Fernando Machado
Fernando Machado
Chief Brand Officer, Chipotle Mexican Grill
Fernando Machado is the Chief Brand Officer for Chipotle Mexican Grill. He is responsible for leading the company's global marketing strategy, brand positioning, and customer engagement efforts. Mr. Machado, Ad Age's 2020 CMO of the Year and a Forbes Top 3 Most Influential CMO globally, has a proven track record with numerous accolades for his breakthrough and innovative marketing campaigns.Mr. Machado spent over seven years as the Chief Marketing Officer at Restaurant Brands International (RBI) across brands like Burger King, Popeyes and Tim Hortons, where he received global recognition for his industry-leading campaigns. He also spent 18 years at Unilever in a series of executive leadership roles across its consumer brand portfolio. In addition, Mr. Machado was Chief Marketing Officer at Activision Blizzard, where he spearheaded marketing strategy across its portfolio of major gaming franchises.He currently serves as an Operating Partner at Garnett Station Partners, a private equity firm focused on franchise, multi-unit and services businesses and serves as a member of the board of directors of Braze, Inc. Machado holds a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP) and an MBA from INSEAD Business School.
Monday, September 28, 2026
Creativity Has to Strike Back
3:00 PM - 4:30 PM

We are living in a marketing era obsessed with efficiency.

With optimization. With dashboards. With shortcuts.

AI promises speed and lower costs. Consolidation promises scale. Performance marketing promises certainty. And yet, brands are getting weaker, work is getting safer and growth is getting harder.

That’s not a coincidence.

In this session, Fernando Machado, Chief Brand Officer for Chipotle and one of the most awarded marketers in the industry, challenges the idea that creativity is a “nice to have”. He exposes the traps brands keep falling into – over-optimising, under-imagining and confusing activity with impact – and sets out a new definition of creativity for an efficiency-obsessed world: creativity not as decoration, but as a strategic growth engine.