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Game Changers

Janet Fletcher, Procter & Gamble

Photo by: PROCTER & GAMBLE
J
anet Fletcher is always on the lookout for a bold volunteer, because that’s what helped her become Procter & Gamble’s first female head of sports marketing.

Janet Fletcher
PROCTER & GAMBLE,
DIRECTOR, OLYMPICS AND SPORTS MARKETING
At great risk to her own career, Fletcher twice asked P&G to let her take a leap of faith: first in 2000, when she left her engineering career managing 120 people at a P&G toilet paper factory to start over in marketing, and then in 2009, when she volunteered to take on the Olympics.

“I was willing to take the risk, I was willing to put my career on the line, and I was willing to give it my all,” Fletcher said during an interview at the P&G Family Home in Rio de Janeiro last month. “I can’t speak for other people, but when I see that in the people that work for me, I tend to gravitate to give them more chances to take on more.”

Fletcher oversees all P&G sports efforts, but the Olympics is her bread and butter. She was there when P&G said yes to Wieden & Kennedy’s now-iconic “Thank You Mom” campaign, which helped the consumer packaged goods company go from a collection of brands that sponsored individual athletes to a global International Olympic Committee sponsor in less than a year. The business results of the partnership are important, but so is the personal touch Fletcher provides to the families through the campaign. 

“I’m just a small part of their journey as they go through the Olympic Games, and I get to be a part of that,” she said. “I get to serve these athletes and their families in a truly authentic way.”

— Ben Fischer

  • An attribute I look for when hiring: Courage — to take risks, make tough decisions and lead change.
  • A networking tip I’ve learned: Build relationships via existing relationships.
  • Biggest challenge I face working in sports: Navigating to find leaders on the marketing side of the business.
  • Best advice I’ve received for career development: Lead nurturing both male and female mentor relationships. (The relationship is a two-way street.)
  • Woman in sports business I’d most like to meet: Mel Healey, former group president at P&G. Mel was a huge supporter of the Olympic program and leaned in to fund the first execution (Vancouver 2010) and global expansion.
  • Most memorable sporting event attended: London 2012 Summer Olympics: the first global Olympics execution for P&G across all brands and 203 markets.
  • Groups supported: U.S. Paralympics, Special Olympics, St. Vincent de Paul

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