The World Federation of Advertisers has unveiled the shortlist for the inaugural Global Marketer of the Year, featuring executives from Deutsche Telekom, Huawei, Mars, Mastercard, Procter & Gamble and Unilever.
An expert jury of 14 media and marketing leaders examined 35 names from 30 different companies as part of the shortlisting process with each judge nominating their favourite six. The six with the most votes have been shortlisted.
The full shortlist is:
- Hans-Christian Schwingen, CMO at Deutsche Telekom
- Glory Zhang, Chief Marketing Officer at Huawei Consumer Business Group
- Jane Wakely, Chief Marketing Officer, Pet Nutrition at Mars
- Raja Rajamannar, Chief Marketing & Communications Officer and President – Healthcare Business at Mastercard
- Marc Pritchard, Chief Brand Officer at Procter & Gamble
- Keith Weed, Chief Marketing & Communications Officer at Unilever
All six have demonstrated outstanding leadership in three key areas:
- Evolving their organisation to be more people-centric, better able to respond to consumer needs and building happier, more engaged teams internally.
- Working smarter with partners, be they agencies or vendors, and ensuring that the whole team is aligned to the same goals.
- Delivering inspiring work that genuinely makes a difference, be that cultural, social or for the business.
The next stage in the process will be a public vote in early 2018 with the winner announced in February.
David Wheldon, Jury and WFA President, said: “Congratulations are due to all six marketers on this first shortlist for the Global Marketer of the Year. They have been judged by their peers to be leading the way in demonstrating just what a powerful role regional and global marketers can play. They should encourage all of us to strive harder to deliver change both internally and in our relationships with our consumers."
Stephan Loerke, CEO of the WFA, said: “At the WFA we are fortunate to work alongside many of the world’s best marketers in trying to create an industry that is more responsive to the needs of people. These six marketers are leading the challenge to create brands that matter, that respect consumers while also demonstrating that this can be achieved at the same time as delivering great results for their business. It’s no easy task but these six show that it can be done.”