In order to find the world's top marketer, The World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) has partnered with The Drum for the Global Marketer of the Year award 2018.
The shortlist for this year’s award features heads of marketing from Coty,Diageo, Ikea,Mastercard, Procter & Gamble and Unilever. Ahead of the 25 January deadline for voting, Diageo's chief marketing and innovation officer, Syl Saller, spoke to the WFA about her main challenges and accomplishments.
Owning Diageo's marketing top spot for almost six years, Saller has been nominated for the award because of her dual achievements in bringing greater innovation to the company's marketing and her championing of gender diversity.
Saller has been an active force in encouraging companies to invest in female talent and has been outspoken in her drive to make more gender equal workplaces.
"I would say really raising the game on diversity, inclusion and progressive gender portrayal will make an enormous difference, because without doing that, we are missing so many voices that can make a difference to our industry," she said, "it’s a huge focus for me, it’s a huge focus for Diageo and I want to see it be a massive focus for our industry."
Earlier this month, Saller personally wrote to every one of the advertising and media agencies on its roster, asking to see statistics on gender diversity and pay gaps.
This year, Saller also spearheaded Diageo’s signing of ‘Free The Bid’, which called on ad agencies to put forward at least one female director as part of any creative bid, and joined Women in Advertising & Communications London (WACL) on calling on the marketing, media and communications industries to invest in female talent and close the leadership gap.
Watch the full video above. You can vote for Syl Saller and the other finalist for the WFA Marketer of the Year Award here.