Content Leadership & Innovation Award

This Award recognises an individual who has demonstrated leadership and innovation in the creation of great, content-led, international marketing strategy.  The winner of this Award will be a marketing director or head of media strategy for an international advertiser, who has built brand awareness and profitability by engaging audiences in branded content.  The judges will be looking for brand bravery and/or that extra spark of creativity and innovation that has stood out and grabbed the attention of the target audience, in a world full of media noise.  This category is not open for entry: we are inviting World Media Group members to make nominations.

Christoph Woermann was selected for the Award not only for his pioneering approach to financial services marketing, but also for his wider influence on the industry. Long before it became the norm, he championed the power of strategic, content-led storytelling to deliver real impact. Over the past decade, he has encouraged fellow B2B marketers to adopt content-led strategies, championing the role of trusted media partnerships and actively supporting the World Media Group in its mission to promote creativity and innovation in the context of trusted journalism.

“When we launched the World Media Awards a decade ago, content marketing was still in its infancy. It took time for brands – especially in B2B – to recognise its power as a core part of the marketing mix,” said Jamie Credland, CEO of the World Media Group. “Christoph saw that potential long before others, using content to communicate in new ways and strengthen client relationships. We’re proud to honour him as this year’s Content Leader – a true industry innovator whose vision has had a lasting impact on Deutsche Bank’s success.”

A decade of strategic storytelling

Ten years ago, Woermann recognised a fundamental shift in how clients consumed information. At a time when B2B marketing was dominated by product-heavy, one-way messaging, he advocated for a client-centric, value-led approach. Rather than broadcasting, his vision was to listen to clients and create the kind of content they truly wanted: informed, inspiring and interactive.

This thinking led to the creation of Deutsche Bank’s flow – a multi-channel content ecosystem built on insight-rich, bank-agnostic storytelling. From the outset, flow prioritised knowledge-sharing over product promotion, offering evidence-based articles, white papers and newsletters that reflected the real challenges and opportunities facing financial professionals.

Content that informs, inspires and builds dialogue

“I’m truly honoured to receive the World Media Award for Content Leadership & Innovation,” said Woermann. “From the beginning, our goal with flow was to create content that informs, inspires and builds genuine dialogue with clients – not just to promote products. This award is also a testament to the creativity and dedication of my team, as well as the strength of our partnerships. I look forward to celebrating alongside so many talented peers at this year’s ceremony.”

Today, flow has evolved into a comprehensive content platform including the flow website, flow magazine, bi-weekly updates, white papers, market briefings, podcasts and short-form video perspectives featuring expert voices – all designed to deliver actionable insights for Deutsche Bank clients.

Ann Gordon and her team were challenged with raising awareness of the UK’s formal accession into the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), and communicating its benefits to a variety of countries and regions, each with their own nuances.

Gordon had a strong vision and understood the need to educate audiences about this complex topic in an engaging and entertaining way. Together with BBC Studios, she developed a six-part article series featuring regional spotlights for North America, APAC and Latin America, with interviews from leading businesses in each of the regions bringing to light the importance of open and free trade.

The campaign also included videos running across social channels and as a TV commercial, with creative cuts to ensure relevance for each of the target markets. The results showed an uplift in awareness of the UK Government’s participation in the CPTPP and included pageviews that were 350% above target.

Navin is the marketing leader for all the business verticals of Infosys globally and in addition manages the marketing mandate for Europe as a region. In his role, he spearheads the Account Based Marketing (ABM) initiative for Infosys’ top-tier accounts, while also orchestrating impactful marketing campaigns across a wide spectrum of industries including financial services, retail, manufacturing, energy, communications, utilities, healthcare, insurance, and life sciences. Navin’s strategic acumen extends to pivotal roles, including his stewardship of strategic programs and partnerships such as Infosys’ worldwide Tennis sponsorship, the prestigious ‘Confluence’ customer event, and collaborations with esteemed media entities like the Economist, Financial Times group, and Infosys’ engagement with the World Economic Forum. With a tenure spanning over 25 years, Navin boasts a wealth of global experience in strategic planning, insight generation, and marketing within the technology services and products domain. His comprehensive grasp of industry trends and an expansive repertoire of marketing techniques allow him to craft innovative and distinct solutions to complex business challenges. He has a track record of constructing and guiding marketing initiatives that thrive in execution, yielding substantial impact on sales pipelines and has played a pivotal role in propelling Infosys into the ranks of the fastestgrowing IT services brands worldwide. Operating from his base in London, Navin is the Country Co-head for Infosys’ UK operations. He has a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering and a master’s in communications from MICA, Ahmedabad. Navin is also a distinguished alumnus of the executive education program at Stanford University Graduate School of Business.

Khaled AlShehhi is a marketer who pushes boundaries to achieve meaningful, transformative goals and a serial award winner. His efforts to build the Emirates’ nation brand through a myriad projects and initiatives have won him praise, recognition and several board positions at regional industry associations.

Transformer: As well as the Executive Director of New Media and Visual Production at the UAE Government Media Office in the Ministry of Cabinet Affairs, he is also the Marketing Director at the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives. In both these roles, he is reshaping and humanizing G2C communications to strengthen the UAE’s reputation as an incubator for pioneering developmental, humanitarian, cultural and knowledge projects.

Innovator: The consummate team builder and motivator, he pushes himself and those around him to aim high and achieve big. Strategically focused and driven by creativity and performance, AlShehhi has ensured the success of projects like the launch of Emirates Nation Brand – Impossible Is Possible, The Emirates Mars Mission probe launch campaign in July 2020 and Mars Orbit Insertion campaign in Feb 2021, The World’s coolest Winter campaign, 100 Million meals, The World’s Tallest Donation Box , Martian Stamp, the double moon, the First Arabic countdown and The Well of Hope. Some of these have also won multiple awards in regional and international advertising competitions, including the Cannes Lions, the One Show, the Webby, New York Festival and the Dubai Lynx, among many others.

Influencer: Featured in the Arabian Business’ 2021 Arab Power List of individuals shaping the Middle East. AlShehhi was named the “Digital Professional of the Year” by The Public Relations and Communications Association (PRCA), which is the world’s largest professional PR body and named a Marketing Game Changer by Campaign Middle East in 2020. He now sits on the Executive boards of both MEPRA and PRCA MENA, as well as on the judging panels on some of the world’s most prestigious industry communication and advertising awards like London International Awards, Cresta, WARC, MENA Effie, MEPRA and New York Festivals AME Awards. He is also appointed in New York AME Advisory Council, which is a brain trust of leaders who lend their creative insights, industry expertise, and global perspective to the AME Awards team

He holds a Master of Law (LLM) – International Business from Université Panthéon Assas (Paris II) and is also a graduate from the Mohammed bin Rashid Center for Leadership Development’s ‘Impactful Leaders Program’.

Kaat Vanderheyde, Managing Director, Brand & Customer Experience Design at FedEx Express in Europe began her 25 year career at FedEx in employee communications and later moved into marketing, brand and service development. Kaat took on her current role in 2017.

As a leader, Kaat’s focus is on creating committed teams that deliver outstanding results. Her expertise ranges from brand strategy development and strategic communications planning, to sponsorships and advertising, through to go-to-market strategy and customer experience design. With the wide-ranging experience she brings to a team, she helps drive powerful content that connects people and messages across Europe.

Kaat lives in the Belgian countryside with her husband and two sons.

Since being appointed as CMO at UBS, Johan has been bold in developing the UBS brand identity and strategy, appointing Annie Leibowitz to shoot the new brand campaign adverts in 2015. He’s supported UBS’s diversity initiative and commitment to having women in at least 30 per cent of their senior management roles. Lately, he has been looking at best practice in the digital advertising sector and working to ensure that UBS is leading the way in terms of guaranteed viewability metrics and accuracy in audience targeting.

Most recently Johan has been leading the #togetherband campaign, of which UBS is a co-founder.  Working with bottletop, the #togetherband initiative is designed to drive public interest and commitment in the UN Sustainable Development Goals, enabling UBS to focus attention on driving for a bigger public interest in making your finances fit your values. UBS reached more the 1 billion engagements just three quarters of a year into the campaign.

In her role as International Media Management for Audi AG, Christine von Hoerde pioneered new approaches to Audi’s advertising strategy, identifying strategic content partnerships that helped to establish Audi as an authority in the Electronic Vehicle market. Christine was an invaluable partner on a number of successful campaigns that spanned a wide array of mediums, from an innovative set of branded podcases to an editorial content series with Monocle Magazine and a global project with National Geographic. Throughout, Christine has demonstrated thought-leadership and a bold imagination to help drive Audi’s new marketing campaigns to the next level.