The Media Federation of Australia (MFA) has announced the six senior marketers who will be judging the 2024 MFA Awards as Signature Judges.
The 2024 MFA Awards Signature Judges are:
- Martin Brown, General Manager, Nestlé and AANA Chair
- Naysla Edwards, VP Customer Marketing & Member Experience, American Express ANZ
- Ben Hill, Chief Marketing Officer, Mars Wrigley
- Lisa Ronson, Senior Marketer & Adjunct Professor, Deakin Business School
- Nicole Smart, GM Group Media & Media Planning, Woolworths Group
- Sarah Sorrenson, Head of Global Media, Diageo
Introduced for the first time at last year’s MFA Awards, the Signature Judges provide a strong advertiser voice to lead judging, to ensure focus remains on proven effectiveness. This further bolsters the MFA Awards program’s rigorous judging process, which includes automatic conflict filtering, independent auditing, blind voting and proof of media contribution.
The Signature Judges will lead a judging cohort of more than 100 experienced professionals drawn from the whole spectrum of the industry: media agencies, media owners, tech companies and a record number of marketers.
Entries to the MFA Awards are open until 3 May to MFA member media agencies, clients and media owners, with a call to showcase work that lives up to the industry’s We Are The Changers purpose, demonstrating best-practice media thinking and long-term business growth for clients. The winners will be announced at a black-tie gala dinner at White Bay Cruise Terminal in Sydney on 19 September.
MFA Awards chairs Sophie Price, chief strategy officer at EssenceMediaCom, and Chris Colter, chief strategy and product officer at Initiative, thanked all six marketers for committing to help identify the most effective and inspiring media thinking in Australia: “We’re delighted to welcome our six Signature Judges to act as champions for proven effectiveness in the MFA Awards judging room. With enormous expertise and knowledge among them, we believe they will make a valuable contribution to the process of identifying the most innovative and effective media thinking in Australia.”
Nestlé general manager Martin Brown added: “I’m thrilled to return as an MFA Awards Signature Judge this year. Last year’s judging experience was enormously inspiring and a great reminder of the high calibre of media thinking being delivered by Australian media agencies. As always, I will be looking for breakthrough ideas that led to exceptional brand and business results.”
Woolworths Group GM group media and media planning Nicole Smart said: “I’m a strong believer in the power of media to drive commercial impact, which is why I’m excited to be judging the MFA Awards. In addition to effectiveness, I will be keeping a keen eye for collaboration, innovation and ideas that take me by surprise.”
