analysis
methodology
judges
methodology
RUSSELL
PARSONS
It’s almost cliché to say that it’s been a bruising 12 months. Perpetually, we seem to be in a state of uncertainty but this year has thrown up its own tests for UK businesses still reeling from inflation, and the tremors of geopolitical horrors in Eastern Europe. Interest rates were hiked to try and suppress inflation, further spooking businesses and consumers. It could be argued marketers, at the coalface of shifts in consumer sentiment and exposed more than many budget holders to the keen eye of those looking to mitigate macro-economic ructions, have been hit particularly hard. Budgets have been cut, attention has been focused on finding the optimum balance between efficiency and effectiveness like never before. Meanwhile, ‘do more with less’ has become the necessary but unhelpful mantra in many departments suffering from a lack of people and funds.
And yet, despite the multiple challenges, indeed because of them, there has been plenty to marvel at. Many marketing leaders have demonstrated tactical innovation in their juggling of the 4Ps; resolve and empathy in their management of people; foresight in helping steward organisations in challenging circumstances. Several have led organisational efforts to meet social and cultural challenges. Plenty have taken it upon themselves to lead efforts to open up marketing to new recruits from different backgrounds.
It is those demonstrating these attributes and others that we celebrate in Marketing Week’s Top 100, sponsored by Digitas. Now in its fifth year, the Top 100 is a hat tip to the UK’s most effective marketing leaders. A celebration of the people who are demonstrating the capability and skills to achieve in challenging circumstances.
Although limited to 100, and the most senior marketers in large organisations, (see below for more info on methodology) the depth and breadth of achievement shown by those selected is hugely impressive. We have always cast our net wide but this year we have looked even further beyond the excellent marketing leaders in marketing organisations from sectors and categories, rightly but often lauded, and have included more from historically less celebrated places, such as professional services, manufacturing and other B2B organisations. Worth noting too, the role of our judges, listed here. The insight and experience they offer in knowing what really good looks like help determine the final 100, and offer a more 360-degree view of effective marketing leadership than myself and my editorial colleagues could manage alone.
Albeit confined to just 100, the achievements of the Top 100 are illustrative of the best marketing has to offer. There is much wrong with modern marketing. Plenty of missteps, rabbit holes and unnecessary distractions carried out by some marketers looking to compensate for a job they seemingly feel ill at ease with. Marketing Week will continue to cajole and challenge bad practice. But it’s also important we celebrate. To take a step back and remind ourselves that there is plenty of people doing a really bloody good job. Of marketing, and for marketing. Serving customers, driving outcomes for organisations, and doing so by being strategic and attuned to changes in the economy, in technology, in society that necessitates different thinking.
You might be suffering a CEO who likes to think they know more about marketing than you, investment decisions put under more scrutiny than ever before, or be facing a particularly thorny budgeting season but, for now, let’s take a moment to recognise what’s possible. The Marketing Week Top 100, sponsored by Digitas, should be celebrated for their achievements, and for what they represent - the undeniable talent in the UK marketing industry.
Russell Parsons
Editor-in-chief, Marketing Week
CRITERIA & PROCESS
which included, but was not limited to, company results, brand health scores and alignment of marketing to business strategy.
Business success
including the introduction of new initiatives, product development and digital transformation, particularly in light of the current climate.
INNOVATIVE THINKING AND LEADERSHIP
which included involvement in industry and sector initiatives, as well as evidence of internal influence.
A long list for 10 vertical sector groupings was chosen by senior members of the Marketing Week editorial team. Names and justifications were then passed to the judges who ranked them according to the criteria and the final 10 for each grouping was determined. Those considered for the long lists were the most senior marketer of their brand, company division or unit. They must have worked for a UK brand or company, or had responsibility for the UK market, and must have achieved against the set criteria in the 18 months to June 2023.
IMPACT AND INFLUENCE
The final 100 marketers were chosen on the basis of a number of factors:
