Leaders from The Coca-Cola Company, Cathay Pacific, Elf Beauty, Grab, Lenovo and Mercado Libre have made the shortlist.
From Left to Right: Manolo Arroyo, Cheryl Goh, Edward Bell, Emily Ketchen, Sean Summers, Kory Marchisotto
The Drum and the World Federation of Advertisers have unveiled the six finalists for the 2025 Global Marketer of the Year award.
An expert jury of 17 marketing industry leaders considered more than 30 eligible names submitted by the industry as part of the process, with each judge nominating their top contenders.
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The finalists are:
Leading a global marketing network of more than 2,000 professionals, Manolo Arroyo is recognized as the architect of the most radical marketing transformation in the history of The Coca-Cola Company, reshaping the portfolio of brands, innovation, modernizing its marketing and designing an industry-leading partnership with WPP. Prior to his current role, he served from 2019 to 2020 as both the global CMO and as president of Coca-Cola’s Asia Pacific operating group.
Edward Bell is responsible for the development of brand strategy, consumer insights, loyalty marketing and marketing communications for the Cathay Pacific group globally. He has spent the majority of his career in marketing strategy and later as a CEO for marketing and communication consultancies across Asia and Greater China. He is the recipient of the prestigious IPA and Jay Chiat awards for marketing effectiveness and strategy.
Cheryl Goh was part of the early founding team at Grab and has been instrumental in shaping one of Southeast Asia’s most recognized and enduring technology brands. She leads the full marketing remit across Grab’s ecosystem – encompassing product marketing, communications, and growth – while also driving the company’s sustainability agenda and customer experience operations across the region. She oversees the full business P&L of Grab’s loyalty programs, making her one of the few CMOs globally who combine deep brand-building expertise with operational and commercial accountability.
Emily Ketchen leads global marketing strategy and execution across Lenovo’s intelligent devices group and Motorola, driving growth in brand and product demand, customer insights, sponsorships and creative direction. She also oversees marketing across international markets spanning EMEA, Asia Pacific, North America and Latin America. She has previously worked at HP, Dell and Publicis & Hal Riney.
Kory Marchisotto has helped catapult Elf Beauty’s meteoric ascent to 27 consecutive quarters of net sales growth and market share gains, define and activate the company’s game-changing purpose platform and grow Elf Cosmetics in the US into the No 1 favorite for Gen Z and the No 1 most-purchased cosmetics brand for Gen Alpha and Millennials. She joined the company in 2019, having previously worked at Shiseido, LVMH and Puig.
Sean Summers assumed the CMO role in 2018, and in 2022, he added the EVP brief for Mercado Ads. Prior to this, he worked at Quaker and Tropicana and Twinings in the UK, as well for Pepsico in both LatAm and the UK. He is also a board member at World Rugby Events & Media Company (part of World Rugby).
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The winner will be determined by the expert jury and announced in January 2026, following a judges’ debate informed by the latest data from official partner Kantar, including both BrandZ and its Blueprint for Brand Growth research.
“This year’s finalists once again demonstrate the impact that marketing leaders are delivering for their brands every day,” said Stephan Loerke, CEO of WFA. “They are showing how it is possible to react and respond to the massive changes occurring in consumer behavior and the media landscape, while also remaining true to the marketing fundamentals that are proven to deliver brand growth. Congratulations to all.”
Launched in 2017, previous winners of the WFA Global Marketer of the Year award include Asmita Dubey, chief digital and marketing officer at L’Oréal, who won for 2023, and Marcel Marcondes, global chief marketing officer at AB InBev, who won for 2024.
You can read our past interviews with Global Marketer of the Year winners.