“Salzman has a brilliant knack for spotting trends before they go mainstream—one commentator dubbed her ‘an octane-fueled, 100-ideas-a-minute bunny.’ In the flesh, Salzman, a charismatic power blonde (think Carrie Bradshaw mixed with Hillary Clinton) … treads the line between high and low culture. One minute, she’s analyzing Middle Eastern politics. (She studied at Brown University where her contemporaries included film director Todd Haynes and novelist Rick Moody. In her book Next, she name-checked Osama bin Laden as a force to be reckoned with.) The next, she’s dishing the dirt on J-Lo …”
Marian Salzman is a global thought leader, trendspotter, and communications pro who has built her career on helping companies and brands anticipate the future and find their sweet spot ahead of the competition. Working with companies as diverse as Nike, Levi Strauss, SAB Miller, Pizza Hut, Reckitt Benckiser, and Estée Lauder, she has shown how emerging trends—from the rise of singletons to conscious consumption and the age of rage—will impact consumption choices, brand strategies, and sociopolitical priorities.
Throughout her career, Marian has existed on the cusp of trends:
- In the early 1990s, when the internet was still considered the domain of geeks and sex freaks, she founded the world’s first cyberconsultancy—holding online focus groups via her startup, American Dialogue (aka Cyberdialogue). She was granted exclusive rights to conduct market research on AOL for a decade and, with her partners, ultimately sold the company to Yankelovich.
- In 2003, Marian introduced the world to a trend she called “metrosexuality”—taking an existing term but turning it on its head to describe straight men who weren’t afraid to embrace their so-called “feminine sides”—as evidenced by their interest in grooming, fashion, and interior design. Her report sparked a global media frenzy, and metrosexual became the American Dialect Society’s Word of the Year.
- In 2012, Marian was a driving force behind #GivingTuesday, working with the United Nations Foundation and New York City’s 92nd Street Y to create an annual event that would offset the gluttony around Black Friday and Cyber Monday. In the years since, the initiative has spread to 85+ countries, raising billions of dollars for community programs.
Marian’s career in communications has included positions at TBWA\Chiat\Day, Y&R, JWT, Porter Novelli, and Euro RSCG (now Havas), including as chief marketing officer and chief strategy officer. She spent nearly a decade as CEO of Havas PR North America and chaired its global PR assets, the PR Collective. There, she reshaped the creative output, creating one of the most buzzed-about boutique agencies in North America and achieving top-five status at top U.S. and global awards shows.
In 2018, Marian moved to Switzerland and took on her greatest challenge to date, heading global communications at Philip Morris International (PMI) as it embarked on its journey to do away with cigarettes and build a smoke-free future. In 2024, she returned to the U.S. as PMI’s SVP & Chief Corporate Citizenship Officer, in which position she will help move America’s estimated 28 million adult smokers away from cigarettes—the most harmful form of nicotine consumption—and guide the company’s civil society and community-based efforts, with a particular focus on supporting military veterans and women’s empowerment.
A sought-after speaker, Marian presents across the globe on topics ranging from branding to consumer and business shifts. She is the author or co-author of 17 books, including Buzz, the first big business book on viral marketing, Agile PR: Expert Messaging in a Hyper-Connected, Always-on World, and her latest book: The New Megatrends: Seeing Clearly in the Age of Disruption (Penguin Random House, 2022).
Among other plaudits, she has been named to the HERoes Executive Role Model List and PRovoke Media’s Influence 100, won a Gold Stevie for Thought Leader of the Year, was PRWeek’s PR Professional of the Year, and has been listed in PRWeek’s Global Power Book. In 2024, Ragan Communications and PR Daily inducted Marian into the Top Women in Communications Hall of Fame. She is also the recipient of the She Runs It Changing the Game Award, has been inducted into the PRWeek Hall of Femme and Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame, and was on the Holmes Report Top Innovators List and on Business Insider’s 25 Most Powerful PR People. Recognized as one of the world’s top trendspotters, Marian releases a highly anticipated annual trends forecast, which Marie Clair has described as a “bible” for the world’s largest companies.
A three-time survivor of nonmalignant brain tumors, Marian is an ardent advocate for brain health. Her work in this area has included serving on the board of directors of the Bob Woodruff Foundation, created by Bob and Lee Woodruff after the ABC-TV anchor rebounded from a traumatic brain injury sustained while covering the war in Iraq. To date, the foundation has raised more than $150 million and invested in grassroots organizations and programs that are helping veterans reintegrate into their communities. Marian also served for several years as a director of Andrew Yang’s Venture for America, including managing his departure from his organization delicately so he could launch his bid for president of the United States. She previously served as a member of the board of directors of Denmark’s AG Snus and currently sits on the board of Philip Morris Products S.A. (PMPSA), a fully owned subsidiary of PMI that develops and distributes electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) products outside the U.S.
Marian’s recent experiences overcoming Hodgkin’s lymphoma have further energized her commitment to press for tobacco harm reduction and other forms of positive societal change.