"Shared learning can save valuable time"

Font Size

Print

Feedback

Email

Discuss

Chairman of the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA), Bernhard Glock is a man with a mission. His agenda is to tackle ‘real’ issues before the advertising community worldwide. With a career spanning over three decades, Glock has seen the global ad industry’s highs and lows from the ringside. And his mantra is simple: “Together we are stronger than the sum of our parts.” At present, WFA’s worldwide network comprises 55 national advertisers’ associations across five continents and about 50 of the world’s top 100 marketers. Currently, WFA covers almost 90% of the total global advertising pie. Glock is also vice-president, global media communications and global media purchases at Procter & Gamble. During his recent visit to Mumbai, FE’s Lalitha Srinivasan caught up with Glock for an exclusive interview. Excerpts:

How important is ISA (Indian Society of Advertisers) in WFA’s global plans?

ISA plays a very important role in our worldwide operations. First, it is one of our founding members. It’s fantastic to see ISA on our membership list for so long. ISA members are very active—especially so Bharat Patel, who is chairman of the body. It is most active in matters that concern Asia.

What are WFA’s new initiatives to strengthen its operations?

At present, WFA covers almost 90% of the global ad spend. What we do is a lot of sharing and reapplying. So, we have many meetings with the key advertisers worldwide. In fact, we have five different committee meetings. In each of these meetings, we discuss the most important developments and share our learnings. As chairman of the WFA, I get the report every time. Bringing different advertisers together around the world for different categories is of enormous value as you share faster and convey faster too.

In this era of rapid globalisation and technological innovation what remains common to us all is that we face the same opportunities and challenges. This reality fuels my conviction in the importance of the WFA to marketers across the globe.

What are your priorities at this point as the head of WFA?