Meet The Drum DADI Awards 2018 judges: M&C Saatchi, Dare, Karmarama, GSK, 360i Europe and AKQA

Following are six of our stellar list of agency based judges:

Chris Brown, global head of digital, M&C Saatchi

Brown leads M&C Saatchi's digital team developing strategy and activity across a portfolio of international clients, including Virgin, PepsiCo, Dixons Carphone and Alphabet.

He spent ten years in-house at Dixons Carphone Group as head of content, social media and digital experience. Brown has led teams across insight, brand, content, social media, SEO, testing, web development and strategy and has overseen digital transformation projects across multiple clients. His focus is on making wonderful experiences for consumers that make measurable impacts for businesses.

Melissa Ditson, executive creative director, 360i Europe

Ditson joined 360i Europe in 2017 to head up creative for brands like Lidl, TSB, Burger King and Norwegian.

Previously, Ditson has lead creative teams and agencies in New York, having launched award winning campaigns to raise awareness about girls education for Michelle Obama’s Let Girls Learn, worked on US-wide music platforms for brands like American Express with Jay Z, and Budweiser, and redefined brand experiences online for GE, P&G, and (RED).

James Chorley, group creative director, AKQA

Chorley is the group creative director at AKQA and has over a decade of experience across brand strategy and marketing campaigns as well as products and services including mobile applications, wearables and games.

He has created a variety of products including mobile applications, digital services, games and wearables for global brands including Nike, BBC, TAG Heuer and Xbox.

On the awards, he said: “The Drum’s DADI awards recognise and reward the best companies and individuals and I’m delighted to sit on the panel this year. I’m looking forward to seeing entries with a compelling story, and data that shows meaningful impact on businesses and their customers.”

Sandra McDill, global digital media, GSK

McDill recently joined GSK as global digital media strategy director having spent 14 years working across the digital marketing industry. Starting in performance marketing across affiliates, search, programmatic and social, she has worked in global roles both technology and agency side including global vice president for Tagman, managing partner at Dentsu Aegis agency iProspect and most recently as chief marketing officer at Convertr, a SaaS media technology platform.

Michael Olaye, chief executive officer, Dare

Olaye is the chief executive officer of Dare, a digital creative agency with hub offices in London, Bristol and New York.

He leads the inside ideas group’s tech vision, responsible for its technical collaboration, industry thought leadership and advanced technology incubations. He has been named one of The Drum’s 100 most influential people in UK digital, and one of Creativepool’s top 100 influencers.

"I have always felt the DADI awards is one of the best in the industry," he said about the awards. "Showing a true understanding of the digital landscape, the people and the great work we all do. I am honoured to have the chance to judge what I no doubt know will be great entries from some fantastic agencies. I am really looking forward to it. "

Hannah Matthews, managing partner, Karmarama

Matthews joined Karmarama in 2004, seeing the agency grow exponentially over the years and became part of Accenture Interactive at the end of 2016. She has worked with clients including Diageo, Molson Coors, Amstel, MTV and Unibet during this time as well as heading up new business and marketing for the agency.

As well as a founding member and former President of Bloom, Matthews is an active member of WACL, now sitting on the WACL executive committee running gatherings for rising female talent in the industry.

Talking about the DADI Awards, she said: "I’m thrilled to be part of the judging panel for the DADIS. As one of the longest running awards in the digital space they’ve become renowned for shining a light on some of the most progressive digital work which is a really making a difference, which we can all learn from and which raises the bar for best practice across the industry."

Check out our panel of judges for The Drum DADI Awards. The entry deadline has passed but you can still enter by applying for an extension. Please contact Laura Gregson for more details.

These awards are in association with UKFast and sponsored by Shazam.