Four of our World Media Awards judges participated in a World Media Group hosted Masterclass in Storytelling in London in October – and we’re delighted to bring you the highlights of the discussion during which they identified the essential building blocks for telling great brand stories, referred to real examples of effective corporate brand storytelling and provided some really useful “do’s and don’ts” for branded content. Irene Mia, Global Editorial Director for The Economist chaired the discussion, which included Matt McAllester, Editor of Newsweek; Raquel Bubar, Director of T Brand Studio International at The New York Times and Arif Durrani, Commercial Editor EMEA for Bloomberg Media, alongside Libby Wright, Worldwide Content Lead for MediaCom Beyond Advertising and Maria Dsouza, Content Director for MEC Wavemaker.
In the first of a series of interviews with World Media Awards 2017 judges, Nicky Owen, advertising specialist at Credit Suisse, offers advice about making a content marketing campaigns truly international.
In the first of a series of interviews with World Media Awards 2017 judges, Nicky Owen, advertising specialist at Credit Suisse, offers advice about making a content marketing campaigns truly international.
Nicky has nearly 20 years international brand strategy experience across advertising, media, research and innovation agencies, and is now working client side in the global brand team at Credit Suisse.
She has developed comms strategy for some of the biggest brands in the world including American Express, Vodafone, Dove, HSBC, Tate, Sony and Nestle. Nicky is also a non-exec board member of The Akram Khan Dance Company, one of the world’s leading contemporary dance companies and based at Sadlers Wells, and has an MBA from Nottingham University Business School.
London, Thursday 1st December, 2016: Entries for World Media Awards (hosted by the World Media Group*) have opened today. The global World Media Awards (WMAs) are the only awards that celebrate the effectiveness of cross platform, cross border, content-driven advertising.
How to enter: Entry to the WMAs at www.wm-awards.com is totally free but entrants have the option to make a voluntary donation to Reporters Without Borders. Ad campaigns must be content-driven and have intentionally targeted audiences in at least four countries, with 75% of activity having been implemented in 2016. All categories can be entered by advertisers and their media, PR and creative agencies while media owners are only permitted to enter the new Entertainment and Media category directly. There is no requirement for campaigns to have run in any of the World Media Group brands. The closing date for entries is Thursday 16th February 2017.
Judging: To reflect the importance of collaboration in creating successful international, content-driven advertising campaigns, the independent jury will number 30 heavy-weight judges from brands, agencies and media owners and is presided over by three Co-Heads: Ian Armstrong, Global Advertising General Manager, Jaguar Land Rover, Sanjay Nazerali, Global Chief Strategy Officer with Carat Global, and Raquel Bubar, Director T Brand Studio International at The New York Times. The full list of judges is available on the website.
Categories: There will be eight Award categories and a Grand Prix selected by the jury from amongst the category winners, as follows:
• Automotive
• Corporate Influencer
• Financial Services
• Foreign Direct Investment and Economic Development
• Lifestyle & Luxury
• (New) Media & Entertainment
• Technology and Telecoms
• Travel & Tourism
Winners’ perks: All category winners will see their work celebrated in an advertising campaign valued at €500K which will run across the World Media Group’s leading international media brands: The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Time, Quartz, The New York Times, National Geographic, Newsweek, Fortune, Forbes, The Economist and Bloomberg. In addition, a number of the winning case studies will be published in the World Media Awards showcase on the World Media Group website.
Awards event: The winners of the Awards will be announced at the exclusive World Media Awards Reception at the Ham Yard Hotel in London on Thursday 6th April 2017. All shortlisted entrants will receive two free tickets to join the celebration as guests of the World Media Group, and additional tickets will be available for purchase.
Focus on the story, not the content tools, says Raquel Bubar, director of T Brand Studio International at The New York Times, and a head judge of the World Media Awards 2017.
In the accelerating media arms race that is brand content, The New York Times is widely seen as having skipped to the front.
The publisher’s T Brand Studio unit has won plaudits for its work with advertisers including Netflix, UBS, Cole Haan, GE and Philips, and is branching out into the world of virtual reality and augmented reality with specialist agency Fake Love.
In 2015, The New York Times launched an international T Brand Studio team in London, now led by director Raquel Bubar, who moved over from the New York content operation. A primary objective, says Bubar, is educating clients that they should begin with the story, rather than abstract aspirations of documentary films or flashy infographics.
“The first thing we need to do, as a team, is to sit down and brainstorm effective strategies and effective ideas. We always ask ourselves, ‘What is the story we are trying to tell?’” says Bubar.
“We do have a lot of clients coming to us that want a menu of options – they want a video, or they want an infographic, as they’ve seen we’ve done that kind of work for brands before. They want to come and ask us to do that exact thing, but about them. So it’s our job to educate brands, and our job to tell them the best way to tell their story in whatever medium that might be.”