Tim Ellis is the Chief Marketing Officer of the NFL.
With a courageous mindset and expansive marketing skillset, Tim has cultivated the NFL into a league that is making major strides to be more human and compassionate, with its finger on the pulse of societal issues that resonate most with its fans. These strategies have directly resulted in a tangible resurgence of the NFL brand.
Under Tim’s leadership, the league has the biggest, most diverse fanbase it’s ever had, and NFL viewership dominates the media ecosystem (93 of the top 100 shows in 2023). Positive conversation and online buzz around the league and players have reached an all-time high, driven by more fans seeing the NFL as inclusive, culturally relevant, socially responsible, entertaining, fun and unifying. Tim is a driving force in opening up the sport in new, innovative ways, as his work promoting flag football, the most accessible and inclusive format of the sport, is widely credited in helping sanction women’s flag football as a high school varsity sport and an Olympic sport in 2028, a historic milestone for the NFL. With Tim at the marketing helm, the NFL is now seen as the most influential and culturally relevant sports league and represents nearly half of all sports online consumption, despite having only 4% of total games.
Tim has been recognized as one of the most influential CMOs in the world, honored for his innovative marketing and advertising campaigns. He’s received numerous accolades, including Ad Age Marketer of the Year, Adweek and Ad Age’s top CMO, Cannes Lion Global Marketer of the Year, Adweek Brand Genius, 4x Emmy Award winner, Forbes World’s Most Influential CMOs list, Grand Effie Award winner for the most effective U.S. campaign and Cannes Lions Titanium Award winner, among many others.
Tim joined the NFL from Activision Blizzard Inc., one of the world’s most successful interactive entertainment companies where he served as the Chief Marketing Officer. While at Activision, Tim led the company’s innovative global marketing strategies and programs for its video game titles and led launch campaigns for its most successful gaming franchises. Prior to Activision, he held global marketing executive roles at Volvo and Volkswagen America – where he drove the creation of “The Force,” one of the most loved Super Bowl advertisements of all time and credited as “the ad that changed the Super Bowl forever” by TIME.
Tim currently serves as a national board member for Big Brother and Big Sisters of America, the nation’s largest donor and volunteer supported mentoring network, as well as a board member and an executive committee member for the Ad Council. He’s also led efforts to assemble major U.S. sports leagues, along with organizations like the Ad Council, to collectively deliver powerful campaigns that address critical societal issues such as mental health awareness.