 For each of the past 11 years, Ad Age has published a special report on the women in advertising, marketing and media whose accomplishments and potential have made them standouts. The honorees are recognized for having played significant roles in defining the future of their fields. Today, we name the 2007 Women to Watch and provide links to all the stories of the 252 women who have appeared in this report since 1997.
Starbucks Corp.
As senior VP-chief merchant, global product for Starbucks Corp., Michelle Gass presides over the worldwide product and development teams for 250 products and most of the company's revenue. It's a massive challenge as the chain works to rein in the commoditization famously outlined in a recent company memo from Chairman Howard Schultz.
WPP Group
A billion dollars. If you can put a price tag on what a job is worth to a company, affix that amount to Tamara Ingram's title. Last January, WPP Group named Ms. Ingram president of its Team P&G, with responsibility for $1 billion in business across 40 agencies.
AT&T
There's no question that Wendy Clark is, on the basis of measured-media spending, near the top of any list of the most important women in marketing. As senior exec VP-advertising, her hand was behind the morphing of a regional telephone brand into a new version of one of the world's most iconic brands.
People en Espanol
To say Jacqueline Hernández is the most successful publisher in Hispanic media would be an understatement. That's because publisher hardly captures the essence of what she does best. "Brand builder" is actually a more suitable title.
Lenovo Group
As China prepares to host the Summer Olympics next year, Alice Li is leading Lenovo Group's strategy to create a global brand through the Games.
MPG
As head of MPG North America's strategy group, the media agency's in-house think tank, Coleen Kuehn is pretty much the rudder that keeps a fast-moving boat on course.
Frito-Lay
When you talk about ideas with Frito-Lay's Ann Mukherjee, you want to -- do something. Run a mile, meet a deadline ... learn Russian. That happens when you meet inspiring people.
Ogilvy
Data, strategy and debate top the list of favorite things for Ogilvy's Michelle Bottomley. She co-heads the New York office of Ogilvy and runs new-business pitches. With the added title of general manager for OgilvyOne Consulting U.S., she oversees an 80-person unit that serves clients including American Express Co., Allstate Corp. and Aflac.
Masterfoods USA
"Full-contact" communications is Carole Walker's mission. Since being promoted to marketing services director last January at Masterfoods USA, Ms. Walker, 48, has been hard at work inspiring collaboration between agency partners.
Coca-Cola North America
Among the charges for Katie Bayne, Coca-Cola North America's newly installed chief marketing officer, is to help make 120-year-old Coca-Cola Co. a more nimble marketer.
Mulholland Drive Entertainment
Hollywood's clout on Madison Avenue first became apparent to Julie Mulholland while she was working on the Coca-Cola Co. account at McCann Erickson Worldwide. The year was 1991, and Hollywood talent shop Creative Artists Agency jolted the ad industry by winning a big chunk of Coke work.
Arnold Worldwide
A "diversity Pollyanna." That's what Tiffany R. Warren calls herself. Ms. Warren, 32, was among the first 25 students to be recognized as an American Advertising Federation Most Promising Minority Student in 1997. Today, she's one of the creators of the AAF MPMS Alumni Rising Star Award.
Digitas USA
"This has been the most exciting year," says Laura Lang. It's little wonder that the CEO of Digitas USA is smiling. Last December, Digitas was acquired by Publicis Groupe for $1.3 billion. Since then, the digital-marketing agency has snapped up business wins in several major product categories.
Principal Financial Group
Many of the skills Mary O'Keefe gained during her previous career in social work -- including one stint as a suicide prevention counselor -- still come in handy.
ZenithOptimedia West Coast
Julie Rieger would be the first to tell you that perhaps out-driving your boss and his boss -- while barefoot -- on the golf course may not be a surefire way to climb the corporate ladder. However, continually growing ZenithOptimedia's share of Hewlett-Packard Co.'s global media business doesn't hurt.
Scripps Networks Interactive
Deanna Brown joined Scripps Networks just a few months ago to help grow its web business. However, one might ask how much help Scripps needs.
Turner Entertainment
If TNT and TBS seem exceptionally brand-friendly, it's no coincidence. Linda Yaccarino has something to do with it.
Kraft Foods
The challenges at Kraft Foods aren't so much weighing heavily as weighing optimistically for Carole Irgang, who in January joined the package-goods behemoth as senior VP-integrated marketing communications. "There is so much energy at Kraft right now behind the new growth strategy, and a real openness and willingness to embrace new thinking and move quickly toward trying new things," says Ms. Irgang, 43.
Unilever
To see how media are changing, Laura Klauberg, who oversees Unilever's media efforts across the Western Hemisphere, need look no further than home.
Tribal DDB West
Since joining Tribal DDB in 2004, Liz Ross has been credited with saving the Clorox Co. interactive business, growing office revenue fivefold and helping it land on the San Francisco Business Times' recent list of best places to work.
Jack Morton Worldwide
As the U.S. president of experiential marketing agency Jack Morton Worldwide, Laura Shuler sometimes feels like the ringmaster of a high-stakes circus. Ms. Shuler's team of 375 is constantly executing complex live-marketing extravaganzas not just in the U.S. but around the world.
Lowe Worldwide
Fernanda "Fefa" Romano isn't a typical agency creative director. It's not just that she's female, only 32 years old and comes from Brazil. She started on the business side, running several internet companies in Sao Paulo and hated the job she held briefly at an ad agency as an account supervisor.
Google
There are two languages these days -- online and offline -- and Eileen Naughton is a communicator who can speak both. She understands the way the web is reshaping offline media and where there are opportunities to bring new efficiencies to decades-old marketplaces.
Nissan North America
When Nissan moved its North American headquarters to Tennessee, Clarke Osborne stayed behind in Torrance, Calif. For her automotive job, Southern California is the place to be. As Nissan North America's product placement planner, Ms. Osborne oversees the entertainment strategies for the Nissan and Infiniti brands. And that means staying close to Hollywood.
McDonald's USA
When Cristina Vilella was appointed director of marketing at McDonald's Puerto Rico in 2001, she was ready to take up any challenge. So when her boss told her she had to spend six weeks making fries and grilling burgers, Ms. Vilella rolled up her sleeves and got to it.
Cablevision Systems Corp.
Cablevision is experiencing a financial renaissance this year with digital subscribers up 19% year-on-year to 2.5 million and revenue up 12% to $1.6 billion through the first quarter. Playing her part in the Dolan family-run business is Patricia Gottesman. She's looking to push cable into fresh revenue-generating fields.
Delta Air Lines
When a company files for bankruptcy protection, it needs to start getting creative to escape its financial doldrums. Joanne Smith took that literally at Delta Air Lines.
Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S.
There isn't much that's more important to magazine publishers in 2007 than getting their digital plays right. So Marta Wöhrle's mission to direct the digital development of Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S., publisher of magazines like Elle and magazines-turned-online-only brands like Premiere, locates her pretty much at the center of the industry's universe.
Microsoft Corp.
It's a brand marketer's dream. MSN's Gayle Troberman has an enormous audience at her disposal -- 465 million unique users per month -- and she's offering them up to brands.
American Eagle Outfitters
When Kathy Savitt took the job as CMO of American Eagle Outfitters in early 2006, she started turning the company's retail outlets and website into entertainment media to reach its desired 15-to-25-year-old demo.
(Source: Advertising age)
|
