WFA names shortlist for Global Marketer of the Year 2019

WFA has unveiled the shortlist for the 2019 Global Marketer of the Year, featuring global marketing leaders from Burger King, Diageo, Grab, Johnson & Johnson, L’Oréal and Procter & Gamble.

An expert jury of 14 media and marketing leaders considered more than 30 nominations names as part of the shortlisting process, with each judge nominating their top six. The six marketers with the most votes have been shortlisted.

The shortlist includes:

• Fernando Machado, Chief Marketing Officer, Burger King. Fernando has revitalised the Burger King brand, one that agencies recognise as a ‘great client’ because he’s ready to work hard for bold creative ideas.
• Syl Saller, Chief Marketing and Innovation Officer at Diageo. Syl is a leading voice on marketing leadership and the power of a diverse and representative team. She combines rigour with creativity in a way that enables the company to increase investment on the back of proven gains in return.
• Cheryl Goh, Group VP of Marketing & Founding CMO at Grab. Cheryl is part of the early founding team at Grab. Starting in Kuala Lumpur as a one-man marketing team, she has built the marketing practise across South-East Asia over the last six years. Today, she leads marketing in more than 300 cities in eight countries, covering all of Grab's business verticals including transport, food, payments and logistics.
• Richa Goswami, Senior Director, Office of Marketing Value, Global Digital and Technology Excellence for J&J Consumer Health. Richa has been the driving force behind one the most disruptive, inspiring and celebrated pieces of work by J&J, Project Free Period. This project brought J&J multiple awards, including a Spikes Grand Prix for creative effectiveness, back-to-back Lions at Cannes and the inaugural D&AD Impact Prize Fund for an idea that can positively impact lives.
• Lubomira Rochet, Chief Digital Officer, L’Oréal. Lubomira is leading the digital transformation of L’Oréal, creating a new model for the marketing organisation and boosting eCommerce revenues. Data now allows the company to deliver meaningful and relevant content to consumers.
• Marc Pritchard, Chief Brand Officer at Procter & Gamble. Marc has ensured marketing powers P&G’s results, revamping its agency model, tackling media transparency and creating powerful ad experiences to address the challenges of brand citizenship.

All six have demonstrated outstanding leadership in the three key areas on which the award is judged:

1. Evolving their organisation to be more people-centric, better able to respond to consumer needs and building happier, more engaged teams internally;
2. Working smarter with partners, be they agencies or vendors, and ensuring that the whole team is aligned to the same goals;
3. Delivering inspiring work that genuinely makes a difference, be that cultural, social or for the business.

The next stage in the process will be a public vote – supported by The Drum, which is partnering the WFA on this initiative -, WFA member and jury vote with each element accounting for a third of the final score. Industry representatives can vote for their favourite starting today and until early January 2020 at www.globalmarketeroftheyear.com. The winner will be announced in late January 2020.

Mastercard’s CMCO Raja Rajamannar, chair of the Jury and WFA president, said: “Hearty congratulations to all six marketers on the shortlist for this year’s WFA Global Marketer of the Year. As a global marketer facing similar challenges, I have profound respect for all six of them and for how they’ve demonstrated that marketing can transform their businesses, their relationship with consumers and drive growth.”

Stephan Loerke, CEO of the WFA, said: “Being a global or regional marketer isn’t getting any easier, but the six shortlisted candidates powerfully demonstrate that this is a role that can deliver real rewards for companies, consumers and society more widely. Huge congratulations to them all.”

This is the third year that the WFA is running Global Marketer of the Year. Global Marketer of the Year 2017 went to Unilever’s Keith Weed and Raja Rajamannar was the winner in 2018.