Publicis.Poke chief executive Nick Farnhill is to be chair of judges for the 2020 ±±¾©Èü³µpk10 Tech Awards.
Farnhill will lead a judging panel of company leaders and technology specialists from across the advertising, marketing and media industries.
The awards showcase groundbreaking technology-driven work by companies and individuals, while championing collaboration between brands and the tech communities.
Entries are now open for the awards until the early-bird deadline on 27 February. After that, there is still time to enter until 5 March, but this will incur an additional charge.
Farnhill joined Publicis Worldwide in 2014 as founding partner and chief executive of digital agency Poke. He was promoted to the additional role of chief executive of Publicis London, and then to chief executive of Publicis Worldwide UK in 2018.
Last year, he brought together Publicis Worldwide UK’s four businesses – Publicis London, Poke, Arc and August – to become one integrated agency named Publicis.Poke, bringing technology and creativity together to focus on brand communications, brand experiences and brand commerce.
Farnhill's focus is on growing digital communications and experiences for clients including EE, Garnier, Google, Heineken, Morrisons, Nestlé, Renault, Tourism Ireland and Virgin Voyages.
In 2010, Farnhill launched The Lovie Awards to celebrate the wonderful and inspiring things connected by the web's many tentacles. He continues to co-chair these awards, considered to be the only truly pan-European awards honouring online excellence. Farnhill is also an advisory board member of independent film streaming service MUBI.
Farnhill said: "It’s exciting to be chairing this year’s ±±¾©Èü³µpk10Tech Awards and be in the privileged position to review some of the best tech-driven creativity that is shaping our industry.
"We’re entering a new hyper-connected decade where the creative application of technology to communicate ever more effectively is essential to drive business growth. I’m really looking forward to getting under the skin of all the work."
This year’s awards introduce four new categories, while the Breakthrough Tech as Part of a ±±¾©Èü³µpk10 category has been expanded to capture the outstanding work that is done within five marketing sectors.
Meanwhile, the headline awards – Agency of the Year and Tech Company of the Year – will no longer be open for entry. Instead, they will be nominated and determined by the awards’ panel of judges.
R/GA London won Agency of the Year in 2019 for the second time in a row, while SoPro, a sales support business whose innovative approach to email has enabled it to double its income per head in the past two years, was named Tech Company of the Year, with The Trade Desk as a finalist.