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.

2023 WINNER

Navin Rammohan, Vice President, Segment Head – Marketing, Infosys

Co-head Judges, Jerry Daykin, Head of Global Media, Beam Suntory and Natasha Byrne, Managing Partner, UM, along with Belinda Barker, Chief Executive of the World Media Group, agreed that Navin is an inspirational leader who pushes the boundaries of what is considered traditional content marketing, developing new models of collaboration, and using Infosys technologies to create unique experiences.

Navin was nominated for several innovative initiatives; most notably, the Infosys campaign around unifying power of sport to create more meaningful connections between tennis fans and players., Infosys collaborated with tournaments including ATP, Roland-Garros, the Australian Open & ITHF to create unforgettable sporting experiences for fans, players, and the media.

This included an industry-first, cloud-based SaaS system called the ‘Infosys tennis platform’, which aggregated multiple data sources. Infosys also launched a 3D art museum for Roland-Garros fans that encapsulated the heritage of the tournament, and they created a virtual platform during the Covid 19 pandemic to host 12,000 VIPs of the Australian Open.

The second campaign was The Sustainability Project for The Economist Group. As digital Innovation partner, Infosys Technologies is leveraging its cutting-edge capabilities to enable users to seamlessly navigate and engage with Economist Impact content and tools. Through a dynamic framework that customises, organises, and prioritises the content that matters most to readers, the combination of meaningful UX and intelligent integration of topics, formats and events ensures readers understand the most critical trends.

“World Media Group members once again nominated a host of exceptionally talented candidates for this year’s Content Leadership & Innovation Award,” said Belinda Barker, Chief Executive, the World Media Group. “Navin fought off the competition by demonstrating his ability to identify innovative marketing opportunities that simultaneously showcased Infosys’s technological expertise while delivering value to global audiences. In doing so, the Infosys campaigns under his leadership perfectly reflect the qualities we are looking for when we select our World Media Award winners.”

Roll of Honour

2022

Khaled AlShehhi, Executive Director of Marketing and Communication, UAE Government Media Office

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’.

2021

Kaat Vanderheyde, Managing Director for Brand & Customer Experience Design, FedEx

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.

2020

JOHAN JERVOE, CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER, UBS

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.

2019

Christine von Hoerde, International Media Management, Audi AG

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.