No. 2
Anne MacDonald
Head of global marketing, consumer group, Citigroup: New York NY
Marketing philosophy: Hire the best possible marketing talent, rather than relying on external input. An insatiable curiosity that drives rigorous tracking and measuring of initiatives. Create a forward-thinking brand that seeks out new ways to serve consumers.
Recent marketing coup: Citigroup's identity theft solution and marketing campaign launched earlier this year. It's an example of seeking out customers' unfulfilled need, then delivering a compelling solution.
Previous position: Head of branding and communications for Pepsico's Pizza Hut.
Anne MacDonald, head of global marketing for Citigroup's Consumer Group, is the first to admit that articulating customer focus as a driver of brand strategy and marketing is "boring." But it works. The basics usually do.
"You have to love and be fascinated by people and how they behave, what motivates them and how they think. That's what has kept me in marketing 24 years," says MacDonald, whose career is just about evenly split between working for ad agencies and "clients."
She's intrigued by the pursuit of solving consumers' problems and fulfilling desires that other companies aren't. She points to this year's identity-theft program and its spectacular ad campaign as an example of successfully finding and responding to an unserved need. Industry experts agree this kind of innovation in product set and advertising has thrust the $1.4 trillion firm into the upper echelons of banking and built a brand that rivals pacesetters in other industries.
As quickly as she admits the necessary mundanities of her job, MacDonald makes sure to hammer home that Citi's marketing successes are not hers to claim. A team of five executives heading up advertising, direct marketing, research, media and brand strategy keep the big red umbrella efficiently in motion. "You move faster because of the level of skill sets inside the organization. It brings a higher level of expectation and work into everything we do," she says.
While basic marketing mechanics might be "boring," that's the last thing she and her team want to be. "I'm finding a lot of folks in our category saying, 'Gee, banks are boring. We're a bank trying not to be like a bank.' Rather than saying banks are boring, just don't be boring. People believe that banks are what they are because that's what they've been. So stop being that. Just fix it."
