Diageo: Marketers are general managers, making marketing a better route to CEO

Marketing is at the heart of Diageo’s business. It dictates the overall strategy for brands such as Smirnoff and determines the best way to grow these brands, as well as communicating to the rest of the company how to do it.
“In marketing today, brand managers are the general managers for their brands. They are the ones that shape the strategy and develop the growth drivers for that brand and, ultimately, for the business,” says marketing and innovation director for Europe