Meet The Drum PR Awards judges: GSK, Diageo, Microsoft, GoDaddy, Jolibee
The deadline for The Drum PR Awards is fast approaching. Whether you are an individual, agency, brand or organisation producing effective PR executions, why not show our panel of industry experts your amazing work.
The inaugural year's judging panel includes L'Oréal, Dentsu Aegis Network, Unilever, GSK, Diageo, Microsoft, Sony, Aura PR, WE Red Bridge, Jolibee and Go Daddy.
Meet the following six members of the judging panel.
Diageo
Michelle Lavipour
global corporate PR manager
Lavipour is the global leader for Diageo in beverage alcohol with 200 brands operating in 180 countries. In her role, she leads corporate storytelling globally across Diageo's brands, marketing, innovation, and diversity and inclusion strategy. She also sits on the global marketing leadership team of the business. Prior to going in house, Michelle worked at agencies Edelman and Pagefield on a broad range of clients across FMCG, media, pharmaceuticals and the third sector.
I'm looking forward to uncovering brilliant work from across all sectors, and celebrating the campaigns, in-house teams and agencies that are making an impact. I'll be looking for work which firmly meets the objectives of the brand, business or organisation behind it, demonstrating strategic thinking and flawless execution.
Go Daddy
Susie Penner
senior director of corporate communications
Penner has more than 20 years of experience managing corporate communications, product and industry marketing for technology-driven companies. Prior to GoDaddy, Penner worked as director of corporate communications at Oracle for a decade and was responsible for enterprise applications. She also held positions at Trolltech (acquired by Nokia), Silicon Graphics (SGI), Egon Zehnder International, The Weber Group and Arbor Software (acquired by Oracle).
I'm honored to join The Drum PR Awards as a judge. After two decades working in communications for technology companies like Oracle and GoDaddy, I've seen our industry change and evolve, and am looking forward to celebrating not only the best work in our field, but our fellow communications professionals. I'm most interested in seeing entries that accomplish something big with a small set of resources.
GSK
Colin D'Silva
head, Asia Pacific, communications and government affairs
D'Silva has 20 years of experience in corporate affairs, public relations, government and regulatory affairs, issues management, sustainability and brand management at both the regional (Asia-Pacific) and global levels. Before joining GSK, he was global director, scientific affairs and brand communications for Skin Inc. where he oversaw technical and regulatory affairs, marketing and digital communication, and issues and crisis management. In his role, D'Silva ensured that innovation and brand communication became key drivers of Skin Inc's business growth globally.
It's exciting to note that The Drum wants to reinforce the value of PR in the marketing mix and as a Corporate/PR Affairs professional, I find this very inspiring. I'm looking to see world-class ideas (in the entries being submitted) which will showcase excellence in the PR sector.
WE Red Bridge
Nicky Wang
managing director and head of strategy
Wang is a brand strategist that specialises in advising challenger brands on positioning, market entry and expansion plans in China. She is a firm believer that successful communications must deliver tangible business results, leading her teams to produce high-impact campaigns and sustainable engagement programs that deliver maximum return for clients.
I'm looking for original ideas that are effectively communicated across integrated channels. Additionally, having worked very closely with c-suite clients around the world, it is absolutely crucial that the work generates tangible results at the end of the day, being it business performance, brand perception, or consumer behavioural change.
Jollibee
Arline Adeva
assistant vice president for brand communications, PR and digital marketing
Adeva oversees all the publicity requirements and Brand Love campaigns of the Jollibee brand with her team, the staging of major company milestones and consumer events, implementing digital marketing initiatives and brand love campaigns. Her team's various PR initiatives and activations have also consistently harvested multiple awards year on year from top industry award giving bodies.
I hope to see entries that are both simple yet very impactful, bold and truly extraordinary. The ones that will stand out from me are those PR campaigns that were not only executed very well from end to end (anchored on a strong idea or insight) but also those that have left or will surely leave a strong imprint to the people or communities that the brand or company serves even beyond the campaign period. More than the awards, PR campaigns can also be our legacies, our contribution to make this world a much better place to live in.
Microsoft
Paul Fabretti
director of communications
Fabretti currently manages marcomms for Microsoft Design whose goal is to elevate the role of the design discipline in influencing customer choice. Prior to that, he led the blobal web organic team for Office marketing with responsibility for SEO and social media for some of social's largest brands such as Skype, Outlook and Office. He's been involved in social and PR since 2005 and is a huge proponent of data-driven storytelling and driving commercial impact from social.
I'm really looking forward to taking part in the first The Drum PR Awards because I don't think there's a better time to be involved in PR. Authentic and meaningful storytelling is a very powerful way to engage customers instead of just serving them ads and storytelling is firmly in PR's wheelhouse. Effective storytelling by smart PR people will help further the case for PR to be seen as credible a route to market as any other marketing channel.
The Drum PR Awards are open for entry, make sure you download your entry pack now before the deadline on June 13.
Sponsor of the awards is Winmo.