WFA reveals CMO shortlist for Global Marketer of the Year 2024

From left to right: Asad Ayaz (The Walt Disney Company), Aruna Ravichandran (Cisco), Kofi Amoo-Gottfried (DoorDash), Diana Frost (Kraft Heinz) and Marcel Marcondes (AB InBev).

The five finalists for WFA’s 2024 Global Marketer of the Year award, celebrating the work of global marketing leaders from some of the world’s biggest companies, have been announced.

An expert jury of 18 marketing leaders, led by Mastercard Chief Marketing and Communications Officer and WFA President, Raja Rajamannar, considered a host of eligible names submitted by the industry, with each judge nominating their top contenders to create the shortlist. All will be added to the WFA’s Hall of Fame.

Those entering the final voting round for the 2024 award are:

1. Kofi Amoo-Gottfried, Chief Marketing Officer, DoorDash: Kofi has turned the utility of meal delivery into a cultural triumph, helping DoorDash become the largest food delivery company in the US – with a 67% share in the meal-delivery category.
2. Asad Ayaz, Chief Brand Officer, The Walt Disney Company and President of Marketing, The Walt Disney Studios and Disney+: Asad has led campaigns for the most watched films on Disney+ and Hulu and 13 of the top 15 box office debuts of all time, including the biggest worldwide debut of all time for “Avengers: Endgame,” which earned over $1.2 billion in five days.
3. Diana Frost, Global Chief Growth Officer, The Kraft Heinz Company: Diana plays a pivotal role in new initiatives designed to drive bottom line results, including a successful joint venture with NotCo, a plant-based food tech company. The company has even used AI to accelerate development of plant-based versions of iconic Kraft Heinz products to drive results.
4. Marcel Marcondes, Global Chief Marketing Officer, AB InBev: Marcel has led the company’s new brand approach focusing on global “megabrands”, boosting revenue by 3.3%, with Corona alone growing revenue by 5.6% outside Mexico in Q2 2024. AB InBev now has eight of the top 10 most valuable beer brands worldwide, including Corona at No. 1 and Budweiser at No. 2, according to KANTAR’s BrandZ research.
5. Aruna Ravichandran, SVP, Chief Marketing and Customer Officer, Webex by Cisco: Aruna is the first B2B marketer to be a finalist for Global Marketer of the Year, turning the marketing team into a critical revenue driver for Cisco’s collaboration business.

Vote for your favourite now

The next stage in the process will be a public vote by the industry – supported by The Drum – and a jury vote, with each element accounting for a half of the final score.

Members of the industry can vote for their favourite global marketer starting today and until 20 January 2025 at globalmarketeroftheyear.com. The winner will be announced in late January.

“Global Marketer of the Year is a chance to celebrate the impact that smart marketing makes to the bottom line, and those leaders behind these innovative strategies. I’m delighted to see that the five finalists in this year’s WFA Global Marketer of the Year initiative represent a wide range of categories and demonstrate that the power of marketing to drive business growth is as strong as ever,” said Mastercard’s CMCO Raja Rajamannar, chair of the expert jury and WFA President.

About WFA Global Marketer of the Year

Since 2017, the WFA Global Marketer of the Year Award has been seeking to identify the person in a global or regional role who has, over the last 12 months, made the most impact on their company, our industry and the reputation of marketing among consumers.

The 2023 winner was Asmita Dubey, Chief Digital & Marketing Officer at L’Oréal. Other winners include Keith Weed, Unilever’s then Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, who won in 2017, followed by Raja Rajamannar in 2018 and Lubomira Rochet, then Chief Digital Officer at L’Oréal in 2019. P&G’s Chief Brand Officer Marc Pritchard won in 2020 followed by Conny Braams, then Chief Digital and Commercial Officer at Unilever in 2021 and Cristina Diezhandino, CMO at Diageo in 2022.