Caitlin Brennan
Senior new-business and marketing manager, Havas London
Nominated by Tracey Barber,
group chief marketing officer, Havas UK:
"Unlike many new-business people, Caitlin doesn’t merely complete RFIs, get the agency through to tissue or chemistry stage and then leave the designated team to fulfil the pitch itself. She remains intimately involved in the process throughout – dealing first-hand with intermediaries and clients, from the first stage to the last. She is relied on by the leadership team – both within Havas London and the UK group as a whole – and is an absolutely integral part to the momentum we’ve begun to gather in 2017. Caitlin is destined for huge things – she will make an exceptional CMO one day."
Meigan Brown and Tobias Owen
Creative team, Karmarama
Nominated by Nik Studzinski,
chief creative officer, Karmarama:
"Meigan and Tobias walked into Karmarama in 2016 with first-class honours degrees in advertising (Tobias at the University of the Arts, Meigan at Central Saint Martins) and two years of experience under the astute eye of Tim Ashton at Antidote. I’m sure we saw the same thing in them that Tim saw. First, they’re lovely people. And, second, they have an infectious enthusiasm coupled with a natural curiosity. I’m happy to say none of that has changed. They approach every brief with a huge sense of excitement. Most recently, they created the British Army ‘Rainbow camo’ campaign for Pride London."
David Clulow
Senior designer, Mr President
Nominated by Claire Hynes,
managing partner, Mr President:
"Since joining Mr President, David has been part of many groundbreaking campaigns, including the BetVictor ‘Million pound goal’ campaign for the Uefa finals, where he oversaw live animation for tournament goals as they were scored. He also goes beyond client work, contributing to Mr President’s volunteer effort during Pride in London, working on the illustrations to bring to life the agency’s belief in diversity and acceptance."
Zoe D’Avignon
Planner, Saatchi & Saatchi
Nominated by Sam Wise and Raquel Chicourel, joint heads of planning,
Saatchi & Saatchi:
"Zoe embodies everything we’re looking for in our new generation of planners at Saatchi & Saatchi: a ‘nothing is impossible’ spirit and equally at home with data and intuition. She’s always known her brain is wired in a different way, diagnosed at a young age with dyslexia. But she’s turned what could be a hindrance into an advantage, using her unique point of view and different way of looking at things to inspire our clients and creative teams every day."
Katie Elliott
New-business manager, Mother
Nominated by Chris Gallery,
partner, Mother:
"We have lots of talented young stars at Mother, but our strongest contender wasn’t from the strategic or creative backgrounds you’d expect. We chose our new-business manager, Katie Elliott, as the unanimous Mother nomination. Katie has helped make our RFI and chemistry process almost perfect (currently 94% successful). In doing so, she has helped us seal major new clients including Nokia global, KFC, the BBC and Vauxhall. Plus, she singlehandedly led the government roster review for Mother.
"Katie has the ability to command respect and, yes, challenge those much more experienced. And in her role, she always manages to take a lot of people on the journey with her, allowing a diverse team to share in the success. Above all, Katie has a spark – she’s got something about her that instantly makes you realise she will go far." ›
Michael Hanbury-Williams
Digital account manager, UM, J3
Nominated by Caroline Foster Kenny,
EMEA chief executive, and Phil Tattersall, UK chief operating officer, IPG Mediabrands:
"Michael has a passion for creativity and works with our partners to push innovation. He always provides excellent creative guidance, working alongside agencies to produce bespoke 360-degree formats to support launches for our clients. Most recently, he worked on Nicorette’s ‘One breath’ campaign, which surpassed all previous campaign benchmarks and went on to win silver at Cannes."
Shu Han Lee
Strategist, 18 Feet & Rising
Nominated by Jonathan Trimble,
chief executive, 18 Feet & Rising:
"Shu is a social influencer with more than 45,000 followers on her @mummyicancook Instagram account, so she understands what digital audiences want and can translate this into traditional advertising. She’s been a critical part of exciting campaigns at 18 Feet & Rising since she joined. Her background and experience means she has an innate ability to come up with above-the-line media that has shareability at its core."
Hannah Lees
Senior account manager,
Havas Media Manchester
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Nominated by Matt Adams, chief executive, Havas Media, UK and international:
"Authenticity in the workplace is a value many strive for, and in any leadership role it’s a core part of development – some find it easy and others have to work hard to set a genuine example that motivates and encourages others. Hannah is someone who carries a pure, authentic energy that is inspiring to those around her.
"As a champion of female leadership, she is not afraid to speak out – testament to the culture in which she thrives and one she is helping shape across Havas."
Stephanie Leonard
Account director, CHI & Partners
Nominated by Sarah Golding, chief executive and partner, CHI & Partners:
"Running the Argos account, Stephanie manages a team that creates more than 300 ads a year. She handles this demanding and complex piece of business, juggling a huge number of different tasks, all while maintaining a keen eye for detail. Stephanie loves good ideas, pursues new angles and fights hard to
try new things. Creatives and account management alike love working with her, as she fills them with confidence that she has a genuine desire to make great work."
Gabi Mostert
Deputy creative director, Iris Worldwide
Nominated by Julia Nightingale,
global PR director, Iris Worldwide:
"In her short time at Iris, Gabi has focused on developing campaigns that drive meaningful relationships between brands and people, through engaging, participation-led experiences. She has won awards and taken the stage at industry events to talk about everything from integration to how creatives and planners should work closer together."
Amy Nield
Creative strategist, DigitasLBi
Nominated by Fern Miller, chief strategy officer, international, DigitasLBi:
"The thing about Amy is that she makes things change. She changes minds and influences policy in Publicis Groupe and the industry through her contribution to our Digital Pride partnership and the Publicis Égalité network. She gets things started in our clients’ businesses by challenging us all to create ideas that are meaningful and different enough to matter to real people in real life. Amy turns up and makes new things happen in our agency every day."
Rebecca Rumble
Associate creative director and
head of motion, R/GA
Nominated by James Temple,
executive vice-president and
chief creative officer, R/GA:
"Quite simply, Rebecca is one of the most incredible creative talents at R/GA – not just here in London, but globally. She’s an
award-winning multi-disciplined video editor, art director, photographer and motion designer who is also helping lead the diversity and inclusion charge here at R/GA through her work on our Woman Up programme. She's been a part of R/GA's hit work, from Google’s ‘Year in search’ to Beats Music. Outside of work, she has collaborated on the film Incomplete, which made this year’s official selection at the BFI's LGBT Film Festival."
Matilda Scullion
Associate strategist, The Partners
Nominated by Inga Howell, business development director, The Partners:
"From the outset, Matilda has approached even the largest of projects with unwavering confidence. She’s pitched for (and won) › business for one of the UK’s biggest charities. And she’s worked on campaigns for global professional services companies, European beauty brands and one of the most recognisable coffee brands in the world."
Crissy Sealy
Digital business director, MEC UK
Nominated by Verra Budimlija,
chief strategy officer, MEC UK:
"At a time when the digital landscape is changing on what seems like a weekly basis, Crissy is proving to be ahead of her clients and constantly providing leadership on how to navigate it."
Olivia Stancombe
Strategist, The Future Laboratory
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Nominated by Trevor Hardy, chief executive, The Future Laboratory:
"Olivia is a rare breed in our industry – with a mixture of skills and values that are essential to our business, instrumental to our clients’ work and will, in time, help to push the industry forward and ensure a brighter future. She brings levels of dedication admired by peers and clients alike.
"It is this striving for the best insight, the best ideas and the highest levels of quality that sets her work and her work ethic apart. In a sector that is obsessed with the new and the next, Olivia is a true student of the industry. She has a keen and disciplined interest in understanding the people, models and lessons of past successes in advertising, as well as the study of what affects and influences consumers. It is this cocktail of dedication and deep understanding that allows her to bring transformative insight to every task."
Chris Toumazis
Planner, Ogilvy
Nominated by Kevin Chesters,
chief strategy officer, Ogilvy:
"Chris has had a stellar year, and I genuinely don’t know how he fits it all in. He’s only been a planner for two years but he has the wisdom and intelligence of a planner with five times those miles on the clock. He was the lead strategist on the ‘#Outrage is not enough’ campaign from Amnesty International.
"Chris was involved from the brief to the original concept and all the way to delivery of a multi-channel, impossibly complicated final social project. He briefed the teams, worked with the teams and marshalled the responses in real time. The work was one of the highlights of Ogilvy & Mather’s 2017 output. The pinnacle was winning at the PRWeek Awards, British Arrows and Cannes."
Laura Visick
Social media director, FCB Inferno
Nominated by Frazer Gibney,
chief executive, FCB Inferno:
"Laura makes a real difference to the company – she has enormous drive, passion and professionalism, and epitomises the agency’s desire to make a difference in the world. She switches horses effortlessly between the commercial demands of a client like BMW and purpose-driven work such as ‘This girl can’. Laura was responsible for the social strategy of our Cannes Grand Prix-winning ‘Project literacy’ campaign for Pearson. And after just three years, she now leads the agency’s fast-growing social department."
Craig Watt
Account director, Geometry@JWT
Nominated by Richard Woodward,
business lead, Geometry@JWT:
"While there is much talk about integrating digital, retail and omnichannel shopper marketing, Craig is actually leading the charge and executing it. As a pivotal member of our Diageo European shopper team, he has worked on the successful relaunch of Gordon’s Gin, transforming it from a lagging house gin into the second-fastest-growing mainstream gin brand. Highly collaborative, proactive and ambitious, Craig’s curious mind helps him get under the skin of client challenges to develop strategic and creative solutions, building trusted agency/client partnerships along the way."
Sam Williams
Senior strategist, Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO
Nominated by Emily Harlock, head of strategy talent, Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO:
"Sam has worked in the Vatican, helped to establish an agency in Tokyo, worked on ‘#MakeItCount’ for Nike and taught himself to code. This not only makes him a fascinating person to have a beer with and the most accomplished 31-year-old I know, but also a human being with a rich and unique perspective on life, which is perhaps the secret to his brilliant strategic thinking.
"Sam is the embodiment of a modern strategist. He moves seamlessly between brand, comms, cultural and data planning, and unites all four in his thinking every day."