The UK Agency Awards have been judged by digital marketing industry leaders and experts.
Current Judges
Previous Judges include:
Judges
Abdu Alhadithi | Head of Client Marketing | THG Ingenuity
Having worked in marketing and eCommerce for the last 13 years, Abdu's journey at an agency began as a SEO Executive at Search Laboratory. Following that, he worked on brands of all shapes & sizes, including Philips Sonicare, Lorac, Richmond, Cheestrings and Physicians Formula, driving sales & revenue growth across DTC as well as Amazon, PurePlayers and Bricks & Clicks. Most recently, Abdu was involved with a Digital & Marketing Transformation project at Heathrow Airport and now works as Head of Client Marketing at THG Ingenuity, helping brands drive global DTC growth.
Rebecca Anderton | Head of Social Media | The Manc Group
Rebecca has worked in the social media publishing space for the last five years and was a key figure in UNILAD's social video dominance between 2016 and 2019. She was part of the core team that made UNILAD the most engaged social media publisher in the world before moving to The Manc as the first hire. Since then, Rebecca has spearheaded a social media operation that has consistently put The Manc ahead of the pack in local social publishing. The Manc today is the most engaged local social publisher in the UK and consistently ranks amongst publishers such as Daily Mail, The Mirror and The Sun in national leaderboards.
Richard Banks | Head of Performance Marketing | Manchester Airports Group
Richard has over 10 years' experience in Digital Marketing and eCommerce. After beginning his career in PPC & SEO, Richard has led Performance Marketing teams for the likes of JD Sports, Zuto and currently MAGO. Part of Manchester Airports Group, MAGO is an airport-centric travel company that defines how airports increase their non-aero revenues internationally. As Head of Performance Marketing, Richard has successfully grown revenue streams for MAG's own airports (Manchester, London Stansted and East Midlands Airports) by +20%. He is now leading the team through its next phase of growth, as MAGO's Digital Marketing offering is taken around the world to help airports recover from the Coronavirus pandemic.
Sam Barnes | Senior Director, International Marketing and Communications | AXON
With over 25 years’ experience, Sam advises pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical technology companies on a range of Global, European and UK programmes across the marketing and communications spectrum. His work includes product communications, corporate communications and issues management, medical communications, digital projects, strategy development and planning. Sam’s current role involves working across both AXON and the agency’s broader network, AVENIR GLOBAL, to build tailored teams and solutions that meet the fast-changing and evolving needs of healthcare clients. His career spans both consultancy and in-house roles including for Novartis and GSK as well as founding DNA Communications in 2007 at Interpublic Group.
Tom Bourlet | Owner | Take It Offline
Tom has worked in the marketing industry for 10 years, running some of the most viral campaigns globally for various brands, including running a Bubble Football World Cup and being featured on TV and radio numerous times. With experience both on the agency and client side, Tom has since left to become a marketing consultant, as well as focusing on the marketing round table conference TakeItOffline and the Venue app DrinksPal, along with all of his affiliate brands and blogs.
David Chadderton | Marketing Director | Homes for Students Ltd
Following a highly successful first career as an RAF Air Combat Instructor flying Tornado fighters around the world, Dave forged a second career in digital consultancy, working freelance and later for digital and lead generation agencies before finding his home 'in-house'. His data-driven approach to ROI-based digital marketing has helped Homes for Students become one of the biggest student accommodation companies in the UK, growing by over 98% in the last 2 years and generating over £200M revenue pa. His fully integrated approach to all digital channels has been applauded by industry leaders such as SEMRush and Ahrefs, and he's constantly pushing the 'norm', preferring to lead in the sector rather than follow. Away from work, Dave enjoys beach walks on the Wirral with his partner and two Jack Russells, Bella and Bobby (aka @sideeyebob). He does other stuff too, but the beach walks are the best.
Nic Chambers-Parkes | Head of Marketing | Virgin Care
With 20 years’ experience of journalism, PR and marketing across highly regulated industries I’m a calm, big picture thinker with a love for taking things apart and putting them back together again and challenging the status quo. I strong believe that communications must be strategic, inside and out of an organisation, and pay their way in the good times and in the harder ones too. I’ve a proven track record of making things happen and a broad skillset covering Public Relations, Public Affairs, crisis management, content creation, social media strategy, internal communications strategy and delivery, and solid people, function and organisational leadership.
Damilola Chambon | Business & Diversity Consultant | Bethel Sarova
Damilola Chambon is an experienced, multilingual senior executive, board advisor and business leader with over 20 years experience in sales and marketing, driving growth in some of the fastest growing companies in the world. Having spent a number of years in the agency world, Dami is a strong believer in creativity and performance safe in the knowledge that in order to do this, understanding, valuing and encouraging the right culture is key. As well as being a coach and mentor within organisations focused on encouraging young people in technology, Dami is active spokesperson consultant on diversity within the U.K.
David Crawford | Founder | The Digital Strategy Unit
David Crawford has worked for the last 25 years in marketing and digital agencies of all shapes and sizes. He was most recently Managing Director of Branded3, one of the UK’s leading search agencies, and has also held senior positions at McCann, BJL and twenty-six. He has worked directly with clients such as American Airlines, UPS and Bentley as well as help a couple of tech start-ups develop and deliver their digital & marketing strategies. He now works with creative, digital and tech agencies as a Non-Exec Director, Board Advisor and Coach.
Morgan Fitzsimons | Chief Marketing Officer | London Sock Company
Global DTC brand and digital marketer. Has worked agency and brand side in the UK and the USA. Passionate about driving commercial growth through consumer insights . Previously Global Head of Marketing, ASOS, and Digital Marketing Director, CBS Television (New York).
David Gerrard | Associate Director | Wayfair
With over 10 years in SEO and a background of delivering big for renowned clients, David has a breadth of experience having worked in-house, agency side and even for an e-commerce platform. A specialist in refining strategic approach and scaling execution, he is currently based in Berlin and leading the SEO efforts of Wayfair in Europe.
Dr Michelle Gledhill | Senior Lecturer | Manchester Met University
Dr Michelle Gledhill is a specialist in in advertising, branding and media. Her position as Programme Leader for MSc Creative Advertising Strategy at Manchester Metropolitan University combines her expertise in strategic thinking when working in consultation on live briefs with brands such as Manchester City, the Happy Linen Company and Manchester Gin, with her passion for developing and nurturing student talent in the Manchester and across the UK. Her fascination for branding led her to complete a unique doctoral thesis on how brands are processed whilst playing videogames. She is a highly experienced marketer, Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM), CIM Senior Examiner and HE Examiner.
Gareth Goddard | SEO Lead | GetAgent
Gareth discovered a passion for SEO while building his own websites, learning through experience. He has gone on to work agency and client side as well as running his own SEO business. He has a passion for seeing great businesses do better online and loves the challenge and variety that comes with SEO. Currently leading SEO at GetAgent developing their technical and content strategies.
Hana Graham | Head of Marketing | Storfund
An Oxford graduate with an MBA, Hana has led B2B and B2C marketing teams in both start-ups and blue chip financial institutions including the global insurance broker, Arthur J. Gallagher. She is currently Head of Marketing at Storfund, a global fintech which is pioneering cashflow services for sellers on Amazon and other marketplaces.
Dr Sophie Iredale | Digital Marketing Lecturer | Manchester Metropolitan University
Sophie has been a Digital Marketer since 2009, becoming a Head of Organic Search for a south Manchester Agency in 2012. In 2015, Sophie then became a Lecturer in Digital Marketing, securing her PhD in 2020. She is now Programme Leader for the Manchester Metropolitan Universities MSc Digital Marketing Communications and an active researcher in the field. 
Reyhaneh Jafari | SEO Expert | 365 Digital Consulting
She is a SEO expert with 3+ years at experience with different companies who is hungry to learn and provides creative solutions to unique problems. She started her job with content strategy and continued her path to SEO. She is Skilled at technical optimization, on-page and off-page SEO, keyword research, project management, and content marketing funnel analysis. She has experiences in Google Ads and other digital marketing channels but her specialty is SEO. She tries to lead her life towards my interests and faces every challenge in this way while enjoying the whole path.
Brendan Keegan | Manchester Metropolitan University
Brendan has taught a broad range of digital marketing topics in Manchester Metropolitan for over a decade, after a few years in agency-land. His research examines the role of analytics in marketing strategy decision-making, as well as the utilisation of digital technology in shaping spaces and places.
Richard Keenan-Heard | Head of SEO | Trainline
Richard joined Trainline three years ago from GroupM agency Wavemaker where he spent five years working for global brands including GE Digital, GE Healthcare, Tiffany, Michelin, Johnson and Johnson and Pfizer. As a result, he has a diverse background in SEO and brings a wealth of experience to the judges’ panel. With a growth mindset and a passion for trains matched only by his determination to help customers find the best options for sustainable travel, Richard has assembled the team from the ground up. Now boasting a breadth of talent and expertise across European train travel, the Trainline team continue to take on new, more complex challenges.
Elliot Kemp | Global head of Performance Marketing | Navico
Elliot works client side as the head of digital marketing for the world’s largest recreational marine technology company, Navico, whilst also being a member of a number of SME boards, He first found his passion for digital marketing out of university, while working as a project manager for a hair and beauty wholesaler. During that time he transformed their website - originally created as a temporary measure 10 years beforehand - into a multi-million pound revenue business. Since then he's won the global Google marketing award for his innovative work in mobile advertising, and found further success in digital marketing through agency and consulting work specialising in innovative ways to transform clients’ digital strategies to new levels. His passion for digital transformation continues to influence his work in marketing.
Alex Kington | Head of Global Marketing and Communications | TAG
Alex is a senior marketing leader with over with over 14 years' experience in marketing and communications roles. She has worked in a variety of private and not-for-profit organisations, gaining experience in both B2B and B2C marketing. Alex started her career as a Publishing Executive for Graduate Prospects back in 2006. Following a stint teaching English to children in South Korea, she moved to Manchester and secured a role managing the company's digital portfolio. This role was her springboard into a Product Manager role, working for a data provider. The 2008 recession hit, but Alex managed to retain her role and went on a rapid learning curve, becoming the marketing lead in a £56 million turnover business. Following this, she has worked for some of the world’s biggest brands, including Tesco and PwC, before finding the world of travel. Her current role is to develop the global strategy and brand positioning for specialist business travel operator, TAG. Outside of work, Alex is married with two children and lives in South Manchester. Despite being from Yorkshire originally, she has lived and worked in Manchester for over 15 years and sees herself as an honorary Mancunian, albeit one that has a Yorkshire accent!
Andy Kinsey | Founder | SEOAndy
Andy has over 15 years experience in SEO, working across almost every industry from Finance to Retail and from Publishing to Adult, as well as working across projects of all scales from Startups to Global Corporations. Andy is known for his highly data-led approach to SEO, an approach which ensures maximum results for clients and a great experience for users. You can follow Andy on twitter @andykinsey or get in touch via https://www.seoandy.com
Stephen Knight | CEO & Founder | Pimento
Stephen Knight is a former Advertising Executive, Brand & Marketing Director and CMO with over 30 years sales and marketing experience. Stephen has held a variety of positions at major international agencies including LoweHoward-Spink and WCRS. Five years with the Walt Disney Company latterly as Senior Vice-President of Marketing and Brand Management for EMEA. In 2003, he joined Creata, a global promotions agency, as their European MD where amongst other things he oversaw the McDonalds, Ferrari and Kellogg’s accounts. Having worked successfully above and below the line, client and agency side, he felt it was time to do his own thing and founded Pimento in 2005, the UK’s leading independent agency network. From 2013-2016 Stephen extended his role at Pimento with interim contracts at SSE as Head of Brand, Marketing and CMO. In addition to his responsibilities at Pimento he is a NED of Ebico, a not-for-profit energy company and a trustee of their charity and a director of a Management Consultancy, Recruitment Agency and Chairman of a new to market Travel Club.
Penny Langton | Head of Marketing - Residential | Vita Group
Penny is the Head of Residential Marketing at Vita Group. Vita Group creates platforms for communities to thrive and is leading the way in reimagining build-to-rent city living. Penny has a breadth of experience spanning 20 years of delivering integrated marketing strategies for a number of brands in-house. She discovered her passion for creating positive experiences customers in the healthcare sector and now channels that passion in building new communities for people to live and flourish.
Zoe Lawrie | Senior Brand and Creative Lead | Interactive Investor
Zoe is a senior brand expert with over 20 years working in a wide variety of marketing and digital roles. Her career has seen stints in agency-side PR, FMCG and Financial Services for some of the UK’s best-known brands. Highlights include product development for Durex, award winning social campaigns for Pilgrims Choice cheese and finding a Paul Hollywood impersonator at short notice! Currently leading the Brand and Creative team at Interactive Investor, developing stand-out positioning, premium user experiences and high impact ad campaigns for one of the fastest growing retail investing platforms.
Matt Lovell | Global Director of Data, Insights & Media | Pret A Manger
Matt is a global leader with over 15+ years helping businesses harness data to drive customer experience and growth. He has recently joined Pret as their first Global Director of Data, Insights & Media at Pret as the brand undergoes a Digital Transformation to an Omnichannel Customer Centric retailer. Having started out in the world of Digital Media more recently Matt’s focus has been around building out Data & Insight capabilities at brands including Thomas Cook, Jack Wills and Eurostar.
John Lyons | Global Senior Loyalty Proposition Manager | LEGO Group
John Lyons is an award-winning marketer of over 20 years experience. During this time he has founded and exited two agencies, worked as a consultant and held the role of Sales & Marketing Director at the NDL Group of companies. A frequent speaker at industry events and occasional podcast guest, John has also taught on the Marketing, Distribution, Sales and Exhibition MA at the NFTS and sat on the industry advisory board for Arts and the Creative Industries at LSBU where he has also lectured on marketing, digital marketing and loyalty. He is currently in his first client-side role as the Global Senior Loyalty Proposition Manager at The LEGO Group
Laura McDonald | Digital Marketing Consultant | LMC Digital Marketing
Laura is well versed in paid media and performance marketing, having worked in the industry since 2010. With experience in both in-house and agency roles, Laura set up her own consultancy business in 2017 and has worked on over 100 advertising accounts across various industries; travel & leisure, retail, education, finance and automotive.
James McManus | Head of Social | BT Sport
James has over 10 years' experience within the sports content industry. After beginning his career at Squawka, which revolutionised stats consumption on social from 2013-2017 and saw huge audience growth, James moved to BT Sport in 2017 to work on some of the biggest events and campaigns in the sporting calendar such as the Champions League and Europa League finals, WilderFury 1 and 2, UFC and the Premier League. Since joining BT Sport, their social media channels have become industry-leading and award-winning within the sporting vertical (Best Sports Live Event at the 2020 Broadcast Digital Awards, Best Use of Social Media at the 2019 Content Innovation Awards) and have seen the successful launch of several much-loved digital series' such as No Filter UCL, Rio Meets, What Went Down, What I Wore and Between The Lines. A specialist in tone of voice, with an in-depth knowledge of the social platforms and delivering engaging digital-first content and campaigns.
Paul Morris | Director of Digital Marketing | Marshalls
Paul has 20 years’ experience leading Marketing & Digital both Agency & Brand side. Paul was previously Head of Marketing at Tesco Bank, global Digital Director at PZ Cussons (brands including St Tropez, Imperial Leather & Original Source), led Digital marketing at the Co-op Group (Food > Funeralcare) and has through the line experience of working both client and agency side with brands including Wickes, Laterooms, Intercontinental Hotel Group, Cash Generator, Stagecoach and Silverstone.
Dan Petrovic | Managing Director | DEJAN
Dan Petrovic, the managing director of DEJAN, is Australia’s best-known name in the field of search engine optimisation. Dan is a web author, innovator and a highly regarded search industry event speaker.
Donna Pullen | Programmatic EMEA/APAC | Expedia
Donna begun her career in media ten years ago where she started out within the New Business team at OMD UK. Since then, she has worked across a variety of fields within the industry including at Affilinet, where she specialised in Affiliate Marketing and planning and account management at Omnicom Media Group within their B2B Lead Generation and Affiliates team. Following this, she made the transition from agency to sales where she has been specialising in Programmatic advertising ever since starting out as a Sales Manager at Trinity Mirror to currently overseeing Expedia's programmatic division across EMEA and APAC
Razwana Quadir | Head of Communications and Marketing | UCL
Razwana Quadir is a marketing and communications leader with over 8 years’ experience across Higher Education and publishing. She is currently the Director of faculty marketing at The Bartlett, UCL’s Faculty of the Built Environment, but will be shortly moving over to the IOE, UCL’s Faculty of Education and Society, as their Head of Communications and Marketing. Razwana started off her career at global business publisher, Kogan Page, before moving to the University of Southampton as their digital lead for undergraduate recruitment and corporate campaigns, as well as being responsible for the development of digital strategies across social media, advertising, brand, email and video. She has a background in social sciences and is passionate about digital innovation, people and psychology, and co-authored a book on the latter subject in 2019.
Kerstin Reichert | SEO Digital Marketing Manager | Tide
Kerstin loves the internet, digital marketing and helping businesses grow. Currently she does exactly that as SEO Digital Marketing Manager at Tide, where she is responsible for organic acquisition. Prior to that she has worked in Digital Marketing over a decade at various companies large and small, agency-side and inhouse across a number of different countries. She is passionate about continuous learning and knowledge sharing which she embraces by being one of LinkedIn Learning's SEO and Digital Marketing course instructors and by contributing to the IAB UK's advisory groups for search, content and native advertising.
Ayesha Sethi | Global Principle Marketing Manager | Vodafone
Ayesha Sethi comes with 15 years of strong multi-industry global experience with robust exposure to European, Asia Pacific & South African markets. Her core strengths are in business management, brand marketing, digital media & business development. In the past, she has worked extensively on brand & digital assignments across the Asia Pacific region with renowned brands like Yum! Brands (Taco Bell & Pizza Hut), Goodyear Tires, Vodafone and Zapak (Online gaming giant in India). Currently she leads Social Media Marketing & SEO globally for Vodafone Group Services spanning over multiple countries including European markets, India & South Africa. Ayesha was the winner of the prestigious CMO Asia Young Marketing Star Award for her work in Yum Brands.
Chris Simmance | Partner and Co-Founder | Torque Partnership
Chris Simmance is a Partner and co-founder of Torque Partnership. He helps enterprise businesses understand their data, build their strategies and transform their presence. Based in London he spends a great deal of time getting cranky at the state of the web and plans to fix it, one business at a time. He solved the BrightonSEO ticketing platform issues, you know, the one that hasn’t gone down on every ticket release day since he changed it. Love the ballot or hate it, it doesn’t fall apart anymore. He’s a big fan of Bill Gates’ quote “I choose a lazy person to do a hard job. Because a lazy person will find an easy way to do it.” as it’s a really good way of getting away with finding a shortcut. Chris is almost entirely much self taught and started working in SEO from a small local agency through to a multinational before deciding to “go it alone” and set up for himself. 5 years later and 2 regional offices and he’s winning work from some well known established high street brands.
Bianca Spada | Global Senior Social Media Manager | Red Bull
Bianca is a global digital strategy expert with 10 years experience of delivering successful digital strategies and global campaigns in some of the world’s leading and cutting edge companies. She is an expert in consolidating and creating brand new social strategies to significantly increase the visibility of brands online. Bianca has a proven record of radically turning around performance and generating 3-figure growth within 12 months of working in a company.
Hannah Squirrell | Customer and Marketing Director | Greggs
Hannah joined Greggs as Customer Director in February 2017. She is a member of the Greggs Operating Board and is responsible for placing the brand and the customer firmly at the heart of the business. Hannah has over 20 years’ experience in Customer and Marketing roles and over the course of her career has enjoyed contributing to brands including Tesco, Capital One, Avon Cosmetics, Bennetts, Haven Holidays, 3M and Thorntons.
Zina Telford | Senior CRM Manager | Marks & Spencer
An award-winning marketer with over 16 years marketing experience, Zina has worked with some of the UKs biggest retail brands. Working in omnichannel retail has given Zina the opportunity to build fantastic knowledge across a plethora of channels and campaigns. She is currently working for the luxury clothing brand Jaeger at M&S.
Helina Thompson-Hartley | Head of Events | THG
Helina Thompson-Hartley has an employment history spanning over 10+ years within the events’ industry across a vast array of event types and formats. From a young age she knew that events would be the career for her, she secured a place on BA (Hons) Event Management degree at MMU and graduated with honours in 2013. After university her first role saw her focusing on award ceremony delivery both UK and internationally, Helina moved onto an event producer role and further developed her technical knowledge and passion for creative concept development. During her time within the industry she was involved in award winnings events including but not limited too CBBC Summer Social, CBeebies Pantomime Festivals across the UK, Hay Festival, Bath Festival, UK Tatti Lashes Roadshow with mmmmitchell and Jeffree Star, Puma & Garmin Fashion Shows, Employee Conferences and Celebrations for brands including Nationwide, Shop Direct, Booking.com, Travelodge, THG and Autotrader. Including immersive product launches for Illamasqua, ESPA, LookFantastic and ESPA. Helina is currently the Head of Events at THG focused on the development and growth of the department, whilst on a personal mission to empower future event pioneers with the skills they need to enjoy a happy and successful career within the industry she loves so much.
Lisa Vecchio | Senior Global Campaigns Manager | Hootsuite | @thesetwoeyes
Lisa is an experienced global leader with over 15+ years managing integrated B2B marketing programs. She is currently the Senior Manager, Global Campaigns at Hootsuite, driving the strategic direction for Hootsuite's major brand and thought leadership campaigns across the social media marketing, social selling and social customer care space. Lisa has also led Marketing, PR, Brand and Digital growth teams for Expedia Group, Wiley and high-growth startups in the fundraising and healthtech sectors. Naturally a culturally curious individual, her passion for travel and focus on global-to-local collaboration has given her the opportunity to champion international teams while relocating from New York to Melbourne to London.
Adam Whittles | Head of SEO | AutoTrader
Adam is an experienced digital marketer, having worked both agency-side for the world's largest advertising agency group (WPP) and client-side, for blue chip companies including Apple. Currently, he is the Head of SEO for Auto Trader, which is the UK's largest digital automotive marketplace and a member of the London Stock Exchange FTSE 100. Adam also recently co-authored the book "Mastering In-House SEO", which became a bestselling digital marketing book on Amazon. Outside of work, Adam is a passionate cricket fan and member of Surrey County Cricket Club.
Michelle Wilding Baker | Head of Digital & Content | Freesat
Michelle is a globally award-winning digital marketer who specialises in data-first customer acquisition (owned/paid/earned), SEO and content strategy. She graduated with First Class Honours in Communication Studies (Journalism) and is armed with more than a decade of marketing and editorial experience across international, SME and start-up brands in highly competitive FinTech, Insurance, Travel, Beauty, eCommerce and publishing industries. Now leading the digital marketing, eCommerce, editorial, content and social strategy remit at Freesat and consulting on a project-basis for Oh Mishy, she previously completed 2.5 years as Head of SEO & Content at The Telegraph Media Group where she hired and led the ‘Best Brand SEO Team’ of 2019. Michelle regularly judges industry marketing and eCommerce awards, guest speaks at events and co-organises the ‘Take It Offline' Digital Marketing Roundtable in London and Europe.
Patrick Woods | Director of Business Development | Pimento
Paddy has spent over 20 years in the advertising and marketing industry covering a wide variety of roles across agencies, clients, intermediaries and trade associations. He has delivered national advertising campaigns, built customer journey for British Gas Smart Meters, and advised clients like Coca Cola, Bacardi, Molson Coors, Unilever and Skoda in building better agency relationships. The last eight years, he has worked with networked and independent agencies to build their marketing and new business capability, both in the UK and globally, successfully delivering growth and new client opportunities.
Ian Wright | Managing Director | Tribe Global
Ian is one of the founders of Tribe Global. I lead the network and am working hard to make Tribe Global the No1 independent agency network. I have spent my career in advertising. My style is to combine a creative and entrepreneurial approach with a strong commercial focus. I love international business and working across different markets. Strategy fascinates me and in particular, finding ways to deliver business advantage. Uncovering client secrets and turning them into a well-told story is a great feeling. When I'm not working, I love big family and friends get-togethers with great food and even better wine. I support Dundee United, love ski-ing, enjoy travelling and eventually want to spend a lot more time in Italy.