Industry experts from leading online publishing and media planning organisations will be selecting the winners of the Vibrant Awards – the annual event that celebrates the best use of Vibrant Media’s premium in-content contextual ad campaigns. Major brands including Eurosport, Lynx and Intel were winners of the 2012 Vibrant Awards.
The Association of Online Publishers, Local World, Immediate Media, MEC Interaction, Mindshare UK, Neo@Ogilvy, Northern & Shell and Starcom Mediavest have all contributed senior personnel to act as judges. The judging panel’s composition reflects Vibrant Media’s new cross platform capabilities, involving new judges with expertise in mobile, tablet and video advertising in addition to desktop display ad experience.
The judges will assess the work of brands and media agencies on the creative and contextual relevancy of campaign strategies, the creative concept and execution of campaigns, as well as end users’ experiences of campaigns. Brands and media agencies are invited to submit their Vibrant In-Text, Vibrant Video, Vibrant Image, Vibrant Rich Media and Vibrant Cross Platform campaigns by 17.00, Friday 20th September 2013. The judging panel will review campaigns nominated within each ad format category and decide a winner for each.
Chief Operating Officer and EU MD of Vibrant Media, Martin Forbes said, “Again some of the online media industry’s foremost authorities have volunteered their valuable time to be part of Vibrant Media’s awards scheme, for which we’re very grateful. The peer review of these external experts validates the creativity and strategies of advertisers using contextual in-content formats over-and-above the return on investment these campaigns achieve.”
Mindshare UK Head of Mobile, James Chandler said, “Over the past year Mindshare has watched as Vibrant’s product suite has rapidly evolved; it will be an honour to help judge, and celebrate, their greatest campaigns from over the past year.”
The winners of the Vibrant Awards will be announced on Thursday, October 3rd 2013 at one of the largest, most talked about exclusive nightclubs in the world, Cirque le Soir. Famous for its dynamic menu of entertainment including fire eaters, aerial acts, burlesque dancers, jugglers, acrobats, stilt walkers and much more.
The judges for the 2013 Vibrant Awards are:
AOP Managing Director, Tim Faircliff: The UK Association of Online Publishers (AOP) is an industry body representing digital publishing companies that create original, branded, quality content and championing the interests of media owners. Tim has served as the general manager of telegraph.co.uk, led the sales, marketing and development of Thompson Reuters’s multimedia news and information products, served as Chairman of the AOP from 2009-2011 and is now the AOP’s managing director.
Local World, Commercial Partnerships Manager, Simon Burgess: Local World publishes the Metro franchises, and titles including Western Daily Press, Cambridge News and South Wales Evening Post. Local World is a local media business that brings together Northcliffe Media and Iliffe News and Media, with a portfolio of market leading print and digital brands. Their local portal websites have a monthly audience of over 10 million unique users and print platform has 107 titles and a weekly reach of over 6 million people. Simon controls all national revenue lines into Local World’s digital business, maximises all non-traditional ad revenue sources and optimises new revenue lines, such as mobile and video.
Immediate Media, Commercial Director, Duncan Tickell: Award-winning special interest content and platform company Immediate Media Co. publishes the online and print magazines of titles including Radio Times, TopGear, GoodFood, Focus, Lonely Planet Traveller and Countryfile. It is one of the biggest consumer media businesses in the UK and the third largest magazine publisher. Having developed a real aptitude for creating multi-channel advertising solutions in niche markets, Duncan has generated significant new revenues for Immediate Media. He previously lead Magicalia to becoming AOP Independent Publisher of the year in 2010 and 2011 and CVG.com’s nomination for the inaugural PPA Interactive Magazine of the Year.
MEC Interaction Managing Director, Digital MEC, Justin Taylor: MEC is a top five media planning and buying agency. MEC manages more international media assignments than any other network, coordinated by its Global Solutions teams through 12 worldwide client hubs. Justin has been recognized as one of the most influential individuals in the digital media industry. He leads the MEC Interaction team’s work across the full range of digital platforms, applying skills which encompass everything from strategy development to activation, management of third-party technology suppliers and deep-rooted analytics for maximising ROI.
Mindshare UK, Head of Mobile, James Chandler: Mindshare is a global media network delivering integrated media solutions across all channels and platforms. It comprises of 6,000 people in 67 countries with clients in FMCG, Auto, Finance, Technology, Fashion, Travel, Retail, B2B and many others. James has been recognised as one of the most influential people in the UK mobile marketing. He is responsible for driving the growth of mobiles across Mindshare UK and previously worked at Channel 4.
Neo@Ogilvy, Managing Partner, Renee Labriola: Neo@Ogilvy is.the largest full-service digital media agency in the UK and the global media agency and performance marketing network for Ogilvy & Mather – one of the largest and most influential communications groups in the UK. It provides comprehensive marketing services for the digital age. With a mix of intelligent media strategies, innovative technologies and creative ideas, Neo@Ogilvy develops marketing concepts that cover the entire customer journey. Since joining Neo@Ogilvy in 2010 as a Business Partner, Renee’s 10 years of experience in the digital media industry contributed to her progression to Managing Partner of the company. She previously held positions at OMD and Starcom Mediavest Group.
Northern & Shell Commercial Director, Jason Mawer: Publishers of Daily Express, Daily Star, New! Magazine, Star Magazine and operators of the Channel 5 TV and online network, Northern & Shell is a significant force in British and worldwide media. It dominates important parts of the consumer magazine market both in the UK and worldwide. Mawer prides himself on being a dynamic and proven sales director across print, mobile and web. Over his 22 years in the industry he has also held positions at News International, Haymarket and N&S; Digital.
Starcom Mediavest, Business Director P&G; United, Nicola Schulz: Ranked one of the largest brand communications groups in the world, Starcom MediaVest Group encompasses an integrated network of human experience strategists, investment specialists, content creators and digital experts. With nearly 7,300 employees in 132 offices worldwide, SMG partners with the world’s leading companies including The Coca-Cola Company, Kraft Foods, P&G;, Samsung and Walmart, among others. Nicola is responsible for planning across the entire Procter & Gamble account. Having previously worked with a number of brands including L’Oreal and British Airways, Nicola is now responsible for media planning across the entire Procter & Gamble account.
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Journalists wishing to attend the Vibrant Awards or requiring further editorial information or interviews should contact vibrant@pwkpr.com or call 020 7609 1900.
About Vibrant (www.vibrantmedia.co.uk)
Vibrant Media is the world’s leading provider of in-content contextual technology that gets brand content and advertising discovered across platforms. With over 6,500 premium publishers, reaching more than 250 million unique users per month (comScore, 2012), Vibrant gives top brand marketers the opportunity to deliver highly targeted advertisements and branded content within text and images. Vibrant works with top brand advertisers such as Hewlett Packard, Microsoft, P&G;, Sainsbury’s and Unilever.
The company was founded in 2000 and has offices in New York, San Francisco, Detroit, Chicago, Los Angeles, Boston, Atlanta, London, Paris, Hamburg, Munich and Dusseldorf.
For more information visit:
www.vibrantmedia.co.uk
www.facebook.com/vibrantmedia
www.twitter.com/vibrantmediauk.
