It has begun. A schedule of awards dinners and holiday parties is once again about to grab media agencies by the collar and throw them headlong into champagne fountains across the country. So it’s nice to know some of them are managing to learn something along the way – about classy drinking, at least.
The inaugural Australian Blis Golden Shaker began in earnest a few weeks ago. Eight teams from some of Australia’s top media agencies have been learning how to mix cocktails with the best of them, courtesy of Blis.
In keeping with the highest traditions in media, the agency has a fully stocked bar in their office. Combined with some professional training from renowned bartender Toby Hiscox, Blis’ home base makes the perfect training arena for agency friends to flex their creative muscle with some top-shelf booze.
The competition comes to a rather snazzy finale this Friday at one of Sydney’s premier new venues, The Calyx. The eight agency teams will don their aprons and go head-to-head to be crowned Sydney media’s best cocktail makers, and receive the coveted Golden Shaker (made from actual gold, we’re informed).
B&T’s very own news editor, Huntley Mitchell won himself a spirited game of rock-paper-scissors against editor John Bastick and will be manning the judging panel alongside world-class mixologist Natalie Ng and Blis’ Aussie and New Zealand MD, Nick Ballard.
Here are the agency teams that will be competing in the Blis Golden Shaker Grand Final:
OMD
- Emily Lydford, business director
- Sam Rochaix, interactive director
- Daniel Thomson, account director
- Tom Fryett, head of programmatic video
Spirit = whisky
Airwave & OMG Programmatic
- Adam Coulter, programmatic director of ad operations (NSW/QLD)
- Fiona Hill, account director (Airwave)
- Jacques Kaladchibachi, programmatic lead
- Tamara Fraser, programmatic lead
Spirit = rum
M2M Media
- Dan O’Brien, head of digital
- Tarryn Blackwood, head of social
- Mikayla Ellis, business director
- James Parry, business director
Spirit = tequila
UM
- Simon Turner, senior partnerships director
- Tim Rogers, client director
- Anna Cox, graduate
- Jacqui Oullevou, client manager
Spirit = whisky
Ikon
- Tim Micallef, digital amplification and trade director
- Emile Van Schalkwyk, communications director
- Matthew Cranley, data science manager
- Jake Devlin, amplification and trading coordinator
Spirit = rum
Match Media
- Rebecca Alexander, brand strategy and partnerships manager
- David Bostelman, digital client planner
- Jacqui Capel, client director
- Will MacDonald, client executive
Spirit = gin
PHD
- Chloe Hooper, new business and trading director
- Danielle Russell, planning manager
- Zoe Lyon, account executive
- Tahnee Fleming, account executive
Spirit = whisky
Ansible
- Scott Player, CEO
- Jem Reis, mobile media director and agency lead
- Kristy Manson, client services director
- Blake Moseley, media implementation and technology manager
Spirit = tequila
