When newsprint brands are suffering atthe expense of their digital counterparts,it helps to get inside knowledge on board.In a ‘poacher turned gamekeeper’ turnabout,former Google and YouTube marketer AnnaBateson joined Guardian News and Media(GNM) as its first chief customer officer in 2017.
Bateson hasn’t so much switched sides asbecome the glue that brings them together.Her role is to manage partnerships withGoogle and Facebook as well as overseeevents, brand, syndication, subscriptions andall Guardian marketing.
She’s already seeing the fruits of the newreader-centric policy that encourages themto become ‘supporters’ by making voluntarypayments, and has stewarded a radicalredesign of the newspaper and website.Revenues are up 1% with digital up 15%,overtaking print for the first time.
Anna Bateson
CCO The Guardian
2
Once the retailer by which all others were judged, a number of missteps saw Tesco’s fortunesfall a few years ago. Alessandra Bellini is in charge of reversing that trend.
An experienced FMCG marketer with two decades at Unilever, Bellini has an instinctive feel forwhat makes customers respond to brands – and what drives them away. Since her appointmentin 2017 she has undertaken a complete overhaul of the company’s messaging as well as itsown-brand positioning. But above all, Tesco will have to live the values she is bestowing on it:“We always say you don’t talk yourself out of a problem, you behave yourself out2.”
Alessandra Bellini
CCO Tesco
3
Once the retailer by which all others were judged, a number of missteps saw Tesco’s fortunesfall a few years ago. Alessandra Bellini is in charge of reversing that trend.
An experienced FMCG marketer with two decades at Unilever, Bellini has an instinctive feel forwhat makes customers respond to brands – and what drives them away. Since her appointmentin 2017 she has undertaken a complete overhaul of the company’s messaging as well as itsown-brand positioning. But above all, Tesco will have to live the values she is bestowing on it:“We always say you don’t talk yourself out of a problem, you behave yourself out2.”
Lara Burns
CCO Tesco
8
When newsprint brands are suffering atthe expense of their digital counterparts,it helps to get inside knowledge on board.In a ‘poacher turned gamekeeper’ turnabout,former Google and YouTube marketer AnnaBateson joined Guardian News and Media(GNM) as its first chief customer officer in 2017.
Bateson hasn’t so much switched sides asbecome the glue that brings them together.Her role is to manage partnerships withGoogle and Facebook as well as overseeevents, brand, syndication, subscriptions andall Guardian marketing.
She’s already seeing the fruits of the newreader-centric policy that encourages themto become ‘supporters’ by making voluntarypayments, and has stewarded a radicalredesign of the newspaper and website.Revenues are up 1% with digital up 15%,overtaking print for the first time.
Zoe Burns-Shore
CCO The Guardian
7
With 20 years’ service in the Amazon machine, Dave Clark has witnessedevery transformation from the day it branched out beyond books to itsstatus as the behemoth marketplace we see today. It recently recordedrecord quarterly profits of $2.53bn (£1.9bn).
With his LinkedIn CV at the company beginning from a role based“wherever I was needed10”, Clark now heads up the retailer’s globalsupply chain and logistics. In today’s environment of incredibly highcustomer expectations, this is a field that may not receive the plauditsand attention of other business functions, but which is clearly crucial todelivering consistent customer experiences.
Dave Clark
SVP Amazon
6
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Marketers across the UK are doing outstanding work to create growth for their businesses and value for their customers. But to be one of Marketing Week’s Top 100 requires them to go even further than their peers.
Over the past six months Marketing Week has searched out the most effective marketers in the country to form a comprehensive long list. We then presented this to a prestigious panel of judges, consisting of some of the marketing industry’s most respected names and the leaders of its key trade bodies.
The marketers in the Top 100 deserve recognition for their unique personal achievements, yet at the same time it is clear many of them share key attributes in the eyes of our judges. These are the traits that set them apart from their peers and allow them to have an exceptional impact on both their companies and their wider markets.
“The great marketers that we see are changing the way their organisations operate,” says Ashling Kearns, vice-president of UK and Ireland marketing at Salesforce, and one of the 15 Top 100 judges. “They’re bringing companies together, they're bringing departments together, they're bringing their customers together.”
Doing this is no mean feat, Kearns recognises. It means “joining dots across their organisations”, recognising where innovative work is being done in other departments and harnessing it to achieve strategic goals.
“They understand that innovation doesn't happen in a silo, doesn't happen within their own team. Innovation is happening across multiple areas of the business, and the really smart and effective marketers are joining those dots and actually pulling together that innovation to deliver against the company strategy and against the company vision.”
Andria Vidler, CEO of Marketing Week owner Centaur Media and another of the judges, singles out the characteristics that enable marketers to perform this task of uniting a company and making it more than the sum of its parts.
“They're collaborative,” she says. “They're open-minded to new ideas and they accept ideas that can come from anywhere - from internally or from externally, from any level of person.”
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What sets the Top 100 marketers apart
TOP100 Judges
Thomas Barta
Marketing Week columnist and marketing leadership expert
Lindsey Clay
CEO, Thinkbox
Helen Edwards
Marketing Week columnist and founding partner, Passionbrand
Ashley Friedlein
Founder Econsultancy
Tom Fishburne
The Marketoonist
Paul Geddes
Former CEO,
Direct Line Group
Kathryn Jacobs OBE
CEO, Pearl & Dean
Mark Ritson
Marketing Week columnist and consultant
Sherilyn Shackell
CEO, The Marketing Academy
Suki Thompson
Chair, Oystercatchers
Phil Smith
Director general, ISBA
Dame Cilla Snowball
Portfolio director
Andria Vidler
CEO, Centaur Media
Stephen Woodford
CEO, Advertising Association
Ashling Kearns,
Vice-president of UK and Ireland marketing, Salesforce
meet the judges
TOP100 hOME
methodology
The top100 list
The final 100 were chosen on the basis of a number of factors:
Business success, which included, but was not limited to, company results, brand health scores and alignment of marketing to business strategy.
Innovative thinking, including introduction of new initiatives and new product development.
Impact and influence, 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 then ranked them according to the above criteria and a final 10 for each grouping was determined.
Those considered for the long lists were the most senior marketer of their brand, company or in the division or unit. They must have worked for a UK brand, company or had responsibility for the UK market and must have achieved against the set criteria in the 12 months to March 2019.
Criteria
& process
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 then ranked them according to the above criteria and a final 10 for each grouping was determined.
Those considered for the long lists were the most senior marketer of their brand, company or in the division or unit. They must have worked for a UK brand, company or had responsibility for the UK market and must have achieved against the set criteria in the 12 months to March 2019.
Marketing Week’s purpose is to help marketers be more effective at marketing and as marketing leaders. We can do this by prompting and provoking debate, by highlighting where marketers are going wrong.
We can also do this by showcasing what good looks like. This is the objective of Marketing Week’s inaugural Top 100.
By showcasing 100 marketers across 10 sector groupings, we can begin to build a picture of what makes an effective marketer.
When we began this process, we set ourselves two initial goals – to ensure the final list was compiled in as robust a way as possible, and to ensure those chosen represented all corners of the marketing universe. Because we have looked at candidates from across almost 20 vertical and horizontal sectors, the 100 represent a big chunk of the marketers plying their trade at large organisations.
Also, by employing the knowledge, insight and wisdom of some of the most experienced and opinionated voices in the industry to judge a long list against set criteria, we are confident we have a list of marketers that has been exposed to rigorous scrutiny. You can read more about our judges and the methodology used on the pages that follow.
This is just the beginning for the Top 100. You can only learn so much from a list of names and a brief summary of their achievements. Over the course of the next year and beyond, and through interviews, podcasts and events, we will dig into the secrets behind their success as we look to build that picture of what effective marketing leadership looks like.
Congratulations to all those who made the list – your place is well deserved. The group is a brilliant testament to the talent UK marketing can boast.
Marketers are no longer just a support service to the rest of a business.
In 2019, they are a central part of business transformation as companies of all kinds pivot towards the customer and driving growth.
With marketing as an industry in a state of ground-breaking evolution – from the access to data to the need for businesses to move faster than ever – an effective marketer is one who brings a sense of curiosity to this brave new world, and is able to master the new tools at their disposal.
Today, customer centricity is the name of the game across all sectors, and that is why technology such as AI is such a huge opportunity for marketers. Customer interactions are becoming more data-driven, and so those who can tailor personalised engagement based on past interactions will be head and shoulders above the rest.
This list is important because it champions those who are really making an impact on our industry, and it gives the next generation of marketers role models to learn from.
With a panel made up of some of the biggest names in marketing, these are the individuals who are creating lasting change in their organisations. We are honoured to have partnered with Marketing Week for this project, because it has given me the opportunity to meet with and hear about other marketers across a whole array of industries and the great work they’re doing.
A big congratulations to everyone who made it on to the list this year. I can’t wait to see what you do in the next.
Russell Parsons, editor, Marketing Week
Ashling Kearns, vice-president, UK
and Ireland marketing, Salesforce
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further reading
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What sets the Top 100 marketers apart
What sets the TOP100 marketers apart
podcasts
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podcasts
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hOME
hOME
meet the judges
meet the judges
methodology
methodology
analysis
analysis
TOP100 hOME
TOP100 hOME
meet the judges
meet the judges
methodology
methodology
analysis
analysis
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