WFA is now seeking nominations from the wider marketing industry as well as via an expert jury of global marketers and industry experts, with media partner, The Drum, promoting the award across its three regional online editions, print magazine and social platforms.
Global CMOs at WFA’s recent Global Marketer Week in Toronto refuted the idea that being CMO has become an impossible job, citing their excitement at the broader and more business-focused brief they were being asked to deliver.
Those nominated for the award should demonstrate outstanding leadership in two or more of the following four areas:
- Driving initiatives that contribute to business growth;
- Developing talent and capabilities within their marketing organisations;
- Delivering stand-out innovation and creativity; and
- Demonstrating industry leadership, for example in relation to Diversity & Inclusion and environmental sustainability.
They should also have been working for their current company for two years or more.
Nominations can be made through globalmarketeroftheyear.com. The deadline for nominations is 15 September 2024.
Nominations will be considered by an expert jury in September and October, with those shortlisted being profiled in The Drum and on the WFA’s website later in the year. The list of jurors for 2024 will be announced in September.
This year’s shortlisted marketers will also be inducted into the Global Marketer Hall of Fame, joining the marketers who have been competing for this prestigious award since it was first launched in 2017.
The winner will be decided by a combination of public voting by the industry and the expert jury verdict, with each counting for half of the final score. The winner will be announced in January 2025.
“There are not many awards that recognize the wholesome performance of a marketer. WFA tries to fill that gap. Global Marketer of the Year is an incredible recognition and celebration of the best marketers, those who have produced amazing work and made a significant contribution to their business and to the industry and society more broadly,” said Raja Rajamannar, Mastercard Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, WFA President and chair of the WFA Global Marketer of the Year expert jury between 2019-2023.
“We need inspiring marketers more than ever, marketers who can lead their brands to growth and marketers who can articulate how vital initiatives around diversity and sustainability are not nice-to-have, but closely aligned with business success. The WFA Global Marketer of the Year award is designed to celebrate the people in our business who deliver value for their stakeholders but also for the planet and society, and I’m very excited to see this year’s nominations,” said Stephan Loerke, CEO of WFA.
Last year’s winner was Asmita Dubey, Chief Digital and 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.
Talking to WFA and The Drum about the qualities the modern marketer needs to embody, L’Oréal’s Asmita Dubey said:
“We are excited for the new generation of marketers who are combining creativity and technology, math and magic, agility and scale, the left brain and the right brain, who are building ROI in the short term but also brand equity in the long term.”