IRINA IOFFE · BRAND STRATEGIST + FRACTIONAL CMO
Clear strategy for what comes next.
I find the insight that changes how a business sees its opportunity—and turn it into a strategy people can act on.
Fortune 100 brand strategy. Senior marketing leadership. Available for strategic projects and fractional CMO engagements.
Xfinity · World-record gaming activation ↗
SELECTED BRAND EXPERIENCE
Xfinity · Meta · Cisco · Raytheon · Northwestern Mutual
The business challenge comes first.
You’re entering a new market, rethinking your position, or asking marketing to do more for the business. The first task is deciding what matters most.
I connect business priorities with audience needs and cultural change. The result is a defensible position, a compelling story, and a shared direction for the people who will deliver it.
Strategy in practice.
XFINITY / BRAND & EXPERIENCE STRATEGY
From internet provider to gaming contender.Xfinity × Esports Awards · Gaming activation · Film still: GMR Marketing ↗
Tempest Brand of the Year.
I led Xfinity from gaming strategy to award-winning activation in 18 months. I also managed its FaZe Clan creator partnerships for more than a year, working with an organization whose audience spans 500 million followers across platforms.
Two Comcast Top Partner Awards
Explore the Xfinity work →
RAYTHEON / EMPLOYER BRAND STRATEGY
When it Matters.
Engineers want to see how the work in their hands makes a difference. While competitors promised a distant future, I positioned Raytheon around the impact engineers could have now. The client selected “When it Matters” as its strategic platform.
Explore the Raytheon strategy →
CISCO / OLYMPIC GAMES EXPERIENCE
Connection, on an Olympic stage.
Cisco · Maison Cisco, Paris 2024 · Photography: GMR Marketing ↗
Best Olympics Activation.
BizBash · 2025
I developed the guest-journey strategy for Cisco’s Paris 2024 hospitality program, turning “The Bridge to Possible” into opportunities for customers and partners to connect.
100% rated the experience “Excellent.”
All survey respondents, as reported by GMR.
Event Marketer Ex Award · Silver, Olympics
Explore the strategy & results →
META / RETAIL ACTIVATION STRATEGY
Let the product do the teaching.
A record crowd for Meta.
The largest audience Best Buy and Meta had recorded for a Meta activation. I turned Oculus product training into a live gaming experience, with a theater stage and wraparound screens that made associates part of the action—and drew passersby in.
Oculus × Best Buy · 2024
Audience insight · Retail activation · Experiential learning
See the Meta story →
Bring me in at the point of change.
BRAND STRATEGY
Find a position your brand can own and a story your audience has a reason to care about. I bring together positioning, brand architecture, audience research, cultural insight, messaging, and campaign strategy.
FRACTIONAL CMO
Get senior marketing direction shaped around your business. I set priorities, align teams and agency partners, and build a practical plan with clear responsibilities and measures of progress.
Irina Ioffe · Brand strategist & fractional CMO
A strategist’s rigor. A writer’s clarity.
I’m Irina. My strength is seeing the connection between a business problem, a shift in culture, and something people need but may not yet know how to articulate. That connection can become a brand’s strongest opportunity.
You get a strategic partner who can challenge the brief, explain the thinking, and help your team commit to a direction. I bring the imagination to see a bigger possibility and the writer’s discipline to make it precise—from the first conversation to the work your audience encounters.
TBWA BACKSLASH / CULTURAL INTELLIGENCE
Anticipating culture’s next move.
As an Edge Hunter and Editor for TBWA Backslash, I authored “Cancel Cancel Culture,” a forecast of perfection fatigue and a backlash against unforgiving public judgment. The question behind it: when does a growing cultural expectation begin to create resistance?
Explore the cultural foresight work →
HOW I WORK
The thinking behind the work.
My approach is grounded in the British account-planning tradition: rigorous inquiry, close attention to people, and a clear strategic argument. I combine that foundation with cultural curiosity and a writer’s precision to find an opportunity a brand can act on.
Define the real challenge. Establish what the business needs to change, what stands in its way, and what success would mean.
Find the human insight. Connect research, behavior, and cultural context to understand what matters to people—and where the brand has something meaningful to offer.
Make a strategic choice. Evaluate the possibilities and define a position, proposition, or direction that can withstand scrutiny and inspire the work.
Make it usable. Translate the strategy into clear briefs, experiences, communications, and priorities, with measures that help us assess progress.
I choose the tools to fit the question, bringing structure to the investigation and room for an unexpected answer.
My practice is also informed by Mark Pollard’s methods in Strategy Is Your Words.
THE METHOD IN PRACTICE / RAYTHEON
From a recruitment brief to a reason to choose.
The assignment was to attract engineers. The insight was their desire to see a tangible connection between the work in their hands and its impact. That shifted the positioning toward the difference they could make now. The client selected “When it Matters” as its strategic platform.
IN GOOD COMPANY
“If you’re looking for someone who can help you with what’s happening now — and is curious and can help you sort what’s next — hire Irina.”
Rob Schwartz
Former CEO, TBWA New York
“Her creative talent for pulling out the hidden elements, composing an elegant and powerful story is incredible!”
Jon Cotay
Founder, Jon Cotay Events and Marketing · Co-founder, AKIRA
Read the recommendations on LinkedIn ↗
What are you working through?
A new direction, a difficult positioning question, or a need for experienced marketing leadership. Let’s start with the challenge.