Regulated Industries

Global marketing director, AstraZeneca Digital has played a “huge role” over the past year for Graham Addison, who is responsible for defining the global brand strategy and growth opportunities for medicines in AstraZeneca’s cardiovascular portfolio. He led on the successful integration of virtual reality into the team, creating a digital way for clinicians to ‘meet’ to discuss patient case studies. Meanwhile, the digital engagement strategy Addison developed for AstraZeneca’s presence at the first virtual European Society of Cardiology Congress has become a blueprint for future conferences. Leading the global brand planning process for 2022, Addison has developed a globally aligned brand strategy focused on patient centricity. An example is the ‘Unmasking Mis’ initiative, designed to encourage people with mild to moderate symptoms of a heart attack to see urgent medical attention regardless of any Covid-19 surges. In addition, AstraZeneca’s Life-Script initiative is piloting the use of artificial intelligence to support patients, using digital nudges to increase adherence with their treatment regime. The team is now exploring how to use the algorithm for the early detection of disease.■

B2B

CHARITY & PUBLIC SECTOR

CONSUMER GOODS

CONSUMER TECH & AUTOMOTIVE

MEDIA, TELECOMS & ENTERTAINMENT

ONLINE & DISRUPTORS

REGULATED INDUSTRIES

RETAIL

SPORT, GAMING & GAMBLING

TRAVEL, TRANSPORT & HOSPITALITY

meet the judges

TOP100 hOME

methodology

The top100 list

Graham Addison

Chief marketing, innovation and strategy officer, Rentokil Initial Rentokil Initial’s Gary Booker grew up with a passion for understanding human behaviour. This led to a career in marketing, spanning leadership roles at O2, Electronic Arts and Dixons Carphone. However, Booker was drawn to the “extraordinary” opportunity to add value in the B2B sector when taking on his role at pest control and hygiene services company Rentokil Initial in 2018. A member of the global executive leadership team, Booker leads the group’s marketing, innovation, digital, research and development, product development and group sales functions, driving the strategy globally. Employing 43,000 people worldwide, Rentokil Initial has ramped up its efforts during the pandemic, with Booker’s team striving to protect people from the dangers of pest-borne disease and risks of poor hygiene in over 80 countries worldwide. Recognised for its commitment to innovation, last year Rentokil Initial won the Queen’s Award for Enterprise for Innovation for Lumnia, its range of commercial insect light traps. The company has seen its share price more than triple in value over the past four years, acquiring 24 businesses in the first half of 2021 alone. Rentokil Initial is now on track to grow its full year pre-tax profit by approximately £10m to £15m.■

Gary Booker

regulated industries

Director of brand and marketing, Ovo Energy Sustainability is a growing concern for many consumers and it is Sarah Booth's job to communicate Ovo Energy's commitment to the cause. This is epitomised by Plan Zero, the company's long-term business strategy to achieve net zero carbon living and help its members halve their total carbon footprint by 2030. Last year, Ovo launched a campaign highlighting the actions people can take to reduce their collective carbon footprint. It showed more than a quarter of an individual’s energy output comes from their home energy use and suggested ways to reduce energy waste and promote carbon neutral energy plans. The campaign was designed to promote the launch of Ovo Beyond, an upgrade to the standard home energy plan helping customers on their journey to zero carbon. “Optimism is powerful; it gives us a sense of agency and it inspires action,” said Booth. “If everyone in the UK does this together, we could eventually reduce our national carbon footprint by over 101 million tonnes per year.” The brand also offered new customers a £50 gift card on Black Friday to spend with the National Trust, encouraging them to connect with nature rather than contribute to the 429,000 tonnes of carbon generated by the discount shopping event.■

Sarah Booth

Global marketing director, Pfizer Since graduating from the University of Manchester in 2015 with a degree in Biomedical Sciences, Stephen Brennand has worked at pharmaceutical group Pfizer, rapidly progressing from hospital sales representative to global marketing director in less than five years. Brennand, who studied for a professional diploma at the Chartered Institute of Marketing while working at the group, has experience in pharmaceutical sales, market access, digital marketing and financial management. Like other pharmaceutical giants, Pfizer has had a high profile during the Covid-19 pandemic. Marketing Week columnist Mark Ritson described the company’s response to the crisis as maybe its finest hour, generating long-term benefits to its brand and reputation. The benefits have also translated into financial success. Pfizer's full-year results for 2020 totalled $41.9bn (£30.4bn), an increase of 2% or $736m compared to 2019. During the fourth quarter of 2020 alone the company grew by 11%. Then in August the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine was awarded full approval by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), including giving the green light to its official brand name, Cominarty.■

Stephen Brennand

Chief marketing officer, Purplebricks After starting his career as a journalist at New Media Age - a former sister title of Marketing Week - Purplebricks CMO Ben Carter moved into digital marketing as a consultant before being appointed head of online marketing at Setanta Sports. He founded Evolv Digital and held senior digital marketing roles at Betfair before moving to Notonthehighstreet and Just Eat. He joined Purplebricks in November 2020, assuming responsibility for the marketing, customer, pricing and brand strategy, with a view to transforming the brand and accelerating growth. Since his arrival, Purplebricks has tried new marketing strategies, including a product placement deal in soap opera Coronation Street, which saw the brand take responsibility for the sale of the Rovers Return Inn. This summer the online estate agent dialled up its comms around the Olympics as part of its partnership with Team GB and showed support for the England football team by putting boards up along striker Raheem Sterling's boyhood street in Brent, which read 'It's coming home'. Revenues jumped 13% to £90.9m in the year to the end of April, with Purplebricks now promising to refund sellers their upfront fees if it fails to find them a buyer.■

Ben Carter

Director, customer engagement and delivery, British Gas Just before the Covid-19 pandemic hit British Gas launched its ‘Here to solve’ brand positioning, dropping its much-loved Wilbur the penguin character in a bid to change perceptions, illustrate the products and services it offers, and drive reappraisal. Ultimately Jill Dougan said the brand wanted to be more representative of its customer base, showcasing its strengths and expertise. Brand consideration increased as a result of the campaign, particularly among the audience groups it was trying to attract, plus British Gas beat its retention and reappraisal targets, and campaign ROI increased. The new creative concept also allowed British Gas to show greater diversity, including featuring a gay couple for the first time in its advertising. “Does it mean everyone is happy we got rid of Wilbur? Absolutely not, but the results speak for themselves,” said Dougan, who was promoted to director of customer engagement and delivery in June. Her influence outside British Gas is growing, with Dougan being appointed in February as the new chair of the ISBA Executive Committee, a group of senior industry experts which oversees the work of member steering groups.■

Jill Dougan

Chief customer and transformation officer, Bupa Global, India and UK Joining private healthcare group Bupa in 2013 as director of digital, Rob Edmundson added product and proposition to his responsibilities before taking on his current role in January 2018. A member of the global and UK executive team reporting to the CEO, Edmundson is responsible for brand, marketing, insights, digital, customer experience, change management and new ventures at Bupa. When it comes to customer experience, Edmundson has been the driving force behind the integration of AI into call centres to improve customer journeys, using speech recognition to manage the identification procedures. His team is also behind the launch of the #TeenMinds campaign to support the young people hardest hit by the Covid-19 crisis, raising awareness of the fact that three in four are experiencing symptoms of poor mental health.■

Rob Edmundson

Global chief marketing officer, HomeServe Gareth Helm took on the newly created role of global CMO at home repairs and improvements business HomeServe in August last year, assuming responsibility for the company’s multi-brand strategy. He works closely with the brand CMOs across the company’s portfolio including HomeServe, CheckaTrade and Habitissimo, with the ultimate mission of accelerating growth, not just in the UK but across the US, Canada, France, Spain and Japan. His appointment was part of HomeServe’s strategy to become the “most trusted provider of home repairs and improvements”. The group increased revenue by 15% to £1.3bn in its 2021 financial year, with investment in marketing, partnerships, technology and innovation forming a key part of the brand’s growth strategy. Prior to HomeServe, Helm served as UK CMO at McDonald’s, before leaving the fast food chain in June 2020. He joins the new cohort of marketing leaders selected for the 2021 Marketing Academy EMEA Fellowship Programme.■

Gareth Helm

Chief growth and marketing officer, Bulb Energy The traditional ‘big six’ energy suppliers are continuing to lose ground to challenger brands, with renewable energy company Bulb now claiming a 6% market share in the UK. That will come as welcome news to chief growth and marketing officer Lis Blair, who is responsible for the brand's "relentless focus" on simplicity. This strategy appears to be working, with Bulb being named Europe's fastest growing company in March. The company posted revenues of £1.52bn for the 12 months to 31 March 2020, almost doubling what it achieved in 2019 when revenues grew from £183m to £823m, generating a gross profit of £8m. Bulb continues to grow, having now launched in France, Spain and Texas in the US and is on a mission to reach 100 million people worldwide. Blair joined Bulb in September 2020, having previously served as CMO at EasyJet. She has worked across a number of sectors, with roles at Barclays and Audi, as well as time spent running her own consultancy.■

Lis Blair

Chief marketing officer, KPMG International Samantha Burns has led marketing for two of the ‘big four’ accountancy firms over the past two decades, in her current role as director of marketing at KPMG and previously at EY. Burns describes herself as being adept at dealing with “large, complex organisations undergoing transformation and managing multi-stakeholders across both local and international markets”. That concise description only hints at the complexity of her role at KPMG, a company that operates in 146 countries, offering audit, tax and advisory services. The business employs the equivalent of 15,595 full-time staff and has 21 offices in the UK alone. At the onset of the pandemic, the firm moved all colleagues to remote working and introduced a special leave code, enabling staff to take unlimited paid time off to care for family and loved ones during the pandemic, which remains in place. Externally, KPMG launched a digital platform and portfolio of services in August to help businesses respond to the new ways of working. With a focus on improving productivity, Learning Services is designed to accelerate the upskilling process and help organisations offer training in times of need.■

Samantha Burns

neW

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