Drift Appoints Dave Gerhardt as First Chief Brand Officer
BOSTON – Aug. 16, 2021 – Drift, the world’s leading Revenue Acceleration Platform, today announced that Dave Gerhardt has rejoined the company as its first chief brand officer. Gerhardt joins Drift from his role of chief marketing officer (CMO) at Privy, a leading brand in e-commerce marketing, which was acquired by Attentive Mobile in June 2021. He will report directly to Drift’s chief executive officer (CEO), David Cancel, and lead development of the brand’s strategic narrative to elevate its position as a leading global brand in B2B SaaS.
As Drift’s first marketing employee in October 2015, Gerhardt built the company’s foundation for scale in his four-year tenure. He built the initial marketing organization at Drift, which now boasts 42 employees; created the brand’s keynote annual event, HYPERGROWTH; and co-wrote the best-selling book that launched the category, Conversational Marketing. His impact on the company laid its foundation for rapid growth, which was recognized by Deloitte in 2020, when Drift ranked No. 6 on its Technology Fast 500 List for 35,474 percent revenue growth from 2016-2019.
“Dave is one of the best marketers in our industry and was instrumental in building the Drift brand our customers know and love today. We are thrilled to welcome him back to the team to focus on one thing–building the next great business brand,” said David Cancel, founder and CEO of Drift. “Amidst global expansion and a fragmented future of work, we’re laser-focused on aligning sales and marketing on a single platform, and transforming the way businesses buy from business. Dave is an incredible hype man and understands how to bring this vision to life, returning at a pivotal moment in our company history. I look forward to partnering with him to tell our story as we write our next chapter.”
“I’m excited to rejoin Drift as chief brand officer to continue to build one of the best brands in B2B SaaS today,” Gerhardt said. “During my four years at Drift we built a reputation for doing marketing unlike any other brand in our space. David and Elias are two founders who get the value of brand and marketing. We know how to push each other creatively and never settle for the way everyone else is doing it. I’m excited to dig back in and see what we can do this time around.”
Gerhardt is also the founder of Dave Gerhardt Marketing Group (DGMG) and runs a community of over 3,000 marketers. He shares his thoughts on startups and marketing at davegerhardt.com and on Twitter @davegerhardt.
About Drift
Drift is the Revenue Acceleration Platform that uses Conversational Marketing and Conversational Sales to help companies grow revenue and increase customer lifetime value faster. More than 50,000 businesses use Drift to align sales and marketing on a single platform to deliver a unified customer experience where people are free to have a conversation with a business at any time, on their terms.