Ana Andjelic

Meet Ana Andjelic

In the course of her career, Ana led, grew and managed brand-driven modern businesses. She uses both sides of her brain and her international sensibility to build brand value, set brand and growth vision, and advance companies’ strategic, creative and organizational capabilities. Ana’s areas of expertise are brand vision and brand strategy, brand positioning, product design concepts and product strategy, creative and art direction, visual merchandising and styling, marketing and media strategy, and PR, partnerships and collaborations.

Most recently, Ana was the global Chief Brand Officer at ESPRIT, tasked with the revival of this iconic brand. At ESPRIT, Ana introduced the new brand vision and strategy; design strategy and the design vision for menswear, sportswear and Olympic Capsule; styling and signature products for the brand; creative and art direction; marketing and media strategy; brand revival strategy and rollout plan; cultural partnerships and collaborations; content and social strategy and cultural influence planning. Prior, Ana was the Chief Brand Officer at Banana Republic, where she set the new creative and design direction for the brand that led to the widely-lauded brand turnaround resulting in 27% comparable sales increase. Prior to Banana Republic, Ana held positions as the Chief Marketing Officer at Mansur Gavriel, interim CMO at David Yurman, and the Chief Brand Officer at Rebecca Minkoff, where she launched the Female Founder Collective.

In her executive roles, Ana oversees development of brand vision, strategy of value creation for the brand, creative direction and product design functions and is responsible for setting the brand vision, launching a go-to market strategy, defining the product concept and strategy, setting the creative and art direction, finding the right cultural partners, collaborators and events, and planning the media and marketing execution across retail channels.

In 2021, Ana published “The Business of Aspiration,” a book that explores how brands and consumers trade in social, cultural and environmental capital and how this capital transforms brand and business strategy. Ana also writes a popular weekly newsletter, Sociology of Business, where she covers everything from aspirational markets to taste communities and new brand growth models.

Earlier in her career, Ana introduced the luxury practice in the global Havas network, and held senior brand strategy positions at Spring Studios and Droga5. She worked with brands as Sotheby’s, Sergio Rossi, Belvedere, Moet Hennesy, PUMA, H&M, Topshop and Topman, Tom Ford and MCM, among others.

In 2024, Ana was named by Forbes as one of the 50 most entrepreneurial CMOs in the world. She had a similar honor in 2020, when she was selected as one of The World’s Most Influential CMOs, and in 2018, she was listed among Forbes’ top 50 CMOs who serve as models of a new, emerging and disruptive chief marketer. She was also named as one of the Luxury Women to Watch by Luxury Daily and was listed among the top 10 digital strategists globally by The Guardian.

Ana often serves on the juries for creative awards in the advertising and luxury industries. She has given talks globally and contributed to publications including Harvard Business Review, Fast Company, The Guardian, Advertising Age, Adweek, Form Design Magazine, Frame Magazine, Luxury Daily, Lean Luxe, Glossy, and Campaign. She a frequent expert correspondent for Business of Fashion, Financial Times, British Vogue, FT’s “How to Spend It,” and Vogue Business, and is an expert source for trend forecasting companies like The Future Laboratory, Red Scout, and WSGN.

Ana is an advisor to The Dematerialised, the experiential marketplace for Fashion NFTs. She holds Ph.D. in Sociology and M.A. in Media Studies.