When Siddharth Taparia became CMO of JLL in 2021, the scale looked impressive on paper: 112,000 employees, 300 offices and operations in more than 80 countries. But behind the numbers was a marketing function that barely existed as one organisation. Speaking at ADWEEK’s Brandweek, Taparia described a reality of "dozens and dozens of separate companies," around 100 websites, and no shared metrics.
The challenge was not only a brand problem, it was an operating problem. His mandate: build a world-class marketing organisation from the ground up. The roadmap that emerged is practical for any marketing leader facing fragmented teams or regional silos.
Clarify the brand first
JLL’s first move was a single positioning platform called "See a Brighter Way." The idea was to give clients a clear, unified picture of what JLL does and the smarter path it can provide. For Taparia, the platform became the foundation for bringing multiple websites, messages and teams onto one coherent story.
For marketing teams with similar sprawl, the sequence matters: brand clarity before technology or org redesign. Without a shared story, tools and incentives only automate fragmentation.
Connect individual, marketing and company performance
To move from cost centre to revenue contributor, Taparia pushed for a direct line of sight between a marketer’s work and the company’s overall strength. JLL now links marketers’ bonuses to the contributions they make to the company’s effectiveness.
That shift has produced measurable results: marketing-originated revenue at JLL has grown by triple digits over the last three years.
The operating principle is a useful one:
- Individual performance should be tied to marketing outcomes.
- Marketing outcomes should be tied to company performance.
- Shared metrics make that chain visible across regions and functions.
This is how marketing teams "earn a seat at the table," Taparia argues, by showing how their work strengthens the brand overall.
Approach AI as a shared experience
Taparia also cautioned that telling employees to use AI is not enough. Brands need to provide access to best-in-class AI tools and create a collective culture around adoption. At JLL, the goal is to make AI ready at both the individual and organisational level, and then turn that innovation into competitive advantage.
That framing shifts AI from a productivity mandate to a capability-building exercise. It also reduces the risk of scattered, unmeasured experimentation.
Why this matters
For marketing leaders, JLL’s journey is a compact case study in transformation sequencing: clarify the brand promise, align incentives with business impact, and then scale shared capabilities such as AI. The result is less fragmentation, cleaner measurement and a marketing function that can point to revenue influence rather than activity volume.
Source: Adweek
