WFA CEO: 2015 in review

Your continued support in 2015 has enabled us to grow the team, become more global and deliver more added value to our members.

We have recruited two senior members to our team. Our first Head of Membership is based out of London while our Marketing Director for Asia is based in Singapore.

These new recruits will enable us to take a more strategic and systematic approach to delivering membership value on your priority issues while significantly reinforcing our ability to help Asia-based marketers achieve their objectives.

We are also investing a great deal in our global presence. In 2015, WFA hosted nearly 80 meetings in over 20 countries and serviced members in almost 50.

Singapore is now the city that hosts the most WFA marketing meetings, including our first Asian CMOFORUM. The MEDIAFORUM is now meeting regularly in Mumbai and Shanghai. Miami hosted the IMCFORUM for the first time. Most symbolically, we held our first Global Marketer Week in Africa.

A hugely successful week of events in Marrakech attended by over 500 delegates from over 30 countries was a highlight of the year.

Another was the endorsement by APEC Heads of State for our vision for effective advertising self-regulation. This was a direct result of our APEC engagement. APEC countries together represent over 60% of global ad spend and this figure is growing fast.

WFA is committed to helping companies make quicker, smarter decisions. In 2015 alone, we ran over 100 benchmarks while 73% of members accessed our Global Knowledge Base.

We will continue to invest in greater remote knowledge exchange, such as webinars and remote forums, so members can access our services faster and in a more cost-effective manner.

Corporate membership grew by over 15% net in 2015 as we have welcomed the likes of Sony, Nike and AirAsia into membership. We’re determined to build on this momentum and look forward with confidence to 2016.