World Marketing Summit

What World Marketing Summit does

World Marketing Summit is a global events and education organization founded in 2011 by Philip Kotler, the marketer widely known as the "Father of Modern Marketing," and operated under the legal entity Kotler Impact Inc. based in Mississauga, Canada. The organization's core offering is a series of country-level and regional summits that convene corporate executives, public-sector officials, non-profit leaders, and academics to address socio-economic challenges through the application of modern marketing principles. Summits have been hosted across Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and South America, including Japan, Thailand, Singapore, Bangladesh, Bahrain, the United Kingdom, Italy, Chile, and Turkey.

The business derives revenue primarily from event sponsorships, ticket sales, and partnerships with multinational corporations such as Fujifilm, with secondary revenue from a portfolio of digital and educational sub-brands — e-WMS (digital summit content), Learning on Demand, Masterclass, Mind your Marketing, and Big Bang Book. A regional subsidiary, WMS Asia, supports operations in Asia-Pacific. The organization maintains a 51–100 employee headcount and distributes content through earned media coverage in outlets including Bloomberg, Forbes, Harvard Business Review, UNCTAD, and CNN Türk. No external funding rounds, patents, or proprietary technology platforms are disclosed.

Name

World Marketing Summit

Legal name

Kotler Impact Inc.

Website

https://worldmarketingsummitgroup.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2011

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

World Marketing Summit, founded in 2011 by Philip Kotler and operated as Kotler Impact Inc. from Mississauga, Canada, hosts global summit events and digital education programs that convene corporate, public-sector, non-profit, and academic leaders to address socio-economic challenges through modern marketing.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Marketing Conferences and Executive Education

NAICS

Convention and Trade Show Organizers (56192)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro primary industry

Executive Leadership Summits (C-Suite, Board, Strategy Offsites) (THAHAMAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Executive Summits & Invitation-Only Forums (MPAGAGAK), Training, Enablement & Talent Development Summits (THAHAMAH), Corporate Conferences & Sales Kickoffs (MPAGAGAC)

Keywords

• Marketing summit events
• Marketing executive education
• Thought leadership conferences
• Global marketing forums
• Professional development programs

Headquarters

HQ city

Mississauga

HQ country

Canada

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Others

Revenue model

1. Event Sponsorships: The organization generates revenue through corporate sponsorships for its global summit events. Fujifilm is mentioned as a sponsor for the 2019 World Marketing Summit.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

World Marketing Summit is an independent global organization that convenes large-scale international marketing summit events and offers associated digital educational programs. It is operated under Kotler Impact Inc., was founded in 2011, is headquartered in Mississauga, Canada, and is led by founder Philip Kotler. The core commercial offerings are global summit events, e-WMS, Learning on Demand, Masterclass, Mind your Marketing, and the Big Bang Book publication.

Product overview

World Marketing Summit is a conference/event organization led by Philip Kotler that offers a portfolio of products and services centered around modern marketing education and thought leadership. The core offering is the World Marketing Summit event series, supplemented by digital platforms (e-WMS), educational services (Learning on Demand, Masterclass, Mind your Marketing), and publications (Big Bang Book). The portfolio spans in-person events, digital platforms, and educational content to advance marketing solutions for socio-economic impact.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• e-WMS: Digital/electronic version of the World Marketing Summit platform
• Learning on Demand
• Masterclass
• Mind your Marketing
• Big Bang Book

Products and services

• World Marketing Summit (Global Summit Events) Flagship large-scale, international, in-person marketing summit events convened across multiple countries, bringing together senior corporate executives, government ministers, non-profit leaders, and academics for thought-leadership, networking, and brand sponsorship opportunities (e.g., Fujifilm 2019 sponsorship).
• e-WMS Digital program associated with the World Marketing Summit, delivering marketing thought-leadership and educational content online to delegates and learners who cannot attend in-person events.
• Learning on Demand On-demand digital educational offering providing continuous, self-paced access to marketing thought-leadership content and curriculum from the World Marketing Summit ecosystem.
• Masterclass Premium, masterclass-format marketing educational program associated with the World Marketing Summit, targeted at senior marketing practitioners seeking in-depth instruction.
• Mind your Marketing Marketing-focused content series or program offered under the World Marketing Summit umbrella, delivering curated marketing insights to professional audiences.
• Big Bang Book Published book associated with the World Marketing Summit and Kotler Impact Inc., sold as a standalone thought-leadership publication for marketing professionals and organizations.

Named customers1 record

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• FujifilmcoreGTM or Marketing Partner · 3 October 2019Fujifilm served as a global sponsor for the World Marketing Summit 2019, organized by Professor Philip Kotler. This partnership positioned Fujifilm as a prominent global partner supporting the organization's mission to create a better world through modern marketing.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• Dreamforce (Salesforce): Salesforce's annual customer and ecosystem conference, a benchmark for enterprise-marketed flagship events. Relevant comparable for scale of corporate sponsorship tiers, media coverage, and multi-product event ecosystem that WMS aspires to build.
• INBOUND (HubSpot): HubSpot's annual flagship marketing conference with global marketing leaders, enterprise sponsors, and educational content. Comparable to WMS as a large-scale marketing-focused event with educational programming and sponsorship monetization.
• SXSW (South by Southwest): Large multi-track conference and festival covering marketing, tech, film, and culture. Comparable as a cross-sector thought-leadership event franchise monetized through sponsorships and ticketing, and competes for the same senior marketing and innovation audiences.
• Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity: The flagship global advertising and marketing creativity festival held annually in Cannes. Directly comparable to WMS as a marquee marketing thought-leadership event series, but larger, more established, and more sponsor-driven; competes with WMS for global brand sponsorship budgets and senior marketer attention.
• CES (Consumer Electronics Show): CTA's flagship annual trade show and conference for the consumer technology industry. Comparable as a large-scale, globally recognized industry event franchise reliant on enterprise sponsors and global media coverage.
• Web Summit: One of the largest global tech and business conference operators, running multiple annual flagship events worldwide. Comparable as a global multi-region conference franchise targeting enterprise sponsors and C-suite attendees, and competes for the same corporate marketing budgets that WMS relies on.

Direct peers

• TED (TED Conferences): Mission-driven global ideas conference and media organization with branded events and digital content distribution. Highly comparable to WMS as a thought-leadership conference brand monetized via events, sponsorships, and digital content, with similar cross-sector audience.
• Advertising Week: Global conference series focused on the marketing, advertising, media, and technology industries, with multiple city editions each year. Highly comparable to WMS in product (multi-city marketing summits), target audience (CMOs, agencies, brands), and sponsor model.

Regional players

• ANA (Association of National Advertisers): U.S.-based association for major brand marketers that runs conferences, training, and awards programs. Comparable to WMS as a membership-driven marketing industry organization hosting summits and education, primarily serving North America.

Others

• Kotler Impact / Kotler Awards: Sister entity to WMS under the Kotler umbrella, focused on marketing awards programs. Comparable as an adjacent ecosystem asset leveraging the Kotler founder brand to monetize marketing industry engagement alongside the WMS summit series.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/kotlerimpact?t=jwH98MVu69Jn3ALB2ZjQ8A&s=09
• Facebookfacebook.com/Kotlerimpact
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/world-marketing-summit-group
• Instagraminstagram.com/kotlerimpact?utm_medium=copy_link

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about World Marketing Summit