2021 WARC Awards for Asian Strategy launched

WARC, the global authority on marketing effectiveness, today launched the 2021 WARC Awards for Asian Strategy to showcase Asia’s smartest marketing thinking, highlighting breakthrough ideas from across the region.

Launched in 2011, the Awards, previously known as the WARC Prize for Asian Strategy, are free to enter and are open to agencies, brand owners and specialists in any marketing discipline across the region.

This year’s competition will be chaired by Lynette Pang, Assistant Chief Executive, Marketing Group, Singapore Tourism Board, who is responsible for building the Singapore destination brand globally and helms the global marketing efforts of STB.

Commenting on her upcoming chairing role, Pang said, “As Asia moves determinedly forward to bounce back strong from the changes wrought by the global pandemic, the role of strategists and strategic marketing becomes mission-critical. I am thrilled to be the Jury Chair for this year’s WARC Awards for Asian Strategy and look forward to seeing work that will serve as both a showcase of, and guiding light for, Asia’s next generation of strategists.”

Joining Lynette Pang are an eminent judging panel made up of 50% senior marketers from brands, including Diageo, Lifebuoy, L'Oréal, Pernod Ricard and Visa, and 50% agency strategy experts, with global networks such as Havas, Grey, Mindshare and PHD represented. Overall, there is a 56%/44% male/female gender split. The 25-strong jury is as follows:

Lynette Pang, Assistant Chief Executive, Marketing Group, Singapore Tourism Board - Jury Chair

Charu Aggarwal, Chief Strategy Officer, India & SEA, Havas Group

Antoin Breen, Marketing Director, Pernod Ricard Vietnam

Bitop Das Gupta, AVP & Strategy Lead, Grey Group Bangladesh

Hazlina Dayangku, Head of Marketing, Samsonite

Melissa Henson, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, Manulife Philippines

Issa Ignacio, Strategic Planning Director, TBWASantiago Mangada Puno

Anita Kanal, Vice President, Consumer Marketing Asia Pacific, Visa

Stuart La Brooy, Senior Marketing Director, Strategic Partnerships, Diageo

Mi Li, Chief Marketing Officer, Advance Intelligence Group

Nhan Mai Ngoc, Senior Brand Manager, Lifebuoy, Unilever Vietnam

Akira Mitsumasu, Vice President, Global CX & Marketing, Japan Airlines

Masahito Namiki, President & CEO, Interbrand Japan

Nicholas Nyeow, National Sales Manager, Kara Marketing Malaysia

Huiyan Pan, Regional Marketing Lead (Branding & Partnerships), Shopee

Avinash Pareek, Head, L'Oréal, Wavemaker India

Nathalie Pellegrini, Chief Performance Officer, Mindshare APAC

Hari Ramanathan, Chief Strategy & Transformation Officer, VMLY&R Asia

Ali Rezgui, Group Planning Director, Publicis Group APAC

Saloni Shah, Head of Digital, Consumer Products, L'Oréal India

Jaskaran Singh Kapany, Former Head of Marketing, Paytm India

Jason Tan, Executive Director, Zenith Singapore

Luke Tucker, CMO, Citibank Singapore

Alex Woodford, Vice President, Client Partner, APAC, Essence

Cynthia Zhang, Managing Director, PHD Shanghai

The jury will award Grand Prix, Gold, Silver and Bronze accolades as well as five Special Awards recognising specific areas of excellence, one of which is new for this year:

• The E-Commerce Excellence Award (new) - for the best use of e-commerce platforms and features to further amplify brand objectives.
• The Early Adopter Award- for the best example of a brand using a new innovation or emerging tech or platform.
• The Long-Term Strategy Award- the best strategy designed to build a long-term brand platform, executed over a period of three years or more.
• The Customer Journey Award- for the best example of a brand creating a compelling path to purchase.
• The Research Excellence Award - for the best use of research in the development of strategic ideas.

Chiara Manco, Commissioning Editor, Case Studies, WARC, said, “We look forward to working with our largest judging panel to date for these awards, to bring to the forefront the very best of Asia’s strategic thinking that is driving business growth at a time of enormous change – effective strategies that will also inspire others globally.”

The deadline to submit entries is July 14, 2021.