Hearst, Live Nation, INVNT, Loyalkaspar: Meet The Drum Experience Awards 2019 judges
Experiential is often seen as the ‘add-on’ at the end of the budget, an extra addition to the traditional methods of advertising rather than being integrated with the main media budget.
Hearst, Live Nation, INVNT, loyalkaspar: Meet The Drum Experience Awards 2019 judges
But it's more than that. Experiences are one of the most effective ways in which marketers and advertisers can engage with audiences and drive brand sentiment. That’s why The Drum Experience Awards were created, to give those who are behind the scenes the chance to take centre stage and be celebrated for a job well done.
Earlier this week, Michelle Linaker, head of national events, Pride of Britain was announced as the chair of the judging panel. This year's judges include industry experts from Live Nation, Hearst Live, Mash Staffing, Experience12, INVNT, Loyalkaspar and George P. Johson.
Below is a rundown on seven of our stellar judges:
Hearst Live
Victoria Archbold
managing director
Archbold oversees the events division of Hearst Magazines UK and is responsible for creating 360 multi-platform campaigns for trade and consumer events. She has managed an array of diverse events for brands including Harper’s Bazaar, ELLE, Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping, Country Living and Esquire. Archbold previously worked for Cosmopolitan, Company, Prima, Red and Zest at Hearst Magazines UK as head of events and sponsorship for and before that group events and sponsorship manager at The National Magazine Company.
The market place is now even more cluttered and attention fragmented, because of this events continue to provide quality dwell time resulting in a memorable and often emotional connection that is hard to achieve via any other medium. I’m hoping to see individuals and brands who have used this power to make this real difference to their business and more importantly their audiences too.
Live Nation
Jim Campling
president, UK marketing partnerships
Campling oversees the creation, negotiation, and development of all commercial partnerships across Live Nation’s UK portfolio of 30 festivals, 20 venues, promoted shows and innovative ticketing solutions. Partnerships with brands include: O2, Carlsberg and American Express. Prior to Live Nation, he worked at Capital Radio for eight years managing the sponsorship and promotions Team across 10 radio stations.
In today’s experience economy, the opportunity to bring brands to life in the real world is incredibly powerful. People are actively looking for occasions to come together for a common, shared purpose and brands that smartly connect and interact with customers in those moments will successfully differentiate themselves. I look forward to reviewing award entries that illustrate smart creativity, innovation and customer experiences that have driven impressive results.
MASH Staffing
Chris Wareham
managing director
Wareham has worked in the experiential industry for 20 years. Beginning his career in field marketing, he then moved to Geoff Howe in 2002 where he ran successful consumer events for Nintendo and Samsung. Wareham then spent four years at TRO developing increasingly immersive events for clients that included Renault, T-Mobile, Samsung and FHM. In 2010 Chris set up an experiential department at INITIALS and in 2013 he became managing director at Mash Staffing, providing staff to deliver brand experiences in the promotional, retail and corporate event sectors.
A successful experiential campaign is one that puts the consumer first, and this is what I’ll be looking for in judging these awards. For example, is the experience something consumers want to engage with? Is the message simple enough to ‘get’ without effort? And how does the activity fit within the context of the full consumer journey?
INVNT
Scott Cullather
co-founder
Cullather has more than 30 years of brand communications and live event experience. He co-founded INVNT in 2008. Across his career, Cullather has led teams in the design, production, and execution of hundreds of large-scale B2B and B2C events in more than 40 countries, for dozens of the world's leading brands, companies, and trade associations.
Having lived and breathed live events for over 30 years, I am a passionate advocate of our craft, and it’s great to see an esteemed publication such as The Drum celebrate and recognise the work being done in this space. In an era of distraction, experiential offers a welcome solution for marketers seeking to engage their audiences in memorable and immersive ways. I’ll subsequently be looking for strategically and creative-led campaigns that produce demonstratable ROI for the client and ultimately change the way people think, feel, behave and perform.”
Experience12
Chris Whittle
founder
Whittle has over 20 years’ experience in the world of entertainment and events. Having previously worked at the likes of Beatwax and Sublime, Whittle’s wealth of expertise led him to found Experience12. Working with the likes of Warner Bros, Amazon Prime Video and 20th Century Fox, Experience12 is independently owned and specialises in creative development, experiential events, PR stunts, exhibitions and national and worldwide tours.
For me, if a campaign fulfils the “I wish I’d thought of that” test, that’s a solid start. It’s not necessarily about some massive, snazzy creative – it can just be a neat solution or mechanic that shows some real quality of thought and graft. That’s then followed by the numbers and quality of engagements; the “fine in practice, but did it work” bit. Nail both of those, and you’re onto a winner.
Loyalkaspar
David Herbruck
president
Herbruck co-founded Loyalkaspar in 2003 with longtime creative colleague Beat Baudenbacher. Herbruck has since forged the agency into an award-winning entertainment branding powerhouse in New York. He has worked with clients such as Marvel, Verizon, HPE and ESPN.
At loyalkaspar we push ourselves to never replicate success, but to find original solutions to new and universal problems. Every initiative is as an opportunity to craft meaningful experiences that resonate with audiences, so I’ll be looking for bold and creative entries, with substance, as well as style. The Drum Experience Awards are a great way to recognize industry talent and it means so much to the winners to secure one of these desirable accolades. I’m very excited about joining the judging panel and assessing entries from such a diverse range of industries.
George P. Johnson
Jason Megson
vice president, managing director
An industry veteran, over the past two decades Megson has worked with wide range of brands, including IBM, Gartner, Cisco, NetApp, McLaren Automotive and Equinor. Following Jason’s appointment and under his leadership, GPJ expanded its operations to Norway opening a new office in Oslo. In events, he has worked with brands including Coca Cola, Nestle, Heineken, Corona, Nintendo, AfterShock, Vodafone, and British Telecom.
There has never been a better time to celebrate our industry as Brand Experiences and Events continue to outperform the communications sector in terms of marketing spend growth. I’m personally looking forward to awarding work that is pioneering, both in terms of depth of experience for the individual and tangible business results for the brand
The deadline for these awards is August 29, download your entry pack now.