Yvonne Wutzler and Thorsten Mühl named as “CMO of the Year” 2025

Considered one of the most prestigious honours for exceptional marketing achievements in German-speaking countries, the award is presented by the marketing trade magazine HORIZONT. 

Wutzler and Mühl were recognised for their clear focus on social media, their creative content strategies and their innovative use of channels. Thanks to these approaches, they played a key role in establishing essence and Catrice as successful “love brands” internationally. In the 2024 financial year, cosnova achieved record sales of 954 million Euros, a 17 per cent increase.

essence is now the best-selling cosmetics brand in Europe and one of the leading beauty brands on social media; its TikTok channel is among the top five in the world. Cosnova’s in-house content studio produces thousands of content items every year, reaching millions of consumers daily. Its own community of around 3.5 million followers also helps to introduce relevant new products quickly. 

 “It is a great honour to accept this award alongside my colleague Thorsten. For me, this recognition is above all a tribute to the passion and creativity of our entire team, who work with courage and innovative power every day to make beauty accessible to everyone through essence and Catrice. By staying close to the community, providing authentic content and maintaining a clear product-first orientation, we have demonstrated that it is possible to grow even in a challenging market environment and inspire millions of consumers worldwide,” said Yvonne Wutzler.

Thorsten Mühl adds:

“It is an incredible pleasure to win this award with Yvonne, and above all it recognises our shared vision and the extraordinary team that supports us. Our marketing approach is social and community-first. We want to play the content game even better to get closer to the culture. But we are also ambitious when it comes to technological innovations involving AI. This combination is precisely what defines cosnova – and for me, it is above all an expression of immense gratitude and commitment to our teams.”

With their “TikTok and social entertainment first” strategy, Wutzler and Mühl have developed a marketing approach that puts consumers at the heart of everything they do, consistently uniting content, pricing and community engagement. This approach is complemented by innovative formats such as essence becoming the first beauty brand at gamescom and having a presence on platforms like Roblox and Twitch, as well as using generative AI.