World Media Awards – for International Content-Driven Advertising – Launch for Second Year

November 8, 2016

London, Tuesday 8th November, 2016: The World Media Group has today announced that the World Media Awards (WMAs) will be back for a second year in 2017 following the success of their inaugural year in 2016. The global WMAs are the only awards that celebrate the effectiveness of cross platform, cross border, content-driven advertising.

Rupert Turnbull, President of the World Media Group and Vice President EMEA, Time Inc, says, “We could not have been more pleased with the breadth, depth, quality and geographical spread of entries to the World Media Awards in our first year – but we want to make year two even bigger and better.

“We are therefore delighted, once again, to have recruited a high calibre judging panel that extends across international advertisers, agency experts and editorial specialists, and to have extended entry categories too.  We hope that anyone involved in creating bold, creative strategies for engaging with international, influential audiences will enter and would love to see even more entries originating from all corners of the globe.”

How to enter: For the second year running, entry to the WMAs at www.wm-awards.com is totally free.  Entries open on Thursday 1st December 2016 and all categories can be entered by advertisers and their media, PR and creative agencies while media owners are only permitted to enter the new Entertainment and Media category directly. Campaigns must have intentionally targeted audiences in at least four countries and 75% of activity needs to have been implemented in 2016. There is no requirement for campaigns to have run in any of the World Media Group brands. The closing date for entries is Thursday 16th February 2017.

Judging: To reflect the importance of collaboration in creating successful international, content-driven advertising campaigns, the independent jury will number over 20 heavy-weight judges from brands, agencies and media owners and is presided over by three Co-Heads: Ian Armstrong, Global Head of Advertising, Land Rover, Sanjay Nazerali, Global Chief Strategy Officer with Dentsu Aegis, and Raquel Bubar, Director T Brand Studio at the New York Times. The full list of judges is below.

Sanjay Nazerali comments, “We will be looking for work with a truly international reach and which creates debate, informs, inspires, engages with specific communities or otherwise really gets people talking. Campaigns which demonstrate innovative ways of weaving their story across multiple touchpoints will be highly regarded and, although great creativity is incredibly important, ultimately what we will need to see is proof of effectiveness. I’m really looking forward to judging these awards and getting the inside view on the world’s best cross-border, content-driven ad campaigns.”

Categories: There will be eight Award categories and a Grand Prix selected by the jury from amongst the category winners, as follows:

  • Financial Services
  • Travel & Tourism
  • Foreign Direct Investment and Economic Development
  • Technology and Telecoms
  • Lifestyle & Luxury
  • Automotive
  • Corporate Influencer
  • (New) Media & Entertainment

Winners’ perks: All category winners will see their work celebrated in an advertising campaign valued at €500K which will run across the World Media Group’s leading international media brands: The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Time, Quartz, The New York Times, National Geographic, Newsweek, Fortune, Forbes, The Economist and Bloomberg. In addition, a number of the winning case studies will be published in the World Media Awards showcase on the World Media Group website.

Awards event: The winners of the Awards will be announced at the exclusive World Media Awards Reception at the Ham Yard Hotel in London on Thursday 6th April 2017.  All shortlisted entrants will receive two free tickets to join the celebration as guests of the World Media Group, and additional tickets will be available for purchase.

Jury Members: The list of 27 judges from around the globe below is confirmed, with 3 more to be announced shortly.

Client

Alex Val, Marketing Communications Manager, Microsoft
Antoine Dubois, SVP Communication, Advertising, Social Media, Accor
Chris Carmichael, Former Head of International Media, HSBC
Gerhard Louw, International Media Management, Deutsche Telekom
Ian Armstrong, Global Head of Advertising, Jaguar Land Rover
Jenna Pelkey, Director, Global Media & Marketing Strategies, GE
Nick Graham, Global Director, Digital Marketing & Media, Huawei Technologies
Nicky Owen, Advertising Specialist, Credit Suisse

Agency

Alex Altman, Managing Director, Global Solutions, MEC
Beatrice Imbert, Managing Director, Global Clients, Optimedia Blue 449 Paris
Blake Cuthbert, Chief Digital Officer, OMD EMEA
James Morris, Global CEO, Stink
Jodie Stranger, President Global Network Clients, Starcom Mediavest Group
Jody Osborn, Co-founder, The Backscratchers
Marco Rimini, CEO, Mindshare Worldwide Central
Matt Woodford, Global Head of Client Services, Ptarmigan Media
Renata Spackova, Managing Director, Havas International
Sanjay Nazeral, Global Chief Strategy Officer, Dentsu Aegis

Media Owner

Alex Brownsell, Editor, M&M Global
Arif Durrani, Commercial Editor Europe EMEA, Bloomberg Media
Irene Mia, Global Editorial Director, Thought Leadership,The Economist
Ivan Bouso, Executive Producer, National Geographic
Jane Grenier, Executive Director, Client Services, Quartz
Jim Piercy, Creative Director, Custom Studios, The Wall Street Journal
Matt McAllester, Editor, Newsweek Europe
Paul Mikhailoff, Director EMEA, Forbes
Raquel Bubar, Director T Brand Studio, The New York Times

#ENDS#

Media contact: Susan Perolls at Loudmouth PR: T 020 7981 9858,

M 07904 236060, E susanp@loudmouthpr.co.uk

*About the World Media Group: It is a strategic alliance of the world’s leading publications which incorporates Bloomberg Media, The Economist, Forbes, Fortune, National Geographic, Newsweek, Quartz, The New York Times, TIME and The Wall Street Journal. Its aim is to promote award-winning journalism and the role of international media.