Why CEOs are becoming influencers as companies fight for consumer attention – Firstpost

As corporate competition spills beyond boardrooms into the endlessly scrolling world of social media, chief executives are increasingly turning into content creators — livestreaming road trips, filming behind-the-scenes lifestyle clips, and posting directly to consumers in a bid to win attention in an algorithm-driven economy.

What was once considered reputationally risky or even unprofessional is now becoming a deliberate corporate strategy. From China’s electric vehicle battleground to Silicon Valley’s tech giants and India’s legacy conglomerates, the “online CEO” is fast emerging as a new face of brand marketing in an attention-starved digital economy.

At the centre of this shift is a simple commercial reality: attention has become scarce, fragmented and fiercely contested. And companies are discovering that the personality of the chief executive may now travel further than traditional advertising.

China’s EV chiefs lead the influencer charge

Nowhere is this transformation more visible than China’s electric vehicle sector, where brutal price wars have forced automakers to compete not just on products, but on visibility.

A report published by Nikkei Asia on Tuesday, highlighted how Chinese auto executives are reinventing themselves as influencers amid intensifying competition in the world’s largest car market.

Xiaomi founder Lei Jun, for instance, recently livestreamed a 15-hour non-stop road trip from Beijing to Shanghai in Xiaomi’s SU7 sedan, turning what would have been a routine product demonstration into a viral marketing spectacle.

In another instance, William Li — head of Chinese EV maker Nio — cooked meals inside an SUV and later slept in its trunk during a desert livestream, blending lifestyle content with product promotion.

The global ‘online CEO’ phenomenon

The trend, however, is no longer confined to China.

A 2025 survey of Fortune 500 companies shows that around 74 per cent of chief executives maintain active social media accounts, reflecting a sharp rise in executive-led digital engagement over the past decade.

Executives such as Elon Musk have long blurred the lines between corporate leadership and online persona, using platforms to comment on everything from product roadmaps to cultural debates. Similarly, leaders like Mark Zuckerberg of Meta and Goldman Sachs’ David Solomon have increasingly adopted lifestyle-driven content strategies to humanise their corporate identities.

The logic is straightforward: as traditional advertising loses reach and credibility, CEOs offer something algorithms reward heavily — authenticity, personality and direct engagement.
But the strategy is not without risk.

From viral fame to reputational backlash

The same platforms that amplify visibility can also amplify backlash.

A widely discussed case in corporate communications circles is that of US-based executive Braden Wallake, who became known online as the “Crying CEO” after posting an emotional video following layoffs at his company. The post went viral, attracting both sympathy and intense criticism for perceived insensitivity.

More recently, analysts have warned that executives who overshare or miscommunicate on social platforms risk creating regulatory, reputational and even financial exposure for their companies.

A separate CNBC report (published December last year) noted that executives are increasingly being coached on balancing authenticity with precision, as unfiltered commentary can quickly spiral into corporate crises.

Why companies are still doubling down

Despite the risks, corporations are leaning further into CEO-led content strategies.

One major catalyst has been the rise of influencer marketing itself. Consumer goods giant Unilever recently announced an aggressive “influencer-first” approach, expanding partnerships to hundreds of thousands of creators globally and significantly increasing its digital advertising allocation.

The implication for corporate leaders is clear: attention is now a core business asset, and executives are being deployed as part of the marketing mix.

Industry insiders say this shift is being driven by a fragmented media landscape where Gen Z and younger consumers increasingly rely on TikTok, YouTube and creator-driven platforms for product discovery rather than traditional advertising.

Indian CEOs: cautious but catching up

In India, however, the CEO-as-influencer trend is still in its early stages.

A study by Ecco, a global communications network, published in September 2019, found that fewer than 20 per cent of Indian CEOs were active on LinkedIn and only around 10 per cent on Twitter—well below global averages at the time.

However, nearly seven years on, in 2026, the landscape has evolved significantly, with Indian corporate leaders gradually expanding their presence across digital platforms amid the growing pressure to engage directly with consumers and stakeholders online.

Anand Mahindra has built one of the most recognisable executive personas on Indian social media, frequently engaging with viral content and public commentary, and commands a following of roughly 11 million users on X (formerly Twitter). Similarly, Uday Kotak has maintained an active digital presence with around 1.2 million followers, reflecting differing approaches to personal branding among India’s top corporate leaders.

Yet compared to their global counterparts, Indian corporate leaders remain relatively conservative, often preferring controlled messaging over personality-led content strategies.

Industry observers say this is partly due to regulatory sensitivities, corporate governance norms, and a traditionally formal approach to leadership communication in India’s large conglomerates and banking sector.

Attention economy enters a new phase

What is emerging globally is not just a communications shift, but a structural change in how companies compete.

In a world where algorithms reward visibility and virality, CEOs are increasingly becoming both brand ambassadors and content engines. The boardroom is no longer the sole centre of corporate influence — the smartphone camera is.

But as the experience of viral executives shows, attention is a double-edged sword. It can build brands overnight, but it can also amplify missteps at unprecedented speed.