WFA launches Global Sourcing Board

From left to right. Top row: Barry Byrne, adidas, Tracy Allery, Mondelēz International, Jennifer Mclachlan, P&G, Tuomas Anttila, Unilever. Second row: Janelle Orozco, Diageo, Myriam Benichou, L’Oréal, Michael Pues-Tillkamp, IKEA, Christopher Kredo, Mars. Third row: Ekaterina Agafonova, Heineken, Jose Gonzalo Bisquerra Mora, GSK, Magid Souhami, General Mills, Alex Morse, Nestlé.

WFA has created a new Global Sourcing Board to accelerate change in marketing procurement by improving practices across the industry.

The ambition is to reposition procurement as a driver of company growth rather than a seeker of savings, transforming cultures and approach within sourcing teams as well as perceptions across the wider marketing, finance and agency community.

It has named Tracy Allery, Associate Director, Global Procurement, Agencies & Marketing Excellence, Mondelēz International, and Barry Byrne, Senior Global Procurement Director, Sales & Marketing, adidas, as co-chairs of the Global Sourcing Board, which will meet four times a year.

The pair will work alongside a panel of experienced marketing procurement leaders from some of the world’s biggest brands. Collectively, the new Global Sourcing Board represents companies spending in excess of $50 billion on communications each year, giving them huge power to drive wider change across the profession.

The initiative builds on research carried out by WFA late last year, which questioned senior marketing procurement executives, most in global roles, in 65 of the world’s biggest multinationals. The study found that while 83% of respondents confirmed that there was a company mandate in their organisations asking marketers to work closely with procurement, less than a third got involved at budget planning or initiation of requirements in the supplier relationship management process. Ninety-two per cent felt that the way their value and performance was perceived internally could be improved.

A key element of the Board’s work will be to champion WFA’s new Project Spring, which is designed to reshape marketing procurement from being a “cost-killer” function towards acting as a true strategic business partner for stakeholders.

Project Spring recognises that while saving targets are not going away, sourcing needs to also deliver on four key pillars:

• See marketing as an investment, not a cost to be cut;

• Rethink metrics to move away from cost and towards the value marketing procurement delivers to the company, demonstrating how the discipline can help CMOs achieve their goals;

• Broaden the services marketing procurement teams offer beyond RFP management, fee and contract negotiations; and

• To be perceived as a champion of growth, not a barrier to progress.

WFA’s global sourcing community, which meets seven times a year, sees the new board as an opportunity to evolve the current perception of marketing sourcing and its value contribution and is ready to embrace the opportunity to improve the industry as a whole without impacting on the competitive commercial positions of individual member companies.

“We all know that there is a frustration, we all know what we want and why we want it, now we need to go and get it. The WFA Sourcing Board will be a great vehicle to drive change and shape the new face of global marketing procurement. It’s time to make marketing procurement great. The switch from cost to value needs to be massively accelerated, it’s time to revolutionise the category,” said Barry Byrne.

“I’m very honoured and grateful to be co-chair of the WFA Sourcing Board with Barry. I look forward to making progress on Project Spring as soon as possible because good work in this space is already underway. The WFA Sourcing Board will help us to formalize the global vision. Our mission is alignment to business priorities and a plan to get there,” said Tracy Allery.

Tracy has held Marketing Procurement roles for the last two decades. Her experience gained at Mars, Diageo, Hershey and, since 2017, Mondelēz International covers a wide variety of categories including media, creative, digital/social, sponsorship, licensing, market research, celebrity talent and influencers.

Barry has led global procurement at adidas since February 2018, having previously worked for AB InBev as Global Director, Sports Sponsorships. He has also worked in global procurement roles for SABMiller and Carlsberg and as European Head of Procurement, Indirect for Diageo.

“The launch of the Global Sourcing Board is the first in a series of concrete steps that WFA, in partnership with its global sourcing community, is taking to accelerate change. Many companies have moved beyond savings and look to understand value in marketing but still with the perception, internally and externally, that they only look for savings,” said Laura Forcetti, Global Marketing Sourcing Manager, WFA. “Tracy and Barry are at the cutting edge of sourcing transformation and their experience will provide fantastic leadership for our new Global Sourcing Board.”

Today, the board brings together:

• Barry Byrne, Senior Global Procurement Director, Sales & Marketing, adidas (co-chair)

• Tracy Allery, Associate Director, Global Procurement, Agencies & Marketing Excellence, Mondelēz International (co-chair)

• Jennifer Mclachlan, Director, Brand Building Purchases, P&G

• Tuomas Anttila, Director, Global Marketing Procurement, Unilever

• Janelle Orozco, SVP Global Marketing Procurement, Diageo

• Myriam Benichou, Global Marketing Sourcing Director, L’Oréal

• Michael Pues-Tillkamp, Head of Marketing Procurement, IKEA

• Christopher Kredo, Sr. Strategic Sourcing Director – Global Marketing & Sales, Mars

• Ekaterina Agafonova, Global Strategic Sourcing Director Commerce, Heineken

• Jose Gonzalo Bisquerra Mora, VP Marketing & Sales, Global Procurement, GSK

• Magid Souhami, Global Sourcing Director, General Mills

• Alex Morse, Procurement Manager – Media, Nestlé

“Our goal is to help our members improve all of their marketing functions and procurement is no exception. The WFA Global Sourcing Board has the ambition of repositioning procurement role as a driver of growth and change its perception. Whilst there are some excellent teams who are doing amazing work, there is plenty of scope for improvement. Project Spring will provide a means of identifying the key areas that need to change and the steps that sourcing teams need to take,” said Stephan Loerke, CEO, WFA.

Watch WFA members’ views on evolving the practice and perception of marketing procurement. Hear from Diageo, General Mills, Heineken, L'Oréal, Mondelēz International, Nestlé, Pernod Ricard and The Observatory International below:


Global brands on how marketing procurement can add real value to the business


Global brands on how marketing procurement has evolved to deliver value beyond savings