ANNUAL REPORT

2015

The only organisation representing and connecting global marketers.

London • Brussels • Singapore

PRESIDENT’S VISION 2 MESSAGE FROM THE MANAGING DIRECTOR 3 EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 4 MARKETING GROUPS 6 CMOFORUM IMCFORUM MEDIAFORUM

7 DIGITALFORUM SOURCINGFORUM INSIGHTFORUM

8 WORLDWIDE MEETINGS

10 MARKETING HIGHLIGHTS

WFA STAFF 12

PUBLIC AFFAIRS GROUPS 14 RESPONSIBLE ADVERTISING AND CHILDREN PROGRAMME POLICY ACTION GROUP

15 DIGITAL GOVERNANCE EXCHANGE ALCOHOL MARKETING

16 PUBLIC AFFAIRS HIGHLIGHTS

WFA EVENTS 18 GLOBAL MARKETER WEEK, MARRAKECH

20 PROJECT RECONNECT, MARRAKECH, SINGAPORE

21 LATIN AMERICAN REGIONAL MEETING, MEXICO CITY

FINANCIAL STATEMENT 22 AUDITOR’S REPORT 23 2015 IN NUMBERS 24

President’s Vision

One thing I’ve learned over 30 years in the ad industry is that brand is everything. It’s the product, the people, the promise, the purpose and the point of view of an organ-isation.

WFA is a fantastic brand. It has a first class team doing outstanding work. It brings to-gether a uniquely diverse and truly global network of professionals who are passion-ate about the advancement of marketing as an activity. It is a great champion of good marketing and a firm believer that brands can be a force for good.

That is why I was honoured to accept the role of WFA President. I was also attracted to and reassured by the fact that, like all good brands, it is an organisation that lis-tens to the people it serves, tries to under-stand how it can best fit into its members’ lives and continuously re-evaluates its role in society at large.

It is not an organisation that defends adver-tising for advertising’s sake. It acknowledges that ads can be annoying, even intrusive. It recognises that some people blame market-ing for some of society’s most intractable problems. The marketing industry faces some tough challenges.

Through continuous dialogue with policy-makers, civil society and people, WFA makes the case for how brands can benefit con-sumers, society and the economy but, more importantly, it provides marketers with a much-needed reality check by acting as a barometer of societal opinion.

All brands face similar challenges. How do we keep pace with new technologies? How do we break through the noise? How do we meaningfully fit into people’s busy lives and deliver real value?

WFA helps marketers navigate this new real-ity. Yes, it helps with the nuts and bolts of better organising your media spend, build-ing marketing capabilities and designing in-dustry responses to policy challenges.

But it goes further. It lights a path for mar-keters towards a new business reality, one that is predicated on speed and agility but also, critically, on transparency, openness, empathy and trust.

I, like you no doubt, am naturally drawn to the very human yet professional brand that WFA stands for. I am equally drawn to its progressive approach; the recognition that time stands still for no man and that all of us must adapt in order to continue to build brands that are as relevant and meaningful tomorrow as they are today.

David Wheldon,WFA President CMO RBS

“WFA lights a path for marketers towards a new business reality.”

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Message from the CEO

“WFA is committed to helping companies make quicker, smarter decisions.”

Your continued support in 2015 has enabled us to grow the team, become more global and deliver more added value to our mem-bers.

We have recruited two senior members to our team. Our first Head of Membership is based out of London while our Marketing Director for Asia is based in Singapore.

These new recruits will enable us to take a more strategic and systematic approach to delivering membership value on your prior-ity issues while significantly reinforcing our ability to help Asia-based marketers achieve their objectives.

We are also investing a great deal in our global presence. In 2015, WFA hosted nearly 80 meetings in over 20 countries and ser-viced members in almost 50.

Singapore is now the city that hosts the most WFA marketing meetings, including our first Asian CMOFORUM. The MEDIA- FORUM is now meeting regularly in Mum-bai and Shanghai. Miami hosted the IMCFORUM for the first time. Most sym-bolically, we held our first Global Marketer Week in Africa.

A hugely successful week of events in Mar-rakech attended by over 500 delegates from over 30 countries was a highlight of the year.

Another was endorsement by APEC Heads of State for our vision for effective advertis-ing self-regulation. This was a direct result of our APEC engagement. APEC countries together represent over 60% of global ad spend and this figure is growing fast.

WFA is committed to helping companies make quicker, smarter decisions. In 2015 alone, we ran over 100 benchmarks while 73% of members accessed our Global Knowledge Base.

We will continue to invest in greater remote knowledge exchange, such as webinars and remote forums, so members can access our services faster and in a more cost-effective manner.

Corporate membership grew by over 15% net in 2015 as we have welcomed the likes of Sony, Nike and AirAsia into membership. We’re determined to build on this momen-tum and look forward with confidence to 2016.

With my best wishes,

Stephan Loerke,CEO WFA

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Executive Committee

DAVID WHELDONCMORBSWFA President

(AS ELECTED AT THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING ON MARCH 17, 2015)

1 MATTHIAS BERNINGERVP Public AffairsMARSWFA Deputy President

2 MIKE HUGHESDirector GeneralISBA, UKWFA Treasurer

3 STEPHAN LOERKEWFA CEO

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JEAN-JACQUES VELKENIERSVP Marketing, EuropeAnheuser-Busch InBev

11 ALESSANDROCAGLIEU Affairs DirectorFerrero

12 PALOMACASTRO MARTINEZDirector of Global Corporate AffairsLVMH

13 PACO CASA DE FALGUERACMOGrupo Bimbo

15 SARAHDELEADirector External AffairsHealth & WellnessMondelez International

16DAMIENCUMMINGSCMO, ASEAN & PacificPhilips

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WFA Corporate Member Representatives

wfaofficers 2 3 41

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WFA Regional Vice-Presidents

SERGEY GLUSHKOVPresidentRAA, RussiaRegional VP C&E Europe

5 LOÏC ARMANDSenior VP External Affairs L’OréalRegional VP Western Europe

6 BOB LIODICEPresident & CEOANA, USARegional VP North America

7 JAVIER MEDRANOSenior VP MarketingGrupo BimboRegional VP Latin America

8 RAHUL WELDEVP Media, Asia, Africa, Middle East & TurkeyUnileverRegional VP Asia-Pacific

9 IDORENYEN ENANGManaging Director, Central West AfricaL’OréalRegional VP Africa

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JORIS POLLETDirector Government Relations & Public Policy, EMEA & AsiaProcter & Gamble

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MARY CATHERINE TOKERVP Government RelationsGeneral Mills

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AMERICO CAMPOS SILVAGlobal Media ManagerShell

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WOUTER VERMEULENPublic Affairs & Communications Director, Health & WellbeingCoca-Cola Europe

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SAMEER DESAIHead of Consumer Healthcare, Asia, Latin America, Middle East and AfricaMundipharma

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THOMAS HOLZAPFELGlobal Category Leader MarketingDeutsche Telekom

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MARC MATHIEUSenior VP MarketingUnilever

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ELEONORE OGRINZHead of International AdvertisingRed Bull

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PIERRE-JEAN BOZODirector GeneralUDA, France

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ROGER HARLACHERPresidentASA, Switzerland

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MOUNIR JAZOULIPresidentGAM, Morocco

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RON LUNDPresident & CEOACA, Canada

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BARBARA KRAJNCDirector GeneralSOZ, Slovenia

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JAN MORTEN DRANGECEOANFO, Norway

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BHARAT PATELExecutive Committee memberISA, India

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AHMET PURAChairmanRVD, Turkey

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SANDRA MARTINELLIExecutive VPABA, Brazil

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CHRIS VAN ROEYCEOUBA, Belgium

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JOACHIM SCHÜTZManaging DirectorOWM, Germany

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HOU YUNCHUNPresidentCANA, China

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WFA Corporate Member Representatives

WFA National Association Representatives

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CMOFORUM is an invitation-only network bringing together some of the most visionary global marketers. In 2015 the CMOFORUM met in Cannes and at the Spikes Festival in Singa-pore. The Cannes Lions organisers described the network as an “amazingly high calibre group to have together in one room”.

Discussions covered the evolution of the mar-keting organisation, capabilities and, last but not least, people: existing and potential cus-tomers.

All the talk is of digital transformation and CMOs very often find themselves at the van-guard of this process.

Transformation is also underway amongst agen-cy partners. Welcomed by many, it has also led to issues of transparency and trust. CMOFO-RUM members recognise that integration and effective agency management come from client leadership and this is only possible when clients have the knowledge they need to stay close to and oversee all areas of investment.

Developing in-house marketing capabilities is nothing new but increasing focus on content marketing, programmatic and data-driven mar-keting means this remains a priority. A chang-ing landscape requires new approaches, skills and often looking beyond the industry for the required talent.

For all the talk of consumer-centric transforma-tion, most members admit that they have some way to go to realise this vision. That is why so many CMOFORUM members are involved in WFA’s Project Reconnect (see page 20).

In 2016, the CMOFORUM will return to Cannes, Singapore and will also meet in Hong Kong.

Six years since the launch of the WFA IMC-FORUM in 2009, the network has grown sig-nificantly in size and geographical footprint. It now connects close to 500 senior market-ers with global and regional responsibilities and meets on three continents.

In 2015, Diageo, Unilever, SAP, McDonald’s, Grupo Bimbo and VISA opened their doors to WFA members in London, Singapore, Mexico City and Miami.

The group’s agenda is based on its members’ priority issues and turns to the network’s col-lective experience and wisdom for solutions, whether through physical forums, virtual meetings, benchmarks or one-to-one con-nections.

Challenges tackled by the group in 2015 in-cluded how to optimise content generation, dissemination and ownership, how to better understand and map the customer journey, what kind of connections planning frame-work might work for your company and how to effectively evolve agency collaboration models to reflect the changing media and consumer landscape.

2015 saw global ad markets rise by 4%, to over $540 billion. Digital was the biggest benefactor, particularly mobile. In the next three years mobile is expected to contribute 87% of all new ad dollars to the market and become the second biggest medium after TV.

2015 marked the year that ad fraud stole the headlines. WFA conducted a detailed study on the challenges and held a bespoke session in London. Latest reports suggest $1 in every $3 spent on digital media is fraudulent. Many suggest the figures are higher still.

78% of MEDIAFORUM members agree that the structures and systems in place in the digital ecosystem help perpetuate fraud. Programmatic buying must be singled out: greater automation amounts to more fraud.

Media agency models came under greater scrutiny than ever: sessions held in India, China and the UK closely considered which agency model provides maximum integra-tion, transparency and control.

Finally, 2015 will be remembered for when transparency concerns reached tipping point in the US. Our own Future of Media Agen-cies panel in London, involving three agency heads, looked to resolve some of the inher-ent tensions between agencies and clients and will be repeated in 2016.

CMOFORUM IMCFORUM MEDIAFORUM

MARKETING GROUPS

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The digital economy has given rise to Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon. Also a growing number of companies riding on the wings of the ‘sharing economy’ zeitgeist like Airbnb and Uber. These companies’ life-blood is digital. They are agile, innovative and, by design, in tune with a connected consumer.

Catering for the connected consumer is es-sential for companies born before the digital age. The DIGITALFORUM focuses heavily on digital transformation; delivering a clearly cascaded digital strategy and rallying dispa-rate individuals and departments around the world.

For many Chief Digital Officers, the starting point is developing the digital capabilities of local brand marketers. This has been a focus of various sessions.

The meteoric growth of smartphone requires the mastery of old channels such as search, social and email and new ones, including push and in-app.

Underpinning everything are the key en-ablers, data and content: providing the right message to the right person at the right time – so-called ‘personalisation at scale’.

In 2015, we produced reports on Data-Driv-en, Social Media and Search Marketing, of-fering members opportunities to benchmark and cut through some of the complexities.

To reflect the growing seniority and geo-graphical reach of the community, it has been rebranded the CDOFORUM and has started to meet in Hong Kong.

In recent years much of the industry trade press has lamented the encroachment of procurement on marketing spend. Col-umnists quote pained agency executives burdened with yet another spreadsheet or e-auction. Yet the function has risen inexo-rably against the backdrop of a challenging global financial landscape and pressurised marketing budgets.

Much of the work of this 600-strong network of sourcing professionals is focused on how best to deliver value to marketing stakehold-ers and the business as a whole.

How can sourcing best address an evolving digital marketing supply base? How are re-muneration models shifting towards perfor-mance? How to calibrate the right soft versus hard metrics in terms of procurement perfor-mance?

In parallel, members have come to WFA for help in understanding how best to deploy and increase resources against the different areas of marketing spend. The trend is in-dicative of a maturing function looking to get ever closer to owning all aspects of the finan-cial relationship between client and agency.

In 2015 sessions have gone into detail on mapping category strategies, focusing on ad production, sponsorship and events.

Sessions in Shanghai and Singapore wit-nessed record attendances, proof of the ap-petite amongst the Asian sourcing commu-nity to learn from their peers.

The INSIGHTFORUM was launched in 2014 and reflects a growing demand from WFA members to optimise market research and consumer intelligence capabilities.

In 2015, meetings and benchmarks focused on how to effectively disseminate insights internally, get senior marketing support and deal with an ever-increasing and sometimes overwhelming amount of consumer data.

The group met twice in 2015 and now counts over 130 members as part of its network. Hosted by Barclays and Brown-Forman, the INSIGHTFORUM covered behavioural eco-nomics, brand tracking and managing online communities, as well as less commonly-used research techniques, such as Implicit Asso-ciation Tests (IAT) and eye-tracking.

Celebrating a century of market research (the industry traces its roots back to 1916 when the Literary Digest ran the first na-tional opinion poll among its readers), WFA launched its own Future of Insights research in partnership with BrainJuicer, a global mar-ket research agency.

The research explores marketers’ perception of the role of insights, common challenges in working with practitioners and offers practi-cal advice in terms of how marketers and in-sights specialists might work together more strategically for the benefit of their brands.

DIGITALFORUM SOURCINGFORUM INSIGHTFORUM

More at wfanet.org/AR2015

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MARKETING GROUPSWORLDWIDE MEETINGS

CMOFORUM

Cannes, 24 JuneSingapore, 10 September

IMCFORUM

London, 23 AprilSingapore, 6 MayMiami, 22 SeptemberLondon, 7 OctoberSingapore, 21 October

MEDIAFORUM

London, 26 FebruaryMumbai, 30 AprilRome, 13 MayShanghai, 10 JuneNew York, 22 OctoberLondon, 3 December

AmsterdamCannesLondonMiamiMumbaiNew YorkParisRomeShanghaiSingaporeZug MarrakechMexico City

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DIGITALFORUM

Paris, 19 FebruaryParis, 18 JuneSingapore, 9 JulyAmsterdam, 29 October

SOURCINGFORUM

Paris, 5 FebruaryLondon, 20 MayShanghai, 11 JuneZug, 24 SeptemberSingapore, 22 OctoberNew York, 9 December

INSIGHTFORUM

London, 7 MayLondon, 30 November

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2015 HIGHLIGHTS

MARKETING GROUPS

CMOFORUM in Singapore. 1st Singapore now the city that hosts the most meetings.

1st IMCFORUM in Miami

FUTURE OF MEDIA AGENCIES PANEL IN LONDONFirst “Future of Media Agencies” panel discussion took place in London, involving WPP’s Sir Martin Sorrel and Havas’ Yannick Bolloré, members of WFA’s Executive Committee, the CMOFORUM and the chairmen of WFA’s marketing working groups.

NEWRESEARCHOPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES FOR BRANDS IN AFRICAIn collaboration with Millward Brown and national advertiser associations across Africa, the research results highlighted the key opportunities and challenges that brands face in the region.

Facts & figures member-led meetings on40+ four continents, including 5 remote forums

member representatives 700+ attended meetings

100+ global benchmarks

NEWRESEARCH“Future of Insights” research offers help to research specialists who want to act less like librarians and more like strategic consultants.

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CLOSE-UP Record attendances were registered for the SOURCINGFORUM sessions in Shanghai and Singapore, proof of the appetite amongst the Asian sourcing community to learn from their peers.

NEW REPORTSKey reports on Data-Driven Marketing, Social Media Marketing and Search Marketing were produced.

72% of marketers see data-driven marketing as very or critically important for their organisations and 90% plan to increase spend on analytics in the next 12 months.

NEWMARKETINGCHAIRMEN

MEDIAFORUM (China):DAVID PORTERNorth Asia Media DirectorUnilever

DIGITALFORUM (APAC):JAMSHED WADIAHead of Digital Marketing & Media, Asia Pacific and JapanIntel Corporation

6 peer-to-peer networks connecting

almost 3,000 marketers:

• CMOFORUM • IMCFORUM • MEDIAFORUM • DIGITALFORUM • SOURCINGFORUM • INSIGHTFORUM

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STAFF STEPHAN LOERKEChief Executive Officer

Stephan manages the WFA secretariat, oversees all work carried out on behalf of its members and is the WFA’s main spokesperson. He sits on all WFA public affairs and marketing committees, as well as on the WFA Executive Committee.

Prior to joining WFA, Stephan worked at the United Nations in New York and later in both marketing and management roles at L’Oréal. Combining French and German nationalities, Stephan speaks French, German, English, Dutch and Spanish.

CHRIS PAYNEPublic Affairs Manager

Chris leads WFA’s advocacy work on digital advertising, managing the Policy Action Group and the Digital Governance Exchange. Previously, he worked in public affairs roles at CEMEX and General Electric and as an adviser in the UK and European Parliaments.

ADAM GAGEN Director of

Legal & Public AffairsAdam oversees WFA’s public affairs and regulatory work. He previously worked for Pernod Ricard in Hong Kong and at the European Commission. Educated in the UK and US, he has lived in Brussels, Shanghai, Taipei and Beijing.

ROBERT DREBLOWHead of Marketing Capabilities

Robert leads the marketing commu-nications team. His focus includes championing member priorities, keeping members updated on key trends and overseeing WFA’s mar-keting groups. He was previously an Associate Director at MediaCom in London and Toronto for eight years.

WILL GILROYDirector of Communications

Based in Singapore, Will oversees all WFA communications, includ-ing Project Reconnect, and public affairs work relating to food mar-keting. A graduate of Modern Lan-guages from Oxford University, he worked previously as a journalist in UK, France and Spain.

MATT GREEN Senior Manager, Global Media

& Global Digital MarketingMatt delivers research, benchmark-ing and consultancy services to the WFA MEDIAFORUM and DIGI-TALFORUM. A British national, he previously worked as media agent with MediaCom and as client lead with various media management consultancies.

STEVE LIGHTFOOTSenior Manager, Global Marketing Procurement

Steve leads the WFA’s SOURCING-FORUM and INSIGHTFORUM. Prior to joining WFA, Steve completed a Master of Research in marketing at the University of Leeds. Originally from the UK, he speaks French and English.

CLAIRE FRANCISHead of Membership

The WFA’s first-ever Head of Membership, Claire is focused on delivering greater added value to WFA member organisations. A British national, she has a decade of membership services and industry body experience. Claire is working from both London and Brussels.

RANJI DAVID Marketing Director - Asia

Based in Singapore, Ranji supports WFA corporate members in Asia by helping to build on the existing working groups and nurture fully-fledged regional CDO and CMO groups. A Singaporean national, Ranji previously worked in various digital marketing roles at Samsung.

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KARINE LESUISSE Office Manager

A Belgian national, Karine has been the first point of contact for WFA members for many years. She oversees the back office, the everyday running of the secretariat, personnel and finances and works in tandem with Theresa on administrative issues.

THERESA RUESS Member Relations &

Event CoordinatorTheresa supports Karine in running the office and is in charge of the logistics for all WFA meetings and events, including the WFA Global Marketer Week. A German national, Theresa speaks German, Dutch, English and French.

LAURA BAEYENS Communications Intern

Laura supports the team in implementing WFA’s internal and external communications plan. Born in Belgium, she holds a Master’s Degree in New Media and lived in the Philippines for two decades. She speaks English, Filipino and Dutch.

MARTIN MYCIELSKI Database Manager

Martin started his career in Poland in politics and then managed his own company, before moving to Brussels to work at the European Parliament. He holds a joint Master’s Degree in Diplomatic and Business Protocol, Foreign Relations and Event Organisation.

PAOLA DE LA BAUMEPublic Affairs Manager

Paola works on WFA’s advocacy work on alcohol-related issues. Prior to joining WFA, she was a parliamentary assistant and campaign chief for a member of the French National Assembly. A French national, Paola graduated from Science Po in Paris.

CAMELIA CRISTACHECommunications Manager

A Romanian national, Camelia works on WFA’s communications and manages the WFA network of national advertiser associations. She has previously worked on the consultancy side in Bucharest and Brussels and as Communications Adviser in the European Parliament.

NATALIA ECHEVERRIKnowledge Manager

Natalia is focused on delivering remote knowledge exchange to WFA members. Before joining WFA, she worked at MillwardBrown in Colombia and at Henkel in Germany. A Colombian national, she initially moved to Europe for a Master’s Degree in International Marketing.

ANY UNGMarketing

Communications ManagerAny leads the IMCFORUM and helps manage the CMOFORUM and events, including Global Marketer Week. A French national of Chinese origin, she worked on the agency side in Paris for five years before joining WFA.

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2015 continued to see marketing to children grab the headlines. Particular focus has been on food marketing where restrictions have been tabled from Brazil and Russia to UK and Taiwan.

With the International Food and Beverage Alliance (IFBA), WFA has designed and implemented self-regulatory alternatives to dispropor-tionate statutory controls. Work is under way in Brazil, India, Colom-bia, Brazil, South Africa and many other countries; but much remains to be done to demonstrate the credibility of our efforts.

Children’s fast-changing media consumption habits have played backdrop to a host of regulatory discussions, including the EU Data Protection Regulation and the beginning of the revision of the EU Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMS), which will be a focus for NGOs looking to promote EU-wide restrictions on marketing to children in 2016.

The ongoing food marketing debate combined with a rapid shift in children’s media habits has led to increased scrutiny from a growing number of important stakeholders. Engagement with WHO remains as strong as ever, OECD continues to look for cost-effective measures to tackle childhood obesity while UNICEF has entered the fray with the intention of developing a framework for children’s rights for mar-keting in 2016.

Industry will need robust global policies that are effectively imple-mented locally. Answers will be needed to some of the tough ques-tions around digital. Education will remain key; both internally and externally. The WFA Marketing to Children Road Test aims to help marketers be better aware of their responsibilities while Media Smart continues to play an invaluable role in improving young peo-ple’s media literacy skills.

2015 was punctuated by the rise in an existential threat to the advertising ecosystem, global policy challenges and a landmark acknowledgment from APEC leaders about the role and value of advertising and industry self-regulation.

The rise in ad blocking continues at double digit growth globally. The Policy Action Group has embraced this challenge as an opportunity to revisit how marketers communicate with partners in the ecosys-tem and ultimately with consumers.

A Digital Single Market Strategy was launched to maximise the po-tential of the European digital economy. The Commission’s Better Regulation Agenda seeks to optimise European regulation and holds the keys to a potentially enhanced recognition for the role for self- and co-regulation in the digital environment.

Broad agreement was reached on the General Data Protection Regu-lation, which will have a substantial impact on how marketers can collect and use EU citizen’s data. Strong engagement has borne fruit but two more years of interpretation and implementation will deter-mine how the new rules work in practice.

The revision of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive, the EU-wide law governing TV and online TV advertising will prove a battleground in 2016. Industry will need to make a robust case against efforts to introduce regulation on food and alcohol marketing and marketing to children.

WFA continues to promote the role of responsible advertising stan-dards through the Commission’s Community of Practice and the Eu-ropean Digital Advertising Alliance (EDAA), the self-regulatory pro-gramme for online behavioural advertising.

Notably, working with APEC has helped result in its 21 Heads of State adopting an Action Agenda to promote the alignment of advertising standards and reduce the cost of doing business across APEC, a re-gion representing 54% of the world’s GDP and 44% of its trade.

RESPONSIBLE ADVERTISING AND CHILDREN PROGRAMME

POLICY ACTION GROUP

public affairs GROUPS

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Good digital governance is increasingly being recognised as a key enabler of progress, allowing companies to embrace technologies more rapidly and innovate with greater confidence.

This is particularly true in light of rapid digital innovation and the in-ability of traditional legislation to keep apace. In such uncharted envi-ronments, brands derive great value from being able to exchange risk mitigation practices with peers on issues such as data management and IP challenges in relation to crowdsourcing content.

Three trends in particular have emerged from the DGX in 2015.

Consumer vs compliance: the inability of legislation to keep up with technology can result in situations where brands are legally compli-ant but misaligned with consumer expectations. Discussions around how brands can effectively secure sustainable data flows have re-peatedly highlighted the need to look beyond compliance in order to strengthen relationships with consumers.

Control vs creativity: the number of risks presented by the online ecosystem has led many brands to implement consistent and robust governance standards across their operations. However, these stand-ards must have sufficient flexibility to allow marketers the freedom to remain creative and dynamic. Strategies relating to digital security and copy approval processes have demonstrated the need to balance risk with commercial considerations.

Commands vs compromises: it is increasingly important for differ-ent functions, such as legal, marketing, consumer relations, IT and procurement, to work collaboratively in the area of governance. Not only does it ensure that governance solutions take into account the priorities of each function, but it also ensures that each are account-able and that solutions are implemented consistently across the board. Commands are often received reluctantly while compromises are more readily embraced.

In June, the Responsible Marketing Pact, WFA’s flagship programme on responsible alcohol marketing, officially came into effect. The eight global leaders in the beer, wine and spirits sectors were given a one year transition period to meet the new standards. Members’ compliance will be monitored for the first time and published on a dedicated platform in 2016.

As part of WFA’s collaboration with the International Alliance for Responsible Drinking (IARD), the very first monitoring of the alcohol producers’ commitments to reduce harmful drinking was launched in Africa.

The so-called 70/30 rule, whereby alcohol beverage marketing com-munications may only be placed in media where the audience is ex-pected to be composed of at least 70% of people above the legal purchase age, was assessed in Kenya, Uganda and Nigeria.

WFA has also started working with IARD and media partners on the development of new methodologies to assess the implementation of the 70/30 rule online, as well as on the forthcoming monitoring of the Digital Guiding Principles, a global set of guidelines for respon-sible alcohol marketing in digital media, launched by IARD and WFA in 2014.

The revision in 2016 of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMS), the EU-wide regulation governing TV and online TV broad-casting, promises renewed efforts by activists to restrict alcohol mar-keting in Europe. The success of the Responsible Marketing Pact will be critical to making the case for effective industry standards.

Finally, the WFA represents producers’ interests in the European Alcohol and Health Forum, the EU’s platform for alcohol policy, which brings together a variety of stakeholders to develop an EU-wide strategy to fight alcohol-related harm.

DIGITAL GOVERNANCE EXCHANGE ALCOHOL MARKETING

More at wfanet.org/AR2015

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RESPONSIBLEMARKETING PACTResponsible Marketing Pact launched in June. The eight global leaders in the beer, wine and spirits sectors were given a one year transition period to meet the new standards.

MEDIA SMART WORLDWFA helps champion media literacy through the set-up of Media Smart World. Over 5 million children have now been taught using world class materials in Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden and the UK

ALCOHOL COMPLIANCEMONITORINGIndustry commitments monitored in Africa in collaboration with the International Alliance for Responsible Drinking (IARD).

2015 HIGHLIGHTS

PUBLIC AFFAIRSGROUPS

AD STANDARDSIN APEC21 APEC Heads of State endorse WFA’s vision for ad self-regulation. Countries of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation represent 60% global ad spend.

AD BLOCKINGWFA takes lead in cross-industry response to ad blocking.

30+member-led meetings

Engagement with WHO, OECD, UNICEF, European Institutions4 WFA working groups

connecting 1,000+ legal, public affairs and privacy professionals

Local engagement in more than 30 markets to develop industry programmes faced with potential statutory controls.

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ENHANCEDTRANSPARENCY ANDCHOICE FOR CONSUMERSIncreased pick-up of OBA icon across Europe offering transparency and choice for online consumers.

INTERNATIONALFOOD AND BEVERAGEALLIANCEWFA draws up new IFBA global policy on marketing to children; engages WHO, UNICEF, OECD in making the case for effective food marketing self-regulation, launches local IFBA coalitions in Brazil, Colombia, GCC, India and South Africa.

EU PLEDGEEU Pledge implements common nutrition criteria, announces coverage of more media and marketing techniques.

DATA PROTECTIONThe EU Data Protection Regulation was adopted. Much to do to see how it affects brands in practice.

MARKETING TO CHILDREN ROAD TESTHelping marketers get it right on the sensitive issues around marketing to children: an e-learning tool with modules on marketing to children, food marketing, toy marketing and digital marketing to children.

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Global Marketer Week 2015Marrakech

The showpiece event, the Global Marketer Conference, featured a stellar line up of speakers. Connie Kalcher, VP Marketing & Consumer Experiences at LEGO shared her company’s fascinating 8-step turnaround plan from near-bankruptcy, David Wheldon, CMO Barclays, shared his learnings from rebuilding trust in the brand post the Libor scandal while Achieng Butler, SVP for Mobile Commerce at Airtel, explained how mobile money was completely reshaping Africa’s consumer marketplace.

Mofilms’ David Alberts talked about how current agency models no longer meet clients’ creative needs, AKQA CEO, Ajaz Ahmed offered a five point plan for brand success focusing on how the difficult is always displaced by the simple when it comes to digital platforms and CEO of iconic local brand, Aïcha, Martochee Devico, told the emotive story of how the brand was built on strong local values, “a Moroccan brand with Moroccan values, that stood for quality.”

WFA also held an African Accelerator session to offer marketers insights into how to succeed in such a large and diverse number of markets. Camile Said-Eddine, founder of MOOR”S Surfboards, David Somers, CEO Pan-Africa IPSOS and Kachi Onubogu Executive Director at Promasidor offered their perspectives while WFA released ground-breaking research based on responses from senior African marketers on

why some global brands are falling short on insights, knowledge and aspiration.

While Aïcha, Promasidor and MOOR”S represented Moroccan branding’s past and present, a joint presentation from four of the nation’s top marketing students – Madih Mounia, Debbar Houda, Chafai Abderrahmane and Binebine Mohammed Reda, who study at the Institut des Hautes Etudes de Management (HEM) offered some clues to the future of the nation’s ad industry with their own views in terms of what makes successful brand marketing in Morocco (see overleaf).

The Global Marketer Week also played host to internal meetings including the Executive Committee meeting, the Annual General Meeting at which David Wheldon, then CMO at Barclays and now CMO at RBS, was appointed WFA President and the National Associations Council (NAC), which focused on membership growth strategies with insight-driven sessions led by heads of the Australian, Belgian, British and Swedish associations.

The gala dinner gave outgoing President, for-mer CMO Pernod Ricard, Martin Riley, the opportunity to congratulate those national associations which had shown outstanding leadership in advancing the cause of market-ing in their respective countries. The Presi-dents Awards 2015 winners were from Aus-tralia, China, Finland, Pakistan and Sweden.

Marrakech was the venue for Global Marketer Week 2015. Co-hosted with the Moroccan Association of Advertisers (GAM) from the 16th to 20th of March, GMW2015 brought together global marketing leaders from over 30 countries, including many of the world’s biggest brands. Significantly, it was the first time the WFA Global Marketer Week was held in Africa.

Achieng Butler

Ajaz Ahmed

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Conny Kalcher David WheldonDavid Alberts

Mardochee Devico African AcceleratorToby Shapshak

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PROJECT RECONNECTMARRAKECH, SINGAPORE

Project Reconnect is WFA’s effort to develop a better understanding of what people want and expect from brands. This requires listening, dialogue and change.

Building on research already conducted with We Are Social on what makes for great brand marketing in the digital age which identified the New 4Ps of Marketing (People, purpose, principles and participation), WFA looked at the flip side of the coin: what turns people off ads.

The 7 Deadly Sins of Marketing were presented in Marrakech as part of the Global Marketer Week by Jon Wilkins, Executive Chairman of Karmarama, with a panel of industry experts and Moroccan students offering their views on where marketers get it right and wrong.

In June in Singapore, a session was led by Marc Mathieu, now CMO Samsung Electronics North America, and David Wheldon, CMO RBS, alongside our partners at Contagious.

They and the audience asked themselves: what are the core components of great brand marketing in the digital age? How do you make the business case for change and sell new ideas internally? How do you demonstrate the ROI on ‘purpose’ and delivering meaningful and valued brand experiences?

In an age defined by ultra-connectivity, transparency, and where standing out from the crowd is harder than ever, brands need to adapt. Increasingly aspirational and demanding consumers expect brands to stand for something more, provide experiences and address the world’s problems.

Project Reconnect seeks to inspire marketers with great brand stories, strategies and executions, identify why they succeed and deliver actionable insight that marketers can transfer into their day jobs and skillsets.

More at www.project-reconnect.com

WFA will never defend advertising for the sake of it. Sometimes marketers can get it wrong. Ads can be annoying, even intrusive. Whether we like it or not, advertising is blamed by some for many of society’s most intractable problems, be they privacy issues online, childhood obesity, alcohol misuse or financial debt.

Jon Wilkins

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latin american regionAl meeting 2015mexico city

Mexico City played host to WFA’s 13th Annual Latin American Regional Meeting on June 16-17. Representatives from WFA’s national advertiser associations from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay sat together with senior corporate members from companies with activities in the region to address brand owners’ priority issues in relation to marketing.

The public affairs presentations and discussions at the forum focused on issues relating to responsible food marketing, marketing to children, alcohol marketing and digital governance, while the marketing sessions centred around digital

transformation globally and in the region, integration and agency collaboration, as well as maximising the impact of digital content, with case studies from corporate members, as well as specialised agencies such as Unruly. A focus was also given over to marketing in the connected age and the latest trends in digital.

The two-day event was chaired by the WFA Vice-President for Latin America and Grupo Bimbo’s Senior Vice-President of Marketing, Javier Medrano. The 2016 meetings will be co-hosted together with the Colombian Advertiser Association (ANDA Colombia) in Cartagena in September.

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Financial Statement 2015(ALL FIGURES IN EURO)

BUDGET 2015 REALISED 2015

INCOME 3,346,479.00 3,605,997.00 Revenues from associations 410,000.00 418,450.00 Revenues from corporate members 2,000,000.00 2,108,294.00 New members 75,000.00 150,034.00 Revenues from RMP 246,479.00 246,479.00 Revenues from IARD 230,000.00 230,000.00 Revenues from IFBA 275,000.00 275,000.00 Revenues from SR APEC Project 0.00 0.00 Revenues Sponsorship Conference 40,000.00 23,000.00 Strategic Partners 50,000.00 75,000.00 Revenues Marketing Road Test 0.00 41,450.00 Other revenues 5,000.00 7,700.00 Discount (early payment) -5,000.00 -1,369.00 Financial profit 20,000.00 31,959.00

EXPENSES 3,344,964.00 3,603,198.00 Personnel & consultants 2,125,000.00 2,247,029.00 Operating costs 906,000.00 929,976.00 Conference & General Assembly 115,000.00 130,388.00 RMP Costs 126,479.00 56,628.00 Provision RMP Deferred Invoices 0.00 69,852.00 Costs SR APEC Project 0.00 23,665.00 Provision for recruitment plan 75,000.00 0.00 Costs Marketing Road Test 0.00 42,056.00 Provision Costs Marketing Road Test 0.00 -606.00 Provision Strategic Projects 0.00 115,000.00 Reinstatement Provision for Rent Compensation -2,515.00 -10,790.00 TOTAL REVENUES 3,346,479.00 3,605,997.00TOTAL EXPENSES 3,344,964.00 3,603,198.00FINAL RESULT 1,515.00 2,799.00

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Auditor’s ReportRegistered Auditor’s Report for the year ended December 31, 2015 to the Board of Directors

of the World Federation of Advertisers

We report to you in the context of our appointment as the association’s registered auditor. This report includes our opinion on the financial statements, as well as the required additional statements. The financial statements include the balance sheet as at December 31, 2015 and the income statement for the year then ended.

Report on the financial statements - Unqualified opinion

We have audited the financial statements of the World Federation of Advertisers for the year ended December 31, 2015, which show a balance sheet total of € 4,697,564 and a profit for the year of € 2,799.

Responsibility of the Board of Directors for the preparation of the financial statements

The Board of Directors is responsible for the preparation of financial statements that give a true and fair view in accordance with the financial reporting framework applicable in Belgium, and for such internal control, as the Board of Directors determines, is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

Responsibility of the registered auditor Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements based on our audit. We conducted our audit in accordance with the International Standards on Auditing (ISAs). Those standards require that we comply with the ethical requirements and plan and perform the control to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free from material misstatement.

An audit involves performing procedures to obtain audit evidence about the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. The procedures selected depend on the registered auditor’s judgment, including the assessment of the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to fraud or error. In making those risk assessments, the registered auditor considers the association’s internal control relevant to the preparation of financial statements that give a true and fair view, in order to design control procedures that are appropriate in the circumstances, but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the entity’s internal control. An audit also includes evaluating the appropriateness of valuation rules used and the reasonableness of accounting estimates made by the Board of Directors, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements.

We have obtained from the Board of Directors and association officials the explanations and information necessary for our audit. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.

Unqualified opinion

In our opinion, the financial statements of the World Federation of Advertisers give a true and fair view of the association’s equity and financial position as at December, 31, 2015, and of the results of its operations for the year then ended, in accordance with the financial reporting framework applicable in Belgium.

Brussels, February 15, 2016Michel WEBER

Réviseur d’entreprises

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MARKETING & PUBLIC AFFAIRS CONTACTS ENGAGED

OVER 5,500

500 MARKETERS AT THE FIRST MARKETER WEEKIN AFRICA

GREATER ADDED VALUE for members3 NEW STAFF, INCLUDING WFA’S FIRST-EVER HEAD OF MEMBERSHIP AND A MARKETING DIRECTOR FOR ASIA9 NATIONALITIES, 12 LANGUAGES SPOKEN Soo-uh Sdaai!Hello! Hallo! Bună!¡Hola!Dag!Bonjour! Hujambo!Dzień dobry! Kamusta! Nín hǎo!Ciao!

France UK Morocco India Singapore Italy China Mexico U

SA Switzerland The Netherlands Ireland Russia Spain Malaysia Romania Luxembourg

Turke

y Ger

man

y Br

azil

Latv

ia V

ietn

am P

hilip

pine

s Thail

and UAE South Africa

MEETINGS IN OVER30 COUNTRIES

80WFA MEETINGS

AVERAGEMEETINGATTENDANCE

IMCFORUM IN MIAMICMOFORUM IN ASIA

2 FIRSTS

IN CORPORATE MEMBERSHIP TO 82 COMPANIES

15% GROWTH

USED BY 73% OF MEMBERS

BENCHMARKSPERFORMED

OVER100 16 INDUSTRIES

WFA WORKED WITH

2015 IN NUMBERS

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WFA - World Federation of Advertisers

London • Brussels • Singapore

wfanet.org info@wfanet.org +32 2 502 57 40 @wfamarketers youtube.com/wfamarketers linkedin.com/company/wfa