29 January 2021
New Master will use his year in office to highlight the importance of marketing understanding to drive global business success.
City of London, 28th January, 2021 - The Worshipful Company of Marketors, also known as the Marketors’ Company, has elected John Farrell as its new Master for 2021. The Livery Company’s membership is drawn from senior marketing practitioners and marketing services experts, together with recognised marketing academics.
Farrell was installed as Master of the Marketors at a virtual ceremony on Wednesday, 27th January. His speech to the membership highlighted his passion for marketing led organisations.
Farrell’s installation comes after more than ten years of active involvement with the Worshipful Company. “It is a great honour and privilege to be the Master of such a wonderful organisation full of talented people who really care about the world around them. Clearly there are many challenges taking office in the middle of a pandemic, but I am determined to try and add to the Company's wonderful legacy during my year in office,” said Farrell.
The theme for his year as Master is: Marketing – leading business from the front. This will emphasise how the discipline of marketing has become central to corporate success, highlighting increasing numbers of major organisations run by executives with marketing expertise.
To explore his theme through the year, Farrell will conduct a series of interviews with some of the most accomplished and high-profile figures in Global Business with a marketing background, including Sir Martin Sorell, Executive Chairman S4 Capital, Alan Jope, the current worldwide CEO of Unilever, Baroness Martha Lane Fox, Founder of Last Minute.com, and Eric Nicoli, Executive Chairman of Yo Sushi and former Chairman of EMI and United Biscuits.
John said: “A world-class marketing approach drives success – this has never been more true in today's world where it is vital to have a clear and distinct go-to-market proposition. You have to understand and respect your customers and what motivates and informs their behaviour. Customer insights leading to brilliant creative ideas, communicated with laser like targeting. That's the difference between business success and failure today".
John Farrell is a marketing professional of significant accomplishment with a 25-year history of leadership at some of the world’s most famous marketing services agency brands, being the former President and CEO of global firms such as Publicis Groupe’s SAMS, DMB&B and IMP.
In nearly ten years at Publicis, where he ran marketing services at group and global level and led M&A operations, Farrell helped make the group the third largest communications holding company in the world. As the Founder of John Farrell & Associates he is currently the senior adviser, non-executive director and chairman at several advertising, media, marketing services and technology businesses. John helps build and monetize marketing services agency businesses and has led the successful sale of 15 companies over the last five years.
About The Marketors
The Worshipful Company of Marketors (‘The Marketors’) is a City livery company that promotes marketing as a force for economic and public benefit by encouraging excellence in its education and practice. Promoting the view that marketing is a strategic function of the board, the Company advocates that marketing benefits everyone and promotes the profession through charity work, supporting start-ups and educational establishments, and its own mentoring, educational awards and bursary programmes.
The Marketors holds traditional values and delivers them in a modern context by offering guidance in the form of research leadership and promoting discussion and debate between members, other livery companies, the wider marketing profession, government and the City.
Ranked 90th in order of precedence of livery companies, The Marketors was established in 1975 and became a livery company in 1977. Its membership is drawn from senior marketing professionals, marketing services experts and marketing academics and numbers over 350.
The Marketors is one of the most active liveries for social and business events, offering its members a wide variety of networking occasions and opportunities to give back to the community. The livery supports the city of London and its mayoralty and was incorporated by Royal Charter in 2010.
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Joanna Elliott
Whiteoaks International
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Email: joannae@whiteoaks.co.uk