At EssilorLuxottica, Alexandra Van de Wiele leads Marketing and Professional Solutions categories for the EMEA region, in other words, the wholesale segment. She manages both the European marketing teams and category business planning. This dual role, rare at such a level of responsibility, reflects the profound transformation of marketing roles : more strategic, more cross-functional, and more business-driven. Here, she shares her priorities, the changes underway in her profession, and the skills she expects from her teams.

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What are the key challenges you are facing today ?

Alexandra Van de Wiele : One of my biggest challenges today is launching and integrating all the group’s innovations, whether developed internally or acquired. This ranges from the lifestyle brand Supreme, to diagnostic instruments for ophthalmologists, to Ray-Ban Meta or our new hearing glasses, Nuance. These are products very different from the core business : we’re talking medtech, tech, audio… New targets, new uses, new categories.

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This completely transforms our role : it’s no longer just about managing established brands but about creating a coherent, integrated vision. Today, our clients, especially B2B, expect meaning, consistency, and long-term vision. What matters is not innovation in itself, but how it integrates into a global strategy. We’re expected to integrate new categories immediately, without setting up dedicated teams for each. We can’t afford to duplicate organizations, so we must streamline. The challenge is to keep a lean structure while absorbing a massive amount of innovation.

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How do you articulate business and marketing visions today ?

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A.V.d.W.: Having business responsibility allows me to make trade-offs more easily. There’s no longer the usual dichotomy of “marketing wants this” but “sales won’t follow.” I can explain choices, justify decisions, and,  above all, align them with the P&L. That’s essential in such a vast organization.

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At EssilorLuxottica, the portfolio is huge, with nearly 100,000 wholesale clients. My goal is to identify the famous 20% that will generate 80% of revenues and pass that prioritization on to country teams, who face enormous complexity on a daily basis.

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How are your teams integrating digital transformation and AI ?

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A.V.d.W.: On products, we’re very innovative. But on internal marketing tools, we’re behind. Very few people use next-generation tools. Yet when we commit resources, we’re able to develop interesting ones, like our Léonardo training platform for EssilorLuxottica employees and clients.

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But overall, we lack time, resources, and above all, people to lead these long-term projects. Innovation in marketing practices can’t rely solely on existing teams. We need dedicated resources, able to co-build tools with us.

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What are your priorities in recruitment ?

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A.V.d.W.: Team management is a major challenge. I need to recruit profiles that can handle day-to-day operations but also invent the marketing of tomorrow. That’s not easy : many marketers are still anchored in yesterday’s practices. I look for diverse backgrounds, experiences, and industries. Above all, I focus on three key soft skills: managing complexity, agility, and drive.

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How do you define these soft skills ?

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A.V.d.W.: Drive is the ability to set a vision, define a goal, and bring others along. Not necessarily by being extroverted or loud : you can lead quietly, through expertise or inspiration, but you need the ability to mobilize others.

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Agility is the ability to challenge yourself, adjust, and change course when needed. Managing complexity is crucial: being able to handle 35 topics in a single day, with very different stakeholders, without losing track.

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How do you support your teams on these aspects ?

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A.V.d.W.: I was trained early on in these dimensions during my 20 years in American groups. Coaching, personal development, emotional intelligence… it was part of the culture. Today, I try to pass this on through experience-sharing. I talk a lot with my teams, let them try, sometimes fail, and we debrief together.

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I also believe true skills are forged through change. Not necessarily by changing companies, but by changing functions. That’s how you develop a CMO mindset: by being exposed to new challenges and perspectives. A good marketer is someone who doubts and constantly questions themselves, while remaining assertive. It’s this paradox that makes the role so exciting.

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What role do you see for external partners ?

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A.V.d.W.: An external provider shouldn’t just execute. What I expect is perspective, added value, and the ability to challenge us. Otherwise, it’s better to internalize. For us, the main barrier to outsourcing is the lack of perceived differentiation. Many agencies offer services we could do ourselves. The real challenge is co-creating new perspectives, testing approaches, and running proof-of-concept pilots.

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How would you define the role of tomorrow’s CMO ?

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A.V.d.W.: For me, it’s the company’s strategic control tower. A CMO must be able to propose transformation pathways, embody the company’s reputation, and carry a clear business vision, well beyond the brands. We must move beyond executional marketing and embrace the role of strategist: able to steer the company, shed light on weak signals, and open up possible futures.

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