Revealed: Winners of The Media Leaders Awards 2022
UM UK’s Rachel Forde and Bloomberg Media’s Duncan Chater took home multiple awards from Mediatel’s Media Leader Awards 2022 yesterday.
Winners of Mediatel’s Media Leaders Awards 2022 were announced yesterday at an in-person ceremony in London combined with the exclusive The Year Ahead event.
The awards featured 14 categories for 2022 with Zenith Media UK, Mediahub, Havas Media Group, UM UK and Wavemaker UK all shortlisted in the Media Agency of the Year category, while Channel 4, TripAdvisor, TikTok and Future Publishing all competing for the crown of Media Owner of the Year.
Other categories included awards for advertisers and technology businesses, plus Leadership Team of the Year and Campaign of the Year.
Greg Grimmer, CEO of Mediatel and 20 judges decided the shortlist of entries including representatives of the industry’s main trade and marketing bodies, media owners, brand marketers, and The Media Leader editor Omar Oakes.
Read on to find out which of the shortlisted nominees were crowned as this year’s Media Leaders of the Year with judges’ comments.
Grand Prix: CEO of the Year (Combined with Media Leader of the Year: Agency): Rachel Forde
Rachel Forde, CEO, UM, (pictured, main right) took home the prestigious Grand Prix Award, her second award of the day.
She dedicated it to her team and her family and upon winning she was interviewed on stage by Craig Tuck, chief revenue officer of The Ozone Project (pictured, main left).
Paul Bainsfair, director general of the IPA and one of the judges, said of her win: “Rachel Forde is a stand-out exemplary leader. She is commercially astounding – having turbo boosted UM’s annual revenue under her leadership. Coupled with this, she is committed to ensuring the best interests of her clients, her staff and individuals in the wider industry. From mentoring diverse talent to narrowing the gender pay to achieving gender equality on the board, to her work with Nabs and Wacl, Rachel works tirelessly and highly effectively to make the industry a great place for us all to work.”
Media Owner of the Year: TikTok
The fastest-growing social media platform, TikTok, collected Media Owner of the Year.
Lauren Ogúndèkó, chief digital officer & co-founder, Bicycle London in her capacity as a judge said: “TikTok’s thirst to drive innovation in the social media space is hard to keep up with, which excites me. As a platform they have changed the way algorithms rank content, which has made the most unknown people become influencers overnight. The way they approach their partner relationships has also been very commendable… Other media owners have a lot to learn from TikTok, I believe they are rewriting the rules and challenging the status quo.”
Ogúndèkó later spoke on a panel chaired by Greg Grimmer, CEO Mediatel Group, alongside Kate Rowlinson, CEO of MediaCom UK, Matt Bush, managing director, Google, Kelly Williams, managing director, ITV at The Year Ahead event which was held on the same day.
Media Agency of the Year: UM UK
UM UK won Media Agency of the Year against Zenith Media UK, Mediahub, Havas Media Group and Wavemaker UK.
Rachel Forde, CEO of UM UK, collected the award thanking her whole agency, her team and its culture for the win, citing media as a force for good as their main drive.
Category judge Dara Nasr, managing director of Twitter UK said: “What makes UM’s year more impressive is not just the account wins but their partnerships and focus on improving society. Their work with incredible organisations and people really stands out.”
Judges’ Special Choice Award: Ally Owen
Ally Owen, founder of AD-Cademy, Brixton Finishing School and ADventure, won the Judges Special Choice Award.
Owen said it was a real honour and that she wanted to thank all of the young people who had come to her programmes and that she was just a facilitator of other geniuses in the media industry.
Judge Fredrik Borestrom, president, IAA UK, commented: “Ally has done amazing work with Brixton Finishing School and is helping to transform our industry to make it more diverse and inclusive but equally important, accessible, with her latest project, The AD-Cademy which is a free, virtual, nationwide gateway to the advertising, communications and marketing industries. It’s designed to change the blend of our future talent pipeline at scale, to deliver balance and inclusion and to upskill and enhance 2,500 talent’s outcomes.”
International Media Leader of The Year: Duncan Chater, Bloomberg Media
Duncan Chater, head of Sales, Europe, Bloomberg Media was named International Media Leader of the year.
Chater joined Bloomberg Media just before the first lockdown in 2020 but Jo Allan, CEO, Newsworks said that he did not let this deter him.
Allan added: “Through a simple, clear three-step strategy he has turned around his division from decline to record revenue growth by putting customer services and team culture at the heart of everything. And it’s clearly paid off. Brilliant leadership.”
Chater also collected Leadership Team of the Year award.
Future Media Leader of The Year: Jackie Lyons, Havas Media Group
Jackie Lyons, head of planning, Havas Media Group accepted Future Media Leader of the Year.
Jon Mew, CEO, IAB UK said of the win: “Jackie really stood out from her ideas to her delivery. Whether that be through her work building new teams, establishing a new way of thinking across the organisation and playing an instrumental role in landing new business and delivering award winning campaigns.”
Havas Media Group also collected Campaign of the Year at the event.
Media Leader of the Year, Media Owner: Milka Kramer, Pinterest
On winning this award Milka Kramer, country manager Pinterest UK, IE, NL and Nordics said it had felt like winning just to be nominated and that she was very proud of the work Pinterest was doing to make the internet a positive place.
Stephen Woodford, CEO, The Advertising Association commented: “I have been hugely impressed by the step change In Pinterest’s market presence and impact since Milka took the lead in the UK. We’ve seen a strong, positioning for the brand, and really creative and engaging industry communications which I am sure will be reflected in their ad revenues.”
Media Leader of the Year, Technology: Lewis Sherlock, Bidstack
Lewis Sherlock, SVP Programmatic, Bidstack collected the media leader awarrd for technology businesses yesterday.
Sherlock said that 2022 could be the year of gaming and thanked everyone for the award.
Omar Oakes, editor of The Media Leader (previously Mediatel News) said: “Lewis is well-known among digital media circles, but his stock rose even higher in 2021. He has been instrumental in bringing brands into the in-game advertising space in a compelling and credible way and I’m sure we haven’t begun to see most of the hard work he has done bear fruit yet.”
Media Leader of the Year, Advertiser: Lisa Walker, Vodafone
Advertiser Media Leader of the Year went to Lisa Walker, head of media and sponsorship at Vodafone.
Phil Smith, director general, ISBA said of the award: “Lisa is a powerful agent of positive change in the industry. She brings deep and broad experience to bear on the challenges of transparency, responsibility and accountability in media. As chair of ISBA’s Media Leaders’ Group she has played a pivotal role in shaping and driving ISBA’s priorities… her backing and active engagement have been vital to the progress that is being made against advertisers’ needs.”
Leadership Team of the Year: Bloomberg Media
Duncan Chater, head of media in Europe for Bloomberg Media accepted the award on behalf of his team.
Greg Grimmer, CEO, Mediatel Group said: “Bloomberg Media is a business I’ve long admired and this year they have much to be pleased about: record revenue growth, customer satisfaction scores to dream of and a people-centric culture that the leadership team personify”
Campaign of the Year: ‘O2 vs CO2’ by Havas Media
Patrick Affleck, CEO of Havas Media Group UK, collected the award for the campaign on carbon emissions the group did with telco company O2.
The campaign was launched to coincide with Earth Day on 22 April 2021 and was O2’s greenest ever media plan.
Chris Kenna, CEO & Founder of Brand Advance noted: “As a marketeer we want to see campaigns that mean something, as a father, I want to ensure we leave the world a better place than we found it, and as an ‘Air-Breather’ what’s more important than the environment remaining a clean, safe place to live. O2 vs CO2 was not only a clever campaign, but it ticked all those boxes, achieved fantastic results and all whilst having real meaning and purpose.”
Technology Company of the Year: The Ozone Project
Damon Reeve, CEO of The Ozone Project, which was a platinum sponsor of the Media Leader Awards 2022, thanked the judges yesterday after winning Technology Company of the Year.
Kate Rowlinson, CEO, MediaCom UK, who was also shortlisted for the Grand Prix Award this year and won last year, said this category was very competitive.
She added: “The Ozone Project stood out to me for an impressive year of growth across the business. Whether that was posting revenue growth and diversifying where that revenue came from, to their portfolio of products and platforms that has helped them grow their client base over 12 months, The Ozone Project continue to go from strength to strength.”
Advertiser of the Year: Tesco
Tom Mardon, media manager at Tesco, accepted this award on behalf of his team.
Lindsay Clay, CEO at Thinkbox, said: “Brilliant commercial success. Leading the way in representation in its advertising, variety and innovation in its media. Demonstrable effectiveness.”
Advertising/Media Technology of the Year: ‘A Divining Rod for Attention’ by OMD Worldwide
Peter King, head of TV research manager at OMD UK, accepted this award for Advertising/Media Technology of the Year yesterday.
OMD Worldwide developed a tool to measure returning attention over the course of the pandemic which would identify and then activate the best media opportunities for its clients. This was based on “on-the-ground, real-time 360 intelligence in local markets around the world”.
One of the judges, Sam Taylor, head of customer value at Direct Line Group, said he was really impressed by the entry from OMD Worldwide, especially given the changes in consumer behaviours over the pandemic.
“In just five weeks, [OMD Worldwide] identified and tapped into a real consumer need, building a global intelligence dashboard that was able to provide their clients the visibility to enable them to not only navigate this challenging period but to positively trade within it,” he said.
The full 2022 shortlist and Winners
Grand Prix: CEO of the Year (combined with Media Leader of the Year: Agency)
Patrick Affleck, CEO, Havas Media Group
Rachel Forde, CEO UK&I, UM – WINNER
Dan Clays, CEO, Omnicom Media Group UK
Kate Rowlinson, CEO, MediaCom UK
Future Media Leader of The Year
Jackie Lyons, head of planning, Havas Media Group – WINNER
Cassandra McDonald, senior research manager, Vevo
Charlotte Dexter-Jones, senior account manager, Mindshare
International Media Leader of The Year
Jane Ostler, executive managing director, Creative and Media, Kantar
Jo Kinsella, president, TVSquared
Nicola Lewis, global chief growth officer, Finecast
Duncan Chater, head of sales – Europe, Bloomberg Media – WINNER
Media Leader of the Year – Advertiser
Gayle Noah, media director UK & Ireland, L’Oréal
Alison Thorburn, digital media accelerator, BT Media Group
Lisa Walker, head of media and sponsorship, Vodafone – WINNER
Nic Travis, head of paid digital marketing, Lloyds Banking Group
Media Leader of the Year – Media Owner
Karen Stacey, CEO, Digital Cinema Media
Milka Kramer, country manager, UK & Ireland, Pinterest- WINNER
Jane Wolfson, chief commercial officer, Hearst UK
Dominic Carter, group chief commercial officer, News UK
Dominic Williams, executive director – advertising, Mail Metro Media
Media Leader of the Year- Technology
Karen Nelson-Field, CEO, Amplified Intelligence
Lewis Sherlock, senior vice-president programmatic, Bidstack – WINNER
Harry Harcus, managing director, Finecast
Dominic Woolfe, CEO UK, Azerion
Judges Special Choice Award
Ally Owen, founder AD-Cademy, Brixton Finishing School, ADventure
Leadership Team of the Year
UM
Pinterest
Bloomberg Media – WINNER
Ebiquity
Conscious Advertising Network
Campaign of the Year
“Less Buzz, More Music” (Tommy Hilfiger) by Vevo and Crossmedia
“Roommates Wanted” (Stokke) by Jaywing and Amobee
“News UK & Jaguar Land Rover” (Jaguar Land Rover) by News UK
“O2 vs. CO2” (O2) by Havas Media – WINNER
Advertising/Media Technology of the Year
Unmissable (DFS) by MediaCom, Xaxis, Finecast, iDOOH
The Fast Start Dashboard – A Diving Rod for Attention by OMD Worldwide – WINNER
Finding Equilibrium In Brand Search (Western Union) by Mediahub & Stickyeyes
ADvantage XP by TVSquared
Media Agency of the Year
Zenith Media UK
Mediahub
Havas Media Group
UM UK – WINNER
Wavemaker UK
Technology Company of the Year
The Ozone Project – WINNER
Traktion
PubMatic
Amplified Intelligence
NumberEight Technologies
Media Owner of the Year
Channel 4
TripAdvisor
TikTok – WINNER
Future Publishing
Advertiser of the Year
Tesco – WINNER
Sky
Boots
McDonalds
Government Communication Service
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