MIAMI—Marc Pritchard, global brand building officer for Procter & Gamble, will be a keynote speaker at the first annual Global Public Relations Summit, which will take place at the St Regis Bal Harbour hotel in Miami from October 29-31.

In addition to overseeing an annual advertising budget of around $9.3 billion—the largest in the world—Pritchard is responsible for a wide range of brand-building functions, including consumer and market knowledge, external relations, and design. He has also embraced a broad view of P&G’s relationship with its external stakeholders, focused on building “purpose-inspired brands” and lifelong personal relationships that acknowledge its customers as “people” and not just “consumers.”

Pritchard has been quick to embrace PR’s unique advantages since becoming CMO at P&G in 2008, declaring in 2010 that “PR is the most authentic form of marketing.” He has also helped P&G fine-tune its measurement and remuneration systems to better reflect the role PR plays in its campaigns and has ensured that P&G’s PR agencies have a genuine, coveted, spot at the top-table of strategic brand planning.

One result is that P&G and its various agencies are finalists for eight SABRE Awards in the Americas region and another 10 in the EMEA region—more than any other company.

“Procter & Gamble has evolved in recent years into perhaps the most sophisticated user of public relations in the world,” says Paul Holmes, editor of The Holmes Report. “Marc Pritchard understands public relations and the role it can play in building authentic, sustainable relationships for consumer brands. He has a great deal to say about the future of our industry, and what PR professionals need to do to make an even bigger contribution.”

Marc Pritchard is a 29-year veteran of P&G, 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. Throughout his career, he has led innovative branding and marketing campaigns, such as the “Easy, Breezy, Beautiful Cover Girl” campaign, and has held responsibility for brands such as Pantene, Prell, Pert Plus, Vidal Sassoon, Crest, Scope, Olay, Noxzema, and Clearasil.

More recently, as brand building officer, he created a historic partnership with the International Olympic Committee to leverage the Olympic Games through 2020 to grow P&G business in virtually every part of the world and strengthen the reputation of P&G and its brands.|
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Pritchard currently serves on the board of directors for the Association of National Advertisers and the Ad Council. In 2012, he will serve as chairman of the board for the Ad Council and vice chairman for the 2012 Advertising Hall of Fame

The Global Summit brings together public relations agency leaders and senior corporate communications professionals from around the world to discuss the trends and issues shaping the future of the discipline.