geography, this year 57% of the influencers are from North America, 29% come from EMEA, 14% are from Asia-Pacific and 2% are from Latin America. And we looked at ethnic diversity for the second time: this year, the list is 30% people of colour, and 10% Black.

Three further waves of insights, to be released in the coming days, will look at budgets, organisational structures, relationships with agencies and diversity, and qualitative research into future challenges for the CCO and CMO roles.

The research will also reveal who our influencers think are the best and worst communicators among the world’s leaders, which companies and brands have done the best and worst job of managing their reputations over the past year, and the PR agencies they admire the most.

The Influence 100 report will also identify the Crossover Stars – our ‘hall of fame’ of those former CCOs and CMOs who have taken the rare step of moving into a broader management role within their organisation, along with Rising Stars, our annual list of potential CCOs and CMOs of the future.

You can find the Influence 100 Profiles here, along with research into their backgrounds and demographics here.