Allwyn Chief Brand Officer David Wheldon named as new WFA President

Ferrero’s Chief Institutional Affairs and Corporate Communications Officer, Phil Myers, takes over as Deputy President. Senior executives from First Bank of Nigeria, Kenvue and Nissan join CMOs from Cathay Pacific, Etihad, Nestlé, Nissan, PepsiCo and L’Oréal on WFA leadership team. David Wheldon OBE has been named as the new President of the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA), replacing Raja Rajamannar, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer at Mastercard, who is stepping down after six years in the role. Wheldon, who was previously WFA President from 2015 to 2019, is currently Chief…

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AB InBev CMO wins Global Marketer of the Year

Marcel Marcondes, Global Chief Marketing Officer, AB InBev has won the 2024 WFA Global Marketer of the Year, WFA’s annual celebration of great marketing leadership, organised in partnership with The Drum. Marcondes was one of five shortlisted candidates and topped the combined public and expert jury vote. Marcel has led AB InBev’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…

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WFA reveals CMO shortlist for Global Marketer of the Year 2024

Expert jury selects global marketing leaders from AB InBev, DoorDash, Kraft Heinz, The Walt Disney Company and Cisco as finalists. Voting is now open until 20 January 2025, with the winner announced later that month in partnership with The Drum. 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…

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Five takeouts from the predicted media inflation rises

Media inflation is predicted to rise over the next couple of years. WFA Tom Ashby, Global Lead, Media Services, highlights some implications for advertisers. The latest WFA Outlook report highlights a return to a rising inflationary market and that presents challenges that brands need to manage. Every media director will have to work out the right solution for their brands, but five general trends are apparent from the aggregate data provided by our nine agency and consultant partners: Inflation is challenging for media budgets Just as compound interest helps your…

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Eighty percent of brands have concerns about agency use of GenAI

More than half of companies plan to review contracts with media and creative agencies. WFA releases practical guidance for GenAI contracts.   Nearly two-thirds of brand owners (63%) are already using generative AI in their marketing strategies, according to new research from the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) but many have serious concerns about the technology. Eighty percent of multinational brand owners have expressed concerns about how creative and media agency partners are using generative AI (gen AI) on their behalf and legal (66%), ethical (51%) and reputation (49%) risks…

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