World Out of Home Organization Names Heavyweight Panel For Annual Awards

February 19, 2020 by Dave Haynes

The World Out of Home Organization has named a series of digital media heavyweights as judges for its annual awards, which will be presented in June in Toronto.

The judging panel is chaired by Katrin Robertson, CEO of blowUP media, and includes several  senior board members of the organization (formerly known as FEPE), plus Matthew Dearden, CEO of Alight Media, and innovation consultant Dino Burbidge of Dinomo, a well-known figure at Congress. 

Organization board members are headed by President Tom Goddard and Executive director John Ellery and also include former President Antonio Vincenti, Chairman and CEO of Pikasso Lebanon, Christian Schmalzl, C0-CEO of Ströer SE & Co. KGaA in Germany and Jeremy Male, Chairman & CEO of OUTFRONT Media in the US and Canada.

Gill Reid, Board Director Out of Home at MediaCom and Guy Cheston, Partnerships Director of Harrods, are also judges.

Says Robertson: “The World Out of Home Association Annual awards have become the blue riband for marking achievement in the Out of Home industry worldwide and we’re especially delighted to include Gill Reid and Guy Cheston on this year’s Awards panel, two people who have supported the growth of the industry with their insight and enthusiasm and, in Guy’s case, a number of truly outstanding Out of Home campaigns.”

From the announcement:

Last year’s Creative winners were Mexican beer brand Corona’s ‘Wave of Waste’ World Oceans Day special build campaign in the UK in the Classic category and, jointly, Clear Channel Sweden for its Stockholm Out of Home Project and Exterion Media for the Open University Netherlands’ ‘Platform College’ tour.

The Lifetime Achievement Award went to Randy Otto, the pioneering President of Pattison Outdoor Advertising Inc., Canada’s leading independent Out of Home company and the Leadership Award to Tim Bleakley, CEO of the UK’s Ocean Outdoor. Ocean Outdoor successfully re-listed on the London Stock Exchange and made a number of important acquisitions in Europe.

Ocean also won the Technical Award, chosen by Congress delegates, for its ‘Sky Rescue: the Ocean’s biggest threat’ campaign with the broadcaster Sky, which urged people passing by its digital screens to identify the most menacing danger lurking in the oceans.

The Rising Star Award went to Victoria Hirst, Senior International Marketing Manager of blowUP media UK, for her work in helping to position the giant poster company effectively in a rapidly changing marketplace.

Nominations for the Awards close on March 31st.

The World Out of Home Organization (or WOO) describes itself as the only global Out of Home Association, working to promote and improve the OOH industry on behalf of its members. Board members include the major International companies – JCDecaux and Clear Channel – as well as Ströer, Pikasso, and more recently blowUP media, OUTFRONT Media from the US, oOh!Media from Australia and Selvel One from India.
 

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