Brand Experience Creative Live announces judges with I-Factor

The final of Brand Experience Creative Live, hosted at IOEX, ExCeL London, 3.30pm, 8th March (www.ioex.co.uk) will see a panel of 4 judges with I-Factor to help with an award which loosely follows the judging process popularised in TV shows such as Strictly Come Dancing and the X-Factor.

Frank Wainwright, awards director commented: “The I in I-Factor stands for ‘Insight’. Our four judges have brought an abundance of client budget into field and brand experience marketing and have overseen a host of successful and award winning campaigns. They know what works and what creative ideas will excite shoppers and consumers. Our awards are proud to have a strong tradition in finding client judges who have a proven track record of investing in quality face to face campaigns. These are individuals from brands with real spending power. They are the most valuable people for the competing agencies to get in front of, the clients who ultimately, the agencies are entering awards in order to try an impress.”

Frank continues; “Through the magazine and the past seven years of the FM&BE awards we have established good relations with a host of the best brains from readers in our client database and with the four appointed judges we can be confident of a great live debate and a fair result. It will be a really good event to come along to, sure to be of help with insight into what makes a great pitch as well as being a lively competition.”

The four judges selected are (alphabetically, with backgrounders below):

Liz Forte, marketing manager, global consumer products, Starbucks

Kate Knight, senior brand manager, Gifting and Christmas, Kraft

Penny Humphrey, head of retail and experiential marketing, Electronic Arts

Chris Witte, head of marketing, Kingspan

The live award judging is free to attend and an interactive session. Attendees can register for the exhibition at www.ioex.co.uk.

Frank concludes: “We’re seeing this as more than a live award, exciting though that will be. We’re seeing this as a masterclass with four of the most creative campaigns being pitched to four extremely experienced names in marketing, and the audience.”

Liz Forte, Starbucks

Liz brings a wealth of retail experience to the judging panel, together with unique insight into the consumer mindset and shopper behaviour. She has previously  fulfilled key marketing and shopper focused roles with Asda, Danone Waters, Sony Entertainment and is now with Starbucks. Her current work sees her as marketing manager, global consumer products in the UK for the experience focused coffee company.

Kate Knight, Kraft

Kate is currently senior brand manager, Gifting and Christmas for Kraft Foods. Kate was a prominent member of the brand team at Cadbury, prior to the Kraft takeover two years ago. At that time she was brand manager for Easter at Cadbury, overseeing this aspect of the busiest season for the confectioner. She played a key part in the emergence of Cadbury as a major marketing force in brand experience, helping to establish the famous Easter Egg Trails, amongst other campaigns.

Penny Humphrey, Electronic Arts

Currently Penny is head of UK retail and experiential marketing at Electronic Arts, a specialist area she has been involved with for over a ten years. In that time she has managed numerous campaigns covering all aspects of brand experience marketing on behalf of a brand owner that believes passionately in delivering through experience. She has overseen everything from product demonstration in a small space at retail, through to outlandish stunts at festivals and public spaces, much of which has won marketing accolades and awards.

Chris Witte, Kingspan

Chris is head of marketing for Kingspan Insulated Panels, the largest business of its kind globally. Working for Kingspan and associated business Benchmark has added B2B to his wealth of experience in consumer products. A previous role as consumer marketing controller at Britvic saw Chris oversee the successful launch of Britvic brand J2O with a series of marketing campaigns, one of which was a gold winner at the inaugural Brand Experience Awards in 2005.