WFA unveils final speakers for Global Marketer Week

WFA and the Japan Advertisers Association (JAA) have unveiled the final event and speaker line-up for the 2018 Global Marketer Week and Global Marketer Conference, to be held in Tokyo from May 15-18 2018.

The event (#GMWJPN) brings together some of the world's top marketers and thought-leaders to explore common global challenges and highlight opportunities in the world’s third-largest ad market.

The showpiece of the week will be the Global Marketer Conference, which will take place on May 17. Speakers include:

• Sam Ahmed, Global Head Digital & Retail Marketing, Standard Chartered

• Chris Baréz-Brown, speaker, trainer and bestselling author, Upping Your Elvis

• Roel de Vries, Corporate Vice President, Global Head of Marketing and Brand Strategy, Nissan

• Younghee Lee, Global CMO, Samsung Electronics

• Marc Mathieu, Chief Marketing Officer, Samsung Electronics America

• Go Sohara, Creative Director, Death of Bad

• Yukiko Yamaguchi, CNS, Director, Enterprise Marketing Division, Panasonic

• Naomi Yamamoto, Chief Creative Officer, Shiseido

• David Wheldon, WFA President and CMO of RBS

• Robert Wong, VP Google Creative Lab

Additional events for Global Marketer Week include a Project Reconnect session on May 16 that will identify which brands are truly doing social purpose well and which are simply paying it lip service with stimulus from Contagious and Karmarama as well as a panel of representatives of Samsung, RBS, Dentsu and Withinlink.

The same day will also feature a session around Global Media Transformation, which will discuss how the arrival of digital requires change in multiple areas including transparency and contracts, data and technology as well as demanding vision and purpose. Brand contributors include Philips, Pfizer, Volvo Cars and AirAsia.

In addition, a session on Public Policy will look at the future of advertising and ask whether advertising standards go far enough. In an era when the lines have been blurred between content and commerce, when data collection is questioned, it will ask whether the rules need to change to help the industry meet new challenges and safeguard its long-term license to advertise. Speakers include representatives from UN Women, Unilever, Mars, PepsiCo and Danone.

Stephan Loerke, WFA CEO, said: “This is a truly inspiring line up of speakers and sessions. I am convinced that everyone who attends will acquire actionable insights that will help them with the transformation process that all organisations are being challenged to deliver.”

Masatoshi Ito, Chairman of JAA, said: “We are delighted to welcome the WFA and an impressive array of speakers to Tokyo. This is a great opportunity for local marketers to pick up insights from world class marketers and we look forward to showcasing the very best of Japan.”

Global Marketer Week is the annual event for client-side marketers. The WFA hosts the week of events every year in collaboration with one of its national advertiser association members. The Global Marketer Week was held in Toronto in 2017, Kuala Lumpur in 2016, Marrakech in 2015, Sydney in 2014, Brussels in 2013, New York in 2012 and Beijing in 2011.

In 2018, the event is also being held in partnership with Advertising Week Asia.

Full details of Global Marketer Week can be found at www.wfanet.org/Tokyo. Follow events on Twitter @WFAmarketers and #GMWJPN