NEWS

Heads of marketing at adidas, Marks & Spencer and the London 2012 Olympic bid awarded “CMO of the Year”

International jury selects Europe’s best Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) /Booz Allen Hamilton official partner to new CMO award /CMO award acknowledges direct interdependence between marketing and corporate success / Booz Allen Hamilton study finds businesses with a clear brand focus are more successful.

Three outstanding European heads of marketing were today presented with “CMO of the Year” awards at the Global Marketer Summit in Frankfurt am Main. This is the inaugural year of the award, presented by international strategy and technology consultants Booz Allen Hamilton in partnership with trade magazines Horizont and Advertising Age. The new award acknowledges marketing as a critical function of business management and underlines the growing importance of the Chief Marketing Officer in strategic and operational leadership.

The 2006 CMO of the year winners are:

David Magliano, Marketing Director for the successful London 2012 Olympic bid
Steven Sharp, Executive Director for Marketing at Marks & Spencer (GB)
Erich Stamminger, CEO for the adidas brand and board member of adidas AG.

The winners were selected by a jury of 14 leading world marketing experts, including: · CMOs from Deutsche Bahn AG, Mastercard Europe and Mercedes-Benz · Executive Vice Presidents from Orange Group, Volkswagen AG and Wrigley · CEOs of the Marketing Society UK and advertising agency Scholz & Friends AG · Professor of Marketing from the HEC School of Management, Paris · Representatives from Advertising Age, Financial Times and Horizont.

“With the CMO of the Year, we are giving awards to the crème de la crème of European marketers. The winners embody excellent strategic marketing bringing additional value to their companies across all areas,” commented Gregor Harter, jury member and managing partner at Booz Allen Hamilton, Germany.

Outstanding marketing strategists awarded prize David Magliano is the driving force behind the successful “London 2012” Olympic bid. The former EasyJet marketing chief succeeded in building a clear brand image and achieving a sustainable differentiation from other bidding cities in a limited timescale. Through stakeholder management and the use of innovative ambient media he secured a high level of recognition for the project. He fully delivered on a mission to communicate the passion held by London and its population for the Olympics. Initial sceptical public opinion was quickly transformed into broad support. Ultimately the decisive moment in the decision favouring London was the convincing presentation to the IOC in Singapore.

Steve Sharp has played a significant part in the turnaround of Marks & Spencer in the UK since 2004. The “Your M&S” campaign helped to fend off a hostile takeover bid and reestablish the confidence of staff and customers in this traditional brand. Since 2004 Marks & Spencer’s share price has almost doubled, turnover has increased and market share has been won back. Sharp’s innovative marketing approach was a key driver in this development. The jury were won over by the influence of Sharp’s marketing strategy on the overall company agenda, his capacity to tear down organisational barriers, his ability to increase brand value effectively and shape customers’ perception perfectly via innovative communication concepts.

Erich Stamminger is one of the architects of the enduring story of growth and success at adidas. As President and CEO for the adidas brand, he has redefined the global brand with the three stripes since 2000. Through the introduction of three new product areas, today adidas’ coverage of all areas of the sports item industry is unequalled by any other company. By emphasising the areas of design and innovation, supported by massive marketing campaigns (e.g. for the FIFA Football World Cup 2006), the brand image has improved noticeably. As a result, market shares in the traditional segments of football and tennis have been maintained, and additional share won in segments dominated by international competitors, such as basketball and running. The jury was impressed by Stamminger’s ability to sustain addidas’ differentiation from competitors through the re-positioning of the brand – internally and externally – plus the resulting implementation of marketing strategy in all relevant areas of the company.

Booz Allen study finds businesses with a clear brand focus are more successful
The link between consistent brand management and sustained corporate success has been demonstrated empirically. “Building and maintaining a strong brand pays off. In a global study, Booz Allen Hamilton was able to prove that companies managed with a strong brand focus achieve close on double the level of profits,“ says jury member and Booz Allen marketing expert Gregor Harter. Meshing the brand with the corporate strategy is becoming increasingly important. So-called “brand-guided” companies have significantly greater prospects of success in international competition. As a result, the role of the Chief Marketing Officer is also changing, having developed from being a creative campaign manager into that of a strategic company manager.

About Booz Allen Hamilton With around 18,000 employees and offices in six continents, Booz Allen Hamilton ranks amongst the leading global strategy and technology consultancies. The company is owned by its 250 active partners. It has six offices in the German-language region: Berlin, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Munich, Vienna and Zürich. In the last financial year, global turnover was US$ 3.7 billion, and in the German-language region EUR 205 million.

 

back