Conny Braams, Chief Digital and Marketing Officer of Unilever, has been named WFA Global Marketer of the Year 2021. She was awarded this honour following a combined vote from an expert jury and the industry at large including WFA members, with each accounting for a half of the final score.
Global Marketer of the Year 2021
Global Marketer of the Year 2021
Conny Braams, Chief Digital & Marketing Officer, Unilever
“It was an honour to be included amongst a line up of heavy weights in the WFA’s Global Marketer of the Year shortlist, and it’s a fantastic acknowledgement to win! Of course, this award is not about me, it recognises the outstanding marketing community at Unilever who grow our brands, powered by purpose, innovation and creativity. Thank you.”
Our shortlist
After attentively considering all the eligible names as part of the shortlisting process, our expert jury helped select the following seven marketers for the final voting round:
-
Andrea Álvares Andrea Chief Brand, Innovation, International and Sustainability Officer, NaturaAndrea has helped empower the company’s consultants’ network, providing representatives with new digital tools, extending payment terms and supporting them during the pandemic. She has also played a strong role in helping Natura drive up its innovation index, which has risen nearly 10 percentage points in the last two years.
-
Conny Braams Conny Chief Digital and Marketing Officer, UnileverConny is Unilever’s first-ever Chief Digital and Marketing Officer, leading the company’s end-to-end digital transformation and identifying new opportunities for growth. She believes brands have a responsibility to make sustainable behaviours easy and every day.
-
Rupen Desai Rupen Global CMO, Dole Sunshine CompanyRupen has developed a new business model for Dole – driven by a clear purpose that good nutrition is a human right – that is delivering sustainable growth. He has worked with Piñatex to turn pineapple leaves into vegan leather, resulting in a new series of Nike shoes, and helped set up the Sunshine for All Fund, which allows start-ups to evaluate and test new technology within the business.
-
Cristina Diezhandino Cristina Chief Marketing Officer, DiageoCristina has re-imagined how the company’s 1,200-strong marketing team works. She and her team have introduced quarterly plans and small challenge teams to address specific short-term problems. During the pandemic she focused on enabling consumers to recreate that bar feeling at home, growing the ecommerce business, while also supporting bars and bar staff.
-
Julia Goldin Julia EVP, Chief Product and Marketing Officer, LEGO GroupJulia’s remit covers product development, licensing and partnerships as well as marketing, research and the company’s in-house creative agency. During the pandemic she and her team devised the #letsbuildtogether campaign to support isolated children and their parents in just two weeks.
-
Pratik Thakar Pratik Head of Global Creative Strategy and Content, Coca-Cola, The Coca-Cola CompanyPratik has led structural changes that have allowed Coca-Cola’s marketing teams and agency partners to collaborate even more closely during the pandemic. He has created new merchandising partnerships and launched the company’s game-themed “One Coke Away from Each Other” campaign.
-
Jane Wakely Jane Lead CMO, Mars, Inc.Jane is driving the transformation of Mars’ marketing function, delivering a new mandate – building brands for mutual value – to create a roadmap for sustainable growth. Recent campaigns include Sheba’s Hope Reef product, where the brand partnered with National Geographic to help regrow coral at the site in Indonesia.
Celebrating great marketers who make a real difference
Senior global and regional marketers can have a huge impact in multiple ways.
Whether it’s creating effective purpose-driven campaigns, restructuring the way their internal and external teams work together or playing an industry leadership role, for example around furthering the Diversity & Inclusion agenda, great marketers make a real difference.
Since 2017, the WFA Global Marketer of the Year Award has been seeking to identify the person in a global or regional role who has, over the last 12 months, made the most impact on their company, our industry and the reputation of marketing among consumers.
Our Jury
Our 2021 jury represents a hugely experienced team of marketers, consultants and industry experts.
Chaired by Raja Rajamannar, Mastercard’s Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, it includes a wide range of sector and regional expertise, making it perfectly equipped to identify those who are making the biggest impact on the increasingly global marketing business.
Mary Gerzema Mary SVP Digital Marketing - Media and Consumer Insights, Shiseido
Susanne Kunz Susanne Managing Director, German Advertisers Association (OWM)
Stephan Loerke Stephan Chief Executive Officer, WFAStephan manages the WFA secretariat, oversees all work carried out on behalf of its members and is the WFA’s main spokesperson. He sits on all WFA public affairs and marketing committees, as well as on the WFA Executive Committee.
Prior to joining WFA, Stephan worked at the United Nations in New York and later in both marketing and management roles at L'Oréal. Combining French and German nationalities, Stephan speaks French, German, English, Dutch and Spanish.
Charlotte McEleny Charlotte Asia Editor, The Drum
Elizabeth Melo Elizabeth Executive President, Colombian National Advertisers Association (ANDA)
Kadri Mohamed Taib Kadri President, Malaysian Advertisers Association (MAA)
Debbie Morrison Debbie Managing Director Global Partnerships & Events, Ebiquity
Eloísa Moscardó Eloísa Head of Corporate Advertising and Content, Santander Group
Edward Oswe Edward Chief Executive Officer, Marketing Society of Kenya (MSK)
Lucinda Peniston-Baines Lucinda Co-founder & Managing Partner, The Observatory International
Raja Rajamannar Raja WFA President and Chief Marketing & Communications Officer and President Healthcare, MastercardRaja is responsible for building the Mastercard brand, driving business for its products and services and advancing sustainable competitive differentiation for the company. Raja comes to Mastercard with a history of innovation and business transformation. Before joining the company, he served as the Chief Transformation Officer of Anthem (formerly, WellPoint), a Fortune 500 health insurance company. Earlier, he was at Citigroup for 15 years holding a number of leadership roles, including Global Chief Marketing Officer, Cards and Payments, and before that he spent 7 years with Unilever in sales and product management roles. He started his career with Asian Paints in India.
Magid Souhami Magid President & Partner, Global Data Bank
Jonathan Turner Jonathan Chairman, OxfordSM
Amanda Woo Amanda CEO, AirAsia Super App
Award timeline
Call for nominations
24 August '23 - 11 October '23
Call for votes
14 December '23 - 28 January '24
Winner announced
February '24
Related news
-
Brand purposeBrand reputationMarketing capabilitiesRaja Rajamannar on the qualities required of the modern-day CMO
Read more about "Raja Rajamannar on the qualities required of the modern-day CMO"As the race to be crowned Global Marketer of the Year heats up, the Mastercard marketer and jury president tells The Drum what…
-
WFA reveals CMO shortlist for Global Marketer of the Year 2024
Read more about "WFA reveals CMO shortlist for Global Marketer of the Year 2024"Expert jury selects global marketing leaders from AB InBev, DoorDash, Kraft Heinz, The Walt Disney Company and Cisco as finalists.…
-
Kofi Amoo-Gottfried, DoorDash: Meet the 2024 Global Marketer of the Year Finalists
Read more about "Kofi Amoo-Gottfried, DoorDash: Meet the 2024 Global Marketer of the Year Finalists"The five finalists for WFA’s 2024 Global Marketer of the Year award, celebrating the work of global marketing leaders from…
-
Asad Ayaz, The Walt Disney Company: Meet the 2024 Global Marketer of the Year Finalists
Read more about "Asad Ayaz, The Walt Disney Company: Meet the 2024 Global Marketer of the Year Finalists"The five finalists for WFA’s 2024 Global Marketer of the Year award, celebrating the work of global marketing leaders from…
-
Diana Frost, The Kraft Heinz Company: Meet the 2024 Global Marketer of the Year Finalists
Read more about "Diana Frost, The Kraft Heinz Company: Meet the 2024 Global Marketer of the Year Finalists"The five finalists for WFA’s 2024 Global Marketer of the Year award, celebrating the work of global marketing leaders from…
-
Marcel Marcondes, AB InBev: Meet the 2024 Global Marketer of the Year Finalists
Read more about "Marcel Marcondes, AB InBev: Meet the 2024 Global Marketer of the Year Finalists"The five finalists for WFA’s 2024 Global Marketer of the Year award, celebrating the work of global marketing leaders from…
-
Aruna Ravichandran, Webex by Cisco: Meet the 2024 Global Marketer of the Year Finalists
Read more about "Aruna Ravichandran, Webex by Cisco: Meet the 2024 Global Marketer of the Year Finalists"The five finalists for WFA’s 2024 Global Marketer of the Year award, celebrating the work of global marketing leaders from…
-
Business growth is No. 1
Read more about "Business growth is No. 1"Jurors for the WFA’s Global Marketer of the Year have identified the ability to drive business growth as overwhelmingly their…
-
How to become a client of choice
Read more about "How to become a client of choice"What qualities do marketers need to become a must-have client? Our Global Marketer of the Year jury identifies how brands can become…
-
The new marketer skillset
Read more about "The new marketer skillset"What skills will the very best marketers need to be future-fit? We asked our expert jury for the Global Marketer of the Year for…
-
WFA names expert jury for 2024 Global Marketer of the Year
Read more about "WFA names expert jury for 2024 Global Marketer of the Year"Leading marketers from Diageo, First Bank of Nigeria, Globant, IBM, Infosys, Nissan, Santander and TATA join…
-
Nominations open for WFA Global Marketer of the Year 2024
Read more about "Nominations open for WFA Global Marketer of the Year 2024"WFA has launched its annual search for a global marketing star who best harnesses creativity and innovation to deliver for their…
-
L’Oréal CDMO takes top prize at Global Marketer of the Year
Read more about "L’Oréal CDMO takes top prize at Global Marketer of the Year"Asmita Dubey, Chief Digital and Marketing Officer (CDMO) at L’Oréal, has been named as the 2023 WFA Global Marketer of…
-
Aude Gandon, Global Marketer of 2023 nominee: “Sports can be a fantastic teacher for children”
Read more about "Aude Gandon, Global Marketer of 2023 nominee: “Sports can be a fantastic teacher for children”"Aude Gandon, Global Chief Marketing Officer at Nestlé, is one of the five global marketers shortlisted for the WFA…
-
Morgan Flatley, Global Marketer of 2023 nominee: “Marketing is very central to our corporate strategy"
Read more about "Morgan Flatley, Global Marketer of 2023 nominee: “Marketing is very central to our corporate strategy""Morgan Flatley, Global Chief Marketing Officer & Head of New Business Ventures at McDonald's, is one of the five global…
Media partner
For more information or questions, please contact us
-
Camelia Cristache
c.cristache@wfanet.org -
Robert Dreblow
r.dreblow@wfanet.org