Inside a Brand Strategist’s Mind with Brian Irving

My guest this week is Brian Irving, the Chief Marketing Officer of Lyft.  Brian has over two decades of experience building and marketing iconic global brands, including Meta, Eventbrite, Apple, Google, Levi's, and Airbnb. 

As CMO at Lyft, Brian leads all marketing, creative, and communications efforts for the brand. This includes developing strategy and executing product and brand marketing, overseeing the creative studio, managing social media, and handling external communications. 

Prior to joining Lyft, Brian was responsible for "branding the metaverse"—a phrase I love—while promoting a range of new product initiatives in the sector, including Oculus, Quest goggles, Ray-Ban smart glasses, and the Horizon VR world. At Meta, he led the Quest Pro launch, bringing the first-ever integrated sports partnership to the company with a multi-year content marketing and product deal in collaboration with the NBA. 

Previously, Brian was the CMO of Eventbrite, where he played a key role during the company’s IPO and launched its first-ever brand campaign, Made for Those Who Do. 

At Airbnb, he introduced a new marketing and product positioning strategy called Live There, which encouraged travelers to "travel like a local" rather than being a tourist. 

Brian’s path into marketing was nontraditional. He started as a financial analyst and business planning manager before transitioning into account management roles at Digitas and RAPP. Eventually, he moved in-house to lead brand marketing. Currently, Brian is based in San Francisco, where he lives with his son and his dog. 

What is The CMO Whisperer?

The CMO Whisperer, hosted by former Forbes writer Steve Olenski, is dedicated to those who keep it real in AND out of the world of marketing. From others in the C-suite to agency leaders to editors of publications to athletes to entertainsers and on and on, this show is for them and about them.