August and September have seen a major exodus of CMOs worldwide, and Asia is no exception. The CMO musical chairs are spinning faster than ever, with 56 new appointments announced globally in September alone.

So, instead of featuring newly appointed CMOs this week, we’re turning our attention to a few empty seats in Asia Pacific for those who might fancy a shot at landing a CMO gig.

And a little encouragement for aspiring CMOs: boards are more open-minded than you might think. You don’t necessarily need to have held a C-title before to be considered. First-timers are very much in the running, although deep category experience is almost always a must.

Now, let’s take a closer look at three opportunities: Audi China, CommBank and West HQ. What would you inherit? What could you change? And perhaps more importantly, would you actually want the seat?

I first worked with Alex Blackie around 2008 or 2009, DJing for his team, The Syndicate, at Beijing’s 798 and White Rabbit. IYKYK. Drum and Bass, executed loudly to a local audience hungry for something that could move them and blast their ears and musical palette to bits with growling bass and rolling snares. Alex was resourceful, well connected, organized and already knew how to get things done in China.

Nearly two decades later, he is Audi China’s interim head of brand and marketing. Rahul Ahuja has left after three years, with Alex stepping in to cover the role.

Would you want this job?

Like a lot of foreign brands right now, Audi is trying to give Chinese buyers new reasons to choose it. Chinese buyers, like the audiences in 2009 in Beijing consuming our raw dance beats need more than loudness – they need a reason to show up and dance.

The stakes of the Audi CMO assignment show up in its own figures: deliveries in China, including Hong Kong, fell from 287,600 in the first half of 2025 to 232,227 in the first half of 2026. Down roughly 19%.

Things are afoot at a brand architecture level. China now has Audi and AUDI.

The familiar four-ring brand sells combustion and electric cars. The newer (all Caps) AUDI brand, developed with SAIC, uses four letters instead of four rings and focuses on connected electric vehicles for Chinese buyers. Its first production model, the E5 Sportback, launched in September 2025. The E7X SUV followed its public debut in April this year. Meanwhile, Audi continues developing its other local product range with FAW.

I reckon a separate brand gives Audi room to develop a different offering for customers who feel the global range doesn't give them enough of what they want. It also creates another job for marketing: explaining what each version of Audi stands for, and why a buyer should choose it.

Capital letters can only do so much.

Chinese manufacturers are pushing into premium cars with technology and ease of use at prices that challenge the established luxury brands. That puts pressure on the substance of the premium. A German badge needs to earn its place in the comparison.

Audi’s China strategy includes local development of digital services, in-car systems and driver assistance. Something concrete to demonstrate.

Alex has already helped bring the newer brand to the public. His posts from its launch describe the sequence of events leading into the Guangzhou motor show. He knows the business, the team, machinery and ‘riddim’ behind the launch.

The question that interests me is how much authority truly lives inside marketing. With HQ and two local partners involved, customer feedback has several places to go. Someone needs to turn what buyers say into decisions the business can act on, including when the complaint concerns the product, the price or the buying experience.

A large budget and a famous logo tell you nothing about how quickly you can make a decision in a structure like this. Reporting lines, relationships, and the freedom to respond locally can determine how much of the brief you can really deliver.

If Taligence had been retained for this CMO search, who would we hire? Probably Alex. Institutional knowledge is a major advantage here. He knows how decisions get made and is a master at brand activation.

The Alex I worked with understood his surroundings and could organise people to make something happen. He knew how to pivot after the bass drop, too. I’d back his resourcefulness here. The question is how much room Audi gives him to use it. Can I get a re-wind!?

How much do you love your bank? Enough to leave money on the table?

That is a question I’d put to anyone hoping to succeed Jo Boundy at CommBank. She leaves the CMO in November after 4.5 years, moving to Journey Beyond as managing director, resorts and lodges. The former Qantas CMO is returning to travel, with responsibility extending beyond marketing. A move worth watching for anyone wondering where the CMO ladder goes beyond the marketing clouds.

Jo leaves plenty for her successor to work with. A new creative agency in Howatson+Company, an Olympic partnership stretching towards Brisbane 2032, and a customer recognition program operating at enormous scale.

In November 2023, CommBank said Yello was expanding to more than eight million customers, providing around $400 million in annual value. A big investment in giving people reasons to keep banking with you.

And there’s a fine line between what banks call loyalty and just ‘paperwork’.

Moving accounts is a PITA. Comparing rates is boring. Tracking promotional rate expirations are only for the deeply committed.  A familiar app and a salary arriving every month is probably all most people need.

But what happens if an LLM starts doing more of that work for the customer?

Recent financial commentary has explored how AI agents could compare offers and move spare cash into higher-paying accounts, putting pressure on the cheap deposits banks rely on. So banks have reasons to be more worried than say, a hotel, as the economics are much different because the stays are longer.

If your customer’s assistant finds a better home for their savings, what persuades them to leave the money with you?

A cashback offer might help. So might excellent service, confidence in the bank, or tools that make managing money easier. But the combined value has to stand up to comparison. You cannot expect a warm feeling about the Matildas to cover every gap in the interest rate.

This is where next CMO job gets interesting. Changing the underlying offer requires colleagues in product, pricing, technology and service. So how much real product influence sits with them?

The agency relationship will also require judgment. Howatson+Company won the account in June. A new CMO arrives while that partnership is still finding its form, alongside the bank’s internal capabilities. Whoever takes the job has to give good work a chance.

If Taligence had this search, I’d look closely at leaders from banking, loyalty businesses, telcos and large consumer services. Show me someone who has persuaded existing customers to stay, use more of the service and become more profitable. Then show me how they know their work caused the improvement.

An internal candidate could be compelling and would reflect well on Jo. Knowing where a good idea gets stuck, and having enough credibility to get it moving can save a lot of time and energy.

My final interview question would be fairly simple: which customers stay because we give them a good deal, and which stay because leaving is a pain?

I’d want a CMO who was curious enough to find out, and willing to act on an uncomfortable answer.

Fancy selling concert tickets, hotel stays and children’s swimming lessons to the same household? West HQ is hiring a CMO.

For readers outside Australia, West HQ is an entertainment, hospitality and fitness precinct in Rooty Hill, Western Sydney, built around the former Rooty Hill RSL club.

ROOTY HILL might be the most Australian-sounding place name ever.

RSL stands for Returned and Services League. If that conjures a veterans’ hall with a bar, you’ll need a bigger mental picture.

West HQ owns and runs the 2,000-seat Sydney Coliseum Theatre, which has hosted Keith Urban, Tina Arena, The Australian Ballet and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. There’s a Novotel hotel, restaurants, ONE55 Health & Fitness and an Olympic-standard gymnastics and aquatic centre serving elite athletes and local families.

Plenty to sell. Plenty of potential for everyone to want their campaign prioritized. Stakeholder spaghetti, then.

The CMO reports to the CEO, sits on the executive leadership team and leads marketing, brand, customer and communications across the portfolio. This is not the first CMO hire. Former CMO Michaela Chan’s remit was destination-wide, and she now works through her fractional CMO consultancy, eMCe².

The advert opens with: “Some CMO roles come with a brand. This one comes with a destination.” So profound. The line I’d underline comes further down: oversight of the fitness portfolio, with a strong focus on membership acquisition, sales and revenue growth.

Does “oversight” mean running those businesses, managing their sales teams, or carrying a revenue target while someone else controls the experience? The murk of marketing is the confession here; because those are quite different jobs.

We noticed a team in place. Public profiles show a group marketing manager with six years of senior marketing experience at IKEA, a digital lead with hospitality experience at Solotel and Keystone, a MarTech specialist and executives covering the venues and services. So the incoming leader has something to build on.

The customer challenge is easy to picture. Someone coming every week for swimming lessons has a different relationship with West HQ from someone visiting once to see a favourite musician. Being on the same site creates opportunities to connect those visits. It doesn’t mean everyone wants a message about everything.

Can you make dinner before a show easy to book? Give a visiting family a reason to stay overnight? Turn a first fitness visit into a habit? Each question requires colleagues to agree on how things might or should work.

“One destination” sounds lovely until the booking systems conflict.

The JD gets credit for asking the CMO to know when to build the brand, when to fill the funnel and when to challenge the business. That last part deserves poking in the interview. If customers abandon a booking because the process is painful, can this person get it fixed? If a promotion fills a venue but makes little money, can they stop it?

Marketing cannot keep the fries hot.

Candidates should also understand the gaming side of the setting. The advert foregrounds entertainment, hospitality, fitness and community; West HQ’s website also identifies its responsible-gaming commitments. With corporate communications and difficult public conversations in the remit, I’d ask how gaming fits into the wider destination strategy.

Taligence would look at marketers from integrated resorts, attractions, hotel groups, leisure businesses and membership organisations. I’d be hunting for someone who has worked closely with operators, grown repeat business and knows the game of stakeholder prioritization cold.

If I were a candidate - I’d want the budget, reporting structure, precise fitness responsibilities and….salary. None is clarified in the advert. We just gave you more intel on the team than they did. The portfolio is broad enough to make this an appealing move, IF the decision rights exist.

Don’t forget to share this with aspiring or job-curious CMOs in your network. The more you share, the more we grow and the better our writing gets.

In a show of gratitude for you being an early CMO Ladder Asia reader, here’s a spreadsheet containing more open roles than the ones we talked about today.