IMC FORUM: 2015 Year in Review

It now connects close to 500 senior marketers with global and regional responsibilities and meets on three continents.In 2015, Diageo, Unilever, SAP, McDonald’s, Grupo Bimbo and VISA opened their doors to WFA members in London, Singapore, Mexico City and Miami.

The group’s agenda is based on its members’ priority issues and turns to the network’s collective experience and wisdom for solutions, whether through physical forums, virtual meetings, benchmarks or one-to-one connections.

Challenges tackled by the group in 2015 included how to optimise content generation, dissemination and ownership, how to better understand and map the customer journey, what kind of connections planning framework might work for your company and how to effectively evolve agency collaboration models to reflect the changing media and consumer landscape.

IMCFORUM in numbers:

• Launched in 2009, first meeting in Singapore in 2013 and Miami in 2015


• Connecting circa 500 senior marketers


• 5 meetings in 3 regions


• 2 remote sessions: on the future of comms planning and connections planning frameworks


• 8 global benchmarks on recommended agencies and integrated marketing practices


• 3 regional surveys on marketing capabilities in APAC, LATAM and Africa

IMCFORUM attendees

• Carlos Hernandez, Abbott


• Niels Hansen, Arla Foods


• Rebeca Ricoy, AVON


• Sophie Fromental, Bel Group


• Ben Crowther, BP


• Lee Peng Oh, BP


• Jo Wisbey, BP


• Juliette Betant, Coty


• Yan Wen Low, Coty


• Steve Sargeant, Diageo


• Raquel Solorzano, Diageo


• James Taylor, Diageo


• Stan Shin, eBay


• Sara Krikorian, Emirates


• Sarah Shaughnessy, Emirates


• Claudia Bertolotti, Ferrero


• Amcke Becke, FrieslandCampina


• Jessie Chuah, GAB (Diageo Malaysia)


• Qaiser Khalil Bachani, GlaxoSmithKline


• Javier Medrano, Grupo Bimbo


• Kevin Ma, The Hershey Company


• Traci Dunn, ISBA


• Debbie Morrison, ISBA


• Kate Keane, Johnson & Johnson


• Omar Carrion, Kellogg Company


• Jane O'Keeffe, Kellogg Company


• Ernesto Echeverri, LATAM Airlines Group


• Caroline Devys, LEGO Group


• Melina Kacherou-Carage, LEGO Group


• Sally-Ann Weekes, LEGO Group


• Maya Kosovalic, L'Oréal


• Guillaume Conteville, MasterCard


• Andrew Knott, McDonald's Corporation


• Silas Lewis-Meilus , McDonald's Corporation


• Alex Castillo, Mondelez


• Josep Hernandez , Mondelez International


• Catherine Schwab-Wildi, Mondelez International


• Chris Chen, Mundipharma


• Caroline Pathy, Nestlé (CPW)


• Elena Boisseuil, Nissan


• Jill Leccia, Pepsico


• Antonia McCahon, Pernod Ricard


• Nobuhiko Honma, Procter & Gamble


• Laura Tapia, Procter & Gamble


• Wynthia Goh, SAP


• Ben Johnson, SAP


• Alex Jungermann , SAP


• Susan Toh, SAP


• Marco Trezzi, SAP


• Nick Laffen, Shell International


• Carl Pring, Shell International


• Traci Alford, Shell International


• Matt Hotten, TATA/ Jaguar Land Rover


• Guido Rosales, The Coca-Cola Company


• Chiro Gupta, Unilever


• Ben Johnson, Unilever


• Mariana Fernandes, VISA


• Nicki Kenyon, VISA


• Chris Maltes, VISA


• Andres Polo, VISA


• Alex Shapiro, VISA


• Alexander Skanavi, VISA


• Lee Thomas, VISA


• Ellen Marzell, Vodafone

What next?

Content marketing has been a rising priority topic in 2015. After a period of testing and learning, marketers will roll out better defined content marketing plans in 2016 that will include the right capabilities and process, as well as increased understanding on the return from content programmes.

For more information, contact Any.