The 6 global marketers of 2018 in 12 tweets

As part of WFA’s Global Marketer of the Year 2018, we spoke to the 6 shortlisted candidates; Ukonwa Ojo, CMO Consumer Beauty, Coty; Marc Pritchard, Chief Brand Officer, P&G; Raja Rajamannar, Chief Marketing & Communications Officer, Mastercard; Syl Saller, Chief Marketing and Innovation Officer, Diageo; Keith Weed, Chief Marketing and Communication Officer, Unilever; and Claudia Willvonseder, CMO/Global Marketing and Communication Manager, IKEA.

Here are their top 12 soundbites:

1. Creating conversations through marketing – Marc Pritchard, P&G:

One piece of work that I’m really proud of is called 'The Talk'. We took some heat for it but we stuck with it because it was important for us to create conversations. Because conversations lead to understanding, understanding leads to empathy, and empathy leads to action.

2. Challenging stereotypes – Marc Pritchard, P&G:

Of course we should have equality between women and men. But that needs to be intersectional and generational equality. It needs to include race, it needs to include LGBTQ, it needs to include people with disabilities, and it needs to include age.

Watch Marc's interview here:

3. Making marketing better – Syl Saller, Diageo:

What would make marketing better? Really raising the game on diversity, inclusion, progressive gender portrayals will make a real difference. Without doing that we are missing so many voices that can make a difference to our industry. It’s a huge focus for me and for Diageo, and I want to see it be a massive focus for our industry.

4. Taking risks as marketers – Syl Saller, Diageo:

Let’s all be a little bolder, a little braver. Let’s recognise that a lot of what holds us back is not our companies losing millions of pounds or dollars. The risks are in our head. If we can overcome those, we can do bolder things and we can get greater growth.

Watch Syl's interview here:

5. Having diverse teams internally – Ukonwa Ojo, Coty:

The mission at Coty is to celebrate and liberate the diversity of beauty. So one of the things I’m really proud of is having a team that is as diverse as the communities that we are trying to serve. The insight that you get is so much richer, the motivation that you get to really make the lives of those communities better is much stronger than if you were just reading insights from research or if you were looking from behind a glass at a focus group.

6. Becoming better marketers – Ukonwa Ojo, Coty:

How do we become better marketers? I think [that by becoming] more empathetic people, by listening to others with an intent to make their lives better. If we do that, I believe that we will win every time.

Watch Ukonwa's interview here:

7. Getting employees to act as brand ambassadors – Raja Rajamannar, Mastercard:

Brand is not the private territory of marketing. Everyone in the company is a brand ambassador. If marketing truly has to bring a significant impact, you have to carry the whole company with you.

8. Marketing’s role in society – Raja Rajamannar, Mastercard:

As marketers, we need to realise that we have an incredible power to shape society and culture. We should try and leverage that influence and the power that we have, as a marketing community, for a better society. I cannot see and think of another function which can drive a bigger change in the world.

Watch Raja's interview here:

9. Championing the right internal culture – Keith Weed, Unilever:

I don’t want people to leave themselves at the door as they walk into the office and become the office person. What I want marketers to do is reflect the rich world around us. In reflecting the rich world around us, they’ll bring that into their advertising and the brand communication.

10. Trust as the biggest challenge facing marketing today – Keith Weed, Unilever:

I think the biggest challenge we have in our industry right now is trust. Trust, over time, is eroding. A brand without trust is a product. Advertising without trust is just noise. We’ve got to find a way of rebuilding trust.

Watch Keith's interview here:

11. The internal culture as the future of marketing – Claudia Willvonseder, Ikea:

In lots of discussions, marketing is often put equal to advertising which I firmly believe it is not. Corporate culture is the future of marketing, much more so than advertising. Thereby, marketers should influence from inside; the company and the culture.

12. Global versus local – Claudia Willvonseder, Ikea:

We’ve done and do analysis around what drives efficiency and effectiveness in marketing communications, and our principle, which has proven to be quite successful, is to be as global as possible and as local as needed.

Watch Claudia's interview here:



The voting for the Global Marketer of the Year ended on January 25^th. The winner will be announced in February and featured in The Drum, the award’s official media partner. For more information visit www.wfanet.org/globalmarketeroftheyear