The Drum Awards for Marketing - Extended Deadline

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Social Media The Drum Awards For Social Media Marketing

Who's making waves in social media? Vote now to crown the Social Buzz Individual of the Year 2016

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By Rebecca Stewart, Trends Editor

November 2, 2016 | 11 min read

Voting is now open to decide who should be crowned the 2016 Social Buzz Individual of the Year at The Drum's Social Buzz Awards.

Social Buzz Awards 2016 nominations

Who has made the biggest impact in the social media industry this year? Vote now to crown the Social Buzz Individual of the Year

This year, The Drum's editorial team has curated a shortlist of selection outstanding talents excelling in the social media arena - and we put it over to our readers to decide who is the most deserving of the individual of the year accolade.

Voting is now closed for this project, the winner will be announced at a black-tie event taking place at the Marriott Grosvenor Square in London on Wednesday 30 November.

Each year, The Drum recognises the success stories happening in the world of social and crowns the talent behind them. This year, The Drum's editorial team whittled the list down to over a dozen talented marketers and media moguls who are achieving great things in the industry. Whoever scoops the prize for 2016 will be following in the footsteps of We Are Social's Robin Grant and Twitter's Bruce Daisley.

Scroll down to find out more information on our nominees.

Andy Dangerfield, UK Social Media Editor, BuzzFeed and BuzzFeed News

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Andy is UK Social Media Editor for BuzzFeed News with more than 10 years experience reporting, feature writing and broadcasting. Since joining BuzzFeed at the start of this year, he has been at the forefront of delivering BuzzFeed’s news and political coverage on new platforms. He organised the site's EU referendum Townhall Facebook Live event, in which leaders including David Cameron and Nicola Sturgeon answered questions from a live studio audience, attracting 7.7m viewers.

Adele Cooper, UK country manager, Pinterest

adele

Adele Cooper is the UK & Ireland Country Manager for Pinterest. Based in London, Adele leads the country team and is responsible for growing Pinterest in the UK and Ireland. The visual bookmarking tool has made serious strides to improve its appeal to brands over the past year; launching new formats in the UK like Promoted Pins, Promoted Videos and improved targeting capabilities. It launched its first ever global campaign in the UK earlier this year, partnering with Channel 4 on the project.

Liam Harrington, chief executive and producer, Unilad

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Liam Harrington is the co-founder and chief executive of Unilad, which according to Tubular Labs outpaced BuzzFeed in September to become the most viewed Facebook Page in the world. The media outlet has taken several steps to boost its presence on social this year, most notably taking advantage of live-streaming to pull in audiences. In July it streamed the Homeless World Cup from Glasgow, and halfway through the tournament organisers said it had noted a 1000 per cent increase in the number of people watching since last year’s event in Amsterdam.

Sam Bentley, chief executive and creative director, Unilad

Sam Bentley Unilad

Sam Bentley is Unilad's co-founder leading the Unilad social team from the site's Manchester offices. This year the outlet has laid claim to the most engaged Facebook page in the world according to ComScore. Over the past 12 months is has also achieved the world record for the most video views from one publisher in a singular month, leapfrogging BuzzFeed's Tasty to claim the accolade. In addition, Bentley has been pivotal in pushing forward with the publisher's plan to produce more serious features on topics like men's mental health issues and animal abuse.

Cass Gowing, global social media manager, AllSaints

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Having been at AllSaints since 2015, Cass Gowing has a wealth of experience within the fashion and digital sector. She first burst onto the scene as a fashion blogger in 2010, she joined AllSaints last year as a global social media analyst and was quickly promoted to global social media manager. She creates social media content for the brand's international platforms, and now manages a team of country managers across France, Spain, Italy and more.

Will Scougal, head of creative strategy, Snapchat

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Formerly Twitter UK's head of brand strategy, Will Scougal left last November to take on the role of head of creative strategy at Snapchat. Since he joined the upstart has pushed out a mammoth expansion of its advertising offering, working with brands like Dominos, Cadbury and Sony in the UK and launching an API.

Matt Navarra, head of content and director of social media, The Next Web

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Having arrived at The Next Web as director of social media following a stint with the UK government, Navarra was seconded as head of content earlier this year. Under his watch, traffic has steadily increased over the past six months, and he implemented the social strategy for the media owner's #TNWEurope event resulting in nearly half a billion impressions on Twitter.

Nicola Mendelsohn, vice-president, EMEA, Facebook

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Nicola Mendelsohn is vice-president of Facebook EMEA. She is responsible for the Facebook and Instagram business operations and growth across the region, including opening its first office in July last year. Under her watch Facebook Live launched in the UK in April, while the social network's eBay and Gumtree rival, Marketplace, debuted in October.

Timothy Armoo, co-founder and chief executive, Fanbytes

Timothy Armoo, co-founder and chief executive, Fanbytes

Having founded Fanbytes in 2014, Timothy Armoo has since overseen the sharp growth of the video influencer network. Over the past 12 months his company has worked with brands like Adidas, GoPro and New Look across various social networks and apps including YouTube, Snapcht and Vine. The platform is now home to over 3000 influencers and last December worked with Ronaldinho to to launch his new range of golden Segway scooters.

Solly Solomou, founder and chief executive, Lad Bible

Solly Solomou, founder and chief executive, Lad Bible

Solly Solomou founded the Lad Bible in 2011 in Manchester, it is now frequently cited as one of the world's most-watched pages on Facebook in terms of monthly video views by Tubular Labs and this year will shortly move out of the Shoreditch offices in London to inhabit a space nearly five times bigger. It has been innovating on social over the past 12 months, using platforms like Facebook Live to drive audience figures and engagement among its 18.4 million followers.

Dominic Smales, chief executive, Gleam Futures

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Digital first talent company Gleam has continued to dominate the scene this year, keeping the likes of Alfie Deyes, Zoella and Jim Chapman on its books. Despite growing competition in the burgeoning influencer space the agency has expanded in 2016, and is now on a recruitment drive. It has helped guide names such as Zoella and Tanya Burr through their own product launches with Superdrug, and overseen brand partnerships between influencers and the likes of Direct Line and Asda.

Robin Grant, global managing director, We Are Social

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Having been crowned Social Buzz Individual of the year for 2015, Robin Grant has had a busy twelve months heading up We Are Social. The agency has worked on several notable projects this year including Adidas' #BeTheDifference, and Domino's Pizza Bot which allows users to order pizzas directly within Facebook Messenger - without the faff of credit cards and delivery details. The London-based firm was also classed as one of Warc's world's best digital agencies back in March.

Leah Davis, head of marketing, Team GB, British Olympic Association

Leah Davis, head of marketing, Team GB, British Olympic Association

Leah Davis was responsible for Team GB's marketing output in the run up to and during the Rio 2016 games. The Games offered exciting marketing and social media opportunities and the team took full advantage of them, delivering a medal -worthy digital experience for their 3m fans. Working with the commercial team, partner activations were integrated into the Team GB story across seven social media channels, resulting in 70% of the population engaging with Team GB some way during the Games.

James Kirkham, head, Copa90

James Kirkham, head, Copa90

Earlier this year Big Balls Media appointed Holler co-founder and Leo Burnett’s former social and mobile boss James Kirkham to help shape its pan-European business as well as head up the Copa90 YouTube football channel. Since then the network has ramped up its innovation drive, and launched several new initiatives for fans including a Facebook chatbot which gave fans results and news throughout the tournament.

James Whatley, planning partner, innovation, Ogilvy & Mather London

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Just a few months ago Ogilvy & Mather London promoted James Whatley to the position of planning partner of innovation. Since joining Ogilvy in January 2012, Whatley has worked across clients including Kronenbourg 1664, Expedia, and Pizza Hut Delivery UK. Over the past 12 months he has been responsible for leading integrated digital, mobile, and social thinking from planning and insights through to creative and execution for the agency across brands like Dove and Battersea Dog's Home.

Finalists for the company categories for this year's Social Buzz Awards were announced earlier this year. Tickets for the annual celebration of the finest work in digital marketing can be purchased on the dedicated website where further details can also be found.

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