Transformation

John L. Ayers

Global Lead, Strategic Partnership.

Digital Disruption. Martech Strategy. Business Transformation.

Strategic Transformation Leader

With over 20 years of experience at the intersection of marketing, technology, and digital innovation, John Ayers currently serves as Director of Marketing Strategy and Transformation within Publicis Sapient’s Salesforce Practice. Based in Los Angeles, John leads with deep expertise in customer engagement, platform integration, and enterprise transformation.

Since joining Publicis Sapient in 2021, John has become a pivotal figure in shaping how Publicis Groupe delivers data-driven, customer-centric solutions across industries. His leadership has powered successful partnerships with brands like Wingstop and Supernus through “Power of One” transformation models that integrate strategy, creative, data, and technology.

Areas of Expertise

  • Digital Transformation Strategy
  • Marketing Maturity & Personalization at Scale
  • Salesforce Ecosystem Optimization
  • First-Party Data Activation & CDP Implementation
  • Cross-Functional Team Leadership & Executive Engagement
  • Customer Experience Design & Journey Mapping

Signature Engagements

QSR – Power of One Transformation

Led a Groupe-wide initiative to implement real-time omnichannel personalization including Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Epsilon CDP Essentials, Interaction Studio, and GA360—aligning stakeholders from Leo Burnett, Spark, Hawkeye, and Sapient.

Pharmaceuticals – Personalization at Scale

Co-led a collaboration with Digitas Health and Sapient for a 9-brand pharma portfolio transformation, integrating Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Mulesoft, and Epsilon CDP to activate HCP and patient journeys.

Impact Highlights

  • Leadership role in strategic go to market initiatives.
  • Created, managed and deployed global Agentforce hackathon.
  • Acted as a coach for Sapient-wide global AI hackathon.
  • Author numerous articles, thought leadership pieces to drive industry, and client engagement
  • Multiple guest speaker sessions at industry events with partners such as Meta, Salesforce among others.
  • Developed joint go to market initiative with Sapient, Salesforce and Google.
  • Developed joint go to market initiative with Sapient, Salesforce and AWS.
  • Developed joint go to market initiative with Sapient, Salesforce and Meta.
  • Developed foundational personalization principles for marketing transformation engagements.
  • Created a strategic Salesforce-to-Growth Loop framework, mapping cloud capabilities to Publicis Groupe’s SPEED methodology and offering families.
  • Acted as a strategic liaison across Groupe entities including DEG, CRM Council, Epsilon, and Publicis NXT—bridging marketing, data, and experience.
  • Developed the foundational principals of the data flywheel to bring together top of funnel media together with 1st party data.

Previous Leadership Roles

IBM / Bluewolf

As Marketing Practice Director, John led a 15-person team and helped scale Bluewolf’s Salesforce Practice across key industries. He served on Salesforce’s Partner Advisory Boards and collaborated on co-developed offerings in CRM, data, and marketing cloud enablement.

Pepperdine University

Spearheaded omnichannel digital experiences through marketing automation, UX design, and CMS implementation. Led enterprise rollouts of Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Social Studio, and predictive analytics.

Thought Leadership & Industry Involvement

  • Speaker, Salesforce Connections (multiple years)
  • Speaker, Salesforce Dreamforce
  • Founder, Los Angeles Service Design Group
  • Organizer, Global Service Design Jam LA (multiple years)
  • Guest Speaker: USC, Pepperdine University
  • Panelist, ModoLabs Mobile Conference

Let’s disrupt with purpose

Whether you’re navigating Agentic AI, the complexities of personalization, looking to accelerate digital maturity, or uniting cross-functional teams around transformation – John Ayers brings clarity, creativity, and a track record of delivering impact.

Ready to connect? Reach out via LinkedIn or contact directly.