Marc S. Pritchard
As the top brand builder and chief marketer of the world’s largest advertiser, Marc Pritchard oversees P&G’s brand building disciplines including Consumer & Market Knowledge, Communications, Design, and Brand Management to build some of the world’s most iconic brands.
Marc believes in brand building principles that serve people and make P&G brands indispensible in their lives. He is often quoted as saying “people may not think much about the products we make except the few minutes each day when they wash their hair, do their laundry, brush their teeth, or wipe their countertop. But P&G brands are with people throughout their lives, making every day just a little bit better.”
Marc brings a passion for creating authentic connections between the Company’s brands and the people they serve. The most important way to deliver on that priority is through his responsibility for the development of P&G’s 4,000 world class brand builders and agencies and business partners around the world that serve the brands.
Under Marc’s leadership in 2010, the Company created a historic partnership with the International Olympic Committee leveraging the Olympic Games through 2020 to both grow its business in virtually every part of the world and strengthen the reputation of P&G and its brands. The first event of the partnership, the London 2012 Olympic Games, yielded record retailer activation, award winning advertising campaigns and unprecedented Public Relations and social media activity.
Since becoming Global Marketing Officer in 2008, Global Brand Building Officer in 2009, then Chief Brand Officer in 2014, Marc has focused the organization on meaningful consumer insights, leveraging those insights to create big creative ideas based from the brand’s superior benefits, and that are powerful enough to engage people across all mediums to drive brand preference. Underpinning Marc’s leadership to continue P&G’s legacy of world-class brand building is a focus on innovation in every area of brand building, advancement in digital and social media platforms that are changing the way people engage and share information, and the importance of partnerships with leading agencies, technology companies and media platforms.
Marc’s robust experiences include having led brands in the Health & Beauty categories for P&G over the past 20 years. In addition to growing successful cosmetic and hair care businesses, Marc’s leadership in acquiring and integrating high profile beauty brands including Clairol and Wella has established P&G as a beauty industry leader. Inspired by fashion and other similar industries, Marc’s unique vision is focused on new ways to connect with a broader consumer audience.
Throughout his career, Marc has led innovative branding and marketing campaigns, such as the “Easy, Breezy, Beautiful, COVERGIRL” campaign, which remains the mantra of the brand today. Marc’s pioneering approach also spans product and operational innovation. For example, in his role as President of Global Strategy (2006-2008), Marc drove sustainable growth and expanded productivity resulting in capability improvement, streamlined work processes and simplified organization structure.
Marc is a veteran of P&G for more than three decades, joining the company as a Cost Analyst in the Paper Division in 1982. His first marketing role was Assistant Brand Manager for Sure anti-perspirant/deodorant in 1987. After building the Sure and Secret businesses for two years, he moved to Hair Care where he was responsible for Pantene, Prell, Pert Plus and Vidal Sassoon.
In1993, Marc moved to Oral Care as Marketing Director for Crest, Scope and Future Products. He was named General Manager for U.S. Skin Care products two years later with responsibility for Olay, Noxzema, Clearasil and Bain de Soleil. While on a short term special assignment overseas, Marc created the first information technology strategy for P&G that included launching consumer branding programs through the Internet and creating scale for the company through innovative new systems.
Marc returned to lead the US Cosmetic and Fragrance business in 1996 as Vice President & General Manager. In 1999, his responsibility expanded to include Latin America, and a year later Global Design. In 2003, Marc was named President, Global Cosmetics and Personal Care adding Hair Colorants to his already long list of duties in 2004.
Marc currently serves as the Chair of the Board of Directors for the Association of National Advertisers and is on the Board of Directors for the Ad Council. Marc served as Vice Chairman for the 2012 Advertising Hall of Fame managed by the American Advertising Federation. He is a member of the Indiana University Kelley School of Business Dean’s Council and has served on the Board of Directors for the World Trade Center Institute of Baltimore since 2001.He has been a recognized beauty industry leader actively involved for more than 12 years in the Cosmetic, Toiletries and Fragrance Association where he was Vice Chair in 2002 and served as Chairman of the Board (2004-2008).
Marc has been honored by the American Cancer Society, Fashion Institute of Technology, Beyond Beauty OCD Foundation and the Pratt Institute for Design Excellence. In 2008 and 2009, Marc was recognized by Advertising Age as the #1 Power Player in the marketing industry worldwide, and in 2016, was also named #1 on their Most Powerful Marketer list and Power Player again in 2017. He was also recognized in 2017 by Marketing Week as Marketer of the Year.
