The awards are judged by an esteemed panel of industry leaders and experts, the judging is a rigorous two-stage process including pre-scoring to determine shortlists and a judging meeting where entries are discussed and evaluated in detail to decide the winning entries.
From a transparency perspective, we may video aspects of the judging session to show on the evening and give entrants an insight into why a winning entry was chosen.
Become a Judge Previous Judges
Judges
Greg Allum | HEAD OF GROWTH & MARKETING | GrowthDay
Greg Allum is an established client-side and agency marketer with over 13+ year’s experience leading high-performing teams. He is currently Head of Growth at GrowthDay, the world's only all-in-one personal development app. Prior to joining GrowthDay, he worked for Jellyfish as Global Head of Social leading a team of 25 and responsible for >$75m annualized media spend and also consulted on the Toyota/Lexus account for Group M agency m/six. He has significant in-house experience at brands including British Gas, Legal and General and Sony Electronics where he was European head of social and creative strategy.
Joanna Bodley | Senior Lecturer in Digital Marketing & Marketing | Manchester Metropolitan University
With over ten years’ experience, Joanna Bodley has seen every side of the industry from creative to comms and large to small agencies, as well as in-house teams. She has developed, implemented and overseen social and digital strategies and provided guidance for a wide range of clients like The Co-operative Bank, Gumtree and Chewits. She has a keen understanding of the complexities involved in making digital, social media, content and advertising efforts a success. She harnesses this as a speaker and professional educator, having delivered training for numerous organisations, including Econsultancy. Jo is now a Senior Lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University and course director for their MSc Digital Marketing programme, sharing her experience with the next generation of marketers. She also runs her own consultancy, Jo & Co.
Carlotta Bonafini | SEO Product Owner | Vodafone
Carlotta is leading the SEO team at Vodafone UK, where she is overseeing the development of their new digital strategy. She started her professional career in the marketing field working for Expedia in the search department. She directed many regional projects before moving into a global position where her initiatives created outstanding results whilst pioneering new processes. She supervised both creative campaigns and technical projects, and launched many impactful ideas. Carlotta graduated from London Metropolitan University and Milan Catholic University and has been living in London for over 9 years. Passionate about high-tech, she is working on improving her coding skills and is always eager to expand her technical knowledge
Michael Bonfils | Global Managing Director | INTL MEDIA MANAGEMENT CORP (SEM INTERNATIONAL)
Michael Bonfils is the CEO and Founder of Int’t Media Management with the trade name of SEM International specializing in International SEO/SEM, multilingual content marketing and display solutions. With over 30 network offices around the world, Michael has been critical to the global digital marketing successes of many of the world’s largest corporations. Michael often speaks and writes on the latest trends in global search marketing and has contributed his time to many major national publications and events. In addition to being the founder of his global advertising agency, he is currently a board member of a number of organizations in technology and advertising as well as a former judge for the US Search Awards.
Adriaan Boot | Founder | Impactful
Adriaan has founded his agency, Impactful Online Marketing, and helps his clients on their paid marketing campaigns on search and social media platforms. He loves spending and earning money for his clients and making the business impact measurable through Google Analytics. In the past few years Adriaan has worked on the Google Ads campaigns of big online brands like YourSurprise.com, Vergelijk.nl, SnappCar, Daikin and Freelance.nl. This helped in being honored by Google with the Google Premier Partner status.
Miklós Breitner | Senior Online Marketing Professional
Miklós is a senior online marketing professional with over 15 years experience in digital marketing. He gained extensive experience on both marketer (Sanofi, UPC, Citibank) and agency side (Carnation Group, a WPP company) in various leading positions. He is the Founder & CEO of Golf Business Monitor (www.golfbusinessmonitor.com), the world #1 B2B golf business blog since 2009 which covers the latest business challenges and initiatives of the golf industry focusing on golf club management and marketing, golf tourism and golf equipment.
Martin Bryant | Media and Tech Consultant
Martin Bryant is a consultant, speaker, writer, and educator in the fields of technology and media. He works to help technology companies craft a narrative around their products and business. He was previously Editor-in-Chief of international technology publication The Next Web, and Community Editor at Tech North, where he shone a light on the stories of startups and entrepreneurs in the North of England.
Nicole Correia | Social Media Manager | Ocado
Nicole started her social journey from her student halls bedroom when she worked with local businesses and start-ups. Since leaving uni, her career has taken her from major players like Coca-Cola, Schweppes and Lucozade and even a stint with Pokemon. In her current role at Ocado Retail, she is responsible for maximising the 'value' Ocado's followers provide the business and, mutually, the value that social media provides Ocado customers. This includes constantly seeking out trends, opportunities and efficiencies from content creation, amplification and community management - which she knows she'll see lots of in this year's submissions.
Phillip Crothers | Head of SEO & Performance Content | Starcom Performics
Phil is Head of SEO & Performance Content at Starcom Performics, part of the Publicis Media Groupe, leading a global team who work with brands such as Samsung, Proctor & Gamble, and Domino's. Having 10+ years’ experience in content, SEO, and web design, his primary focus is helping organisations understand how consumer insights can inform their content decisions and how that content can be accountable to brand spend.
Paris de Reuck | Freelance Marketing Consultant | Content & Community strategist | @
Paris has worked in social media and SEO for thirteen years, with eight years spent heading social media, influencers and editorial teams at MediaCom and OMD. Paris now works directly with companies and startups helping them find creative ways to grow through social media advertising, content and influencer marketing.
Martina Di Giacomi
Martina is a watch lover in a digital world. She started her career in a jewelry start up who grew so fast and became a white flag for the industry. She truly believe in the magic of social network and her boss was used to say “I pay you for playing on Facebook” In a couple of years she managed the biggest community of beads fans in the world. Today she still believes in the power of digital as a great opportunity to make us better people if we use it in the right way and continues to be a digital ambassador for everyone willing to listen.
Michelle Gledhill | Programme Leader MSc Creative Advertising Strategy | Department of Marketing, Retail & Tourism, MMU
Dr Michelle Gledhill is a specialist in in advertising, branding and media. Her position as Programme Leader for MSc Creative Advertising Strategy at Manchester Metropolitan University combines her expertise in strategic thinking when working in consultation on live briefs with brands such as Manchester City, the Happy Linen Company and Manchester Gin, with her passion for developing and nurturing student talent in the Manchester and across the UK. Her fascination for branding led her to complete a unique doctoral thesis on how brands are processed whilst playing videogames. She is a highly experienced marketer, Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM), CIM Senior Examiner and HE Examiner.
Adam Guerguis | Director of Product Development | Paystone
Based in Montreal, Adam has more than 10 years in search marketing and growth hacking experience. His latest job was Head of Operations for airbnb organic growth. He also has been working with very exciting brands in several industries, languages, and sizes like Yahoo!, MSN, Groupon, UNHCR, Skrill, Paysafe card, and others. Adam is also a digital marketing trainer, guest speaker, mentor, digital marketing blogger since 2010, and a MSc. Marketing Candidate. In his free time, Adam likes coding and reading about marketing,
Alan K'necht | K'nechtology Inc.
Carla Marshall | Content Marketing Manager | TubeBuddy
Carla Marshall is the Content Marketing Manager at TubeBuddy, the premier YouTube channel management tool. She has 10+ years of experience in video marketing, social media management, content marketing, DRM, and SEO. She was previously Editor in Chief at ReelSEO.com and TubularInsights.com, the Community Manager for the ReelSEO YouTube Channel, and Head of Content Marketing at vidIQ. She is YouTube Certified in Audience Development, and Channel Growth & Content Ownership.
Erin Portsmouth | Director of Corporate Affairs | Oldham Cares
Erin is a Chartered public relations practitioner who started her career in private sector marketing and communications consultancies, but for the past eleven years has worked in the National Health Service. She is currently Director of Corporate Affairs at NHS Oldham Clinical Commissioning Group where she oversees a portfolio including communications, engagement, public affairs, equality and diversity, organisational development and governance. She has a Masters degree in public relations, and served on the Chartered Institute of Public Relations North West Group Committee as a volunteer for ten years, also holding a three year term as Chair. She was appointed to the Board of Trustees of homelessness charity Emmaus Salford in 2017.
Patrick C. Price | Founder | Idealizer
Patrick C. Price is a longtime online marketing and social media pioneer. After having led the Swiss marketing operations one of Europe's leading online classifieds marketplaces for 7 years, Patrick decided to share his knowledge on a wider basis and founded Zurich based digital consulting agency Idealizer, which later became the European headquarters of BlueGlass Interactive (a multiple awards winning agency) with offices in London, Zurich and Tallinn. After a management buyout, Patrick went on to found www.vergleiche.ch a Swiss Consumer-Information-Portal. Patrick has been an active player in the social media industry since 2003, when he started his first video blog.
Matt Read | Director of Social Media | GSMA
Matt Read is the Director of Social Media at the GSMA. An award-winning social & content strategist with over 12 years of experience in the industry, Matt's innovative approach to social media marketing and relentless drive to stay ahead of the game has afforded him many opportunities to create forward-thinking strategies for some of the world's leading brands and organisations.
Ida Solem | Partner & Content Creator | Takk for Sist
Ida is a partner and content creator in her own content agency called Takk for sist. With more than 10 years of Social Media experience, Ida has worked with both organic and paid content with multiple target groups worldwide. Ida started her career working in the educational system before moving towards a more sustainable market, targeting NGO's and UNHCR through her employment at solar company BRIGHT Products. Now, she runs her own agency together with her partner Sara Strand, where they operate clients' social media accounts and produces social media strategies, among other content tasks.
Bianca Spada | Global Senior Social Media Manager | Red Bull
I am a global digital strategy expert with 10 years experience of delivering successful digital strategies and global campaigns in some of the world’s leading and cutting edge companies. I am an expert in consolidating and creating brand new social strategies to significantly increase the visibility of brands online. I have a proven record of radically turning around performance and generating 3-figure growth within 12 months of working in a company.
Matthew Tasker | Head of Digital Channels | United Utilities
Matt leads the digital channels team at United Utilities, the largest listed water company in the UK serving more than 3 million homes and businesses in the North West. Matt’s team looks after digital customer service including social media and webchat, digital marketing and optimising the customer experience, and the performance of a range of digital customer journeys across various platforms. Prior to working at United Utilities, Matt started his career as a business management graduate at RWE npower before moving on to hold various marketing and digital roles at npower, Vax and British Gas. Outside of work he’s also the chairman of Hale Barns Cricket Club.
Anita Veszeli | Head of Social Engagement & Advocacy | Ericsson | @anitaveszeli
Anita is the Director of Social Media and Advocacy at Ericsson, where she has been championing social-first thinking since 2013. Having amassed more than 15 years’ experience in B2B marketing and communication, and a decade in social media across various roles, she currently enjoys a unique position with oversight of all social media, employee advocacy and influencer marketing across Ericsson’s global business.