Megan Averell wins Admap Prize 2014
Megan Averall, account director at GALKAL, has won the Admap Prize 2014 for her essay ‘The Age of Less’.
The announcement:
Melbourne-based Averell is an Account Director at GALKAL, an independent Australian strategy and research company, and has held a number of account planning/strategy roles in the US with Hill Holliday, DDB, McCann-Erickson and BPN. She has worked with clients such as Johnson & Johnson, Heinz, McDonald’s, Capital One and Dunkin’ Donuts.
Entrants to the Admap Prize were asked to write an essay addressing the topic ‘How brands are built in the digital age’. Averell argued that too many brands apply old marketing techniques to digital media using invasive messaging often laced with emotion and false promises in an attempt to engage positively. Instead, brands should communicate honestly, and with restraint. She cited Whole Foods Market, Trader Joe’s and Innocent as examples of good practice in brand building.
Commenting on the winning essay, Marc Mathieu, SVP Marketing for Unilever and an Admap Prize judge, said: “In ‘The Age of Less’, Megan presents in a most compelling way why we need to stop using digital to try to do more of the marketing we once did, and to start doing marketing as it can be in the digital age – with more of the right sort of change and more truthfulness, rather than just more!”
The Admap Prize, which is sponsored by Kantar, encourages and rewards excellence in strategic thinking in brand communications. Admap celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. For half a century, the magazine has been synonymous with thought leadership and the propagation of ideas. The Gold award and a $5,000 cheque will be presented to Averell at a special Admap Prize celebration event at Cannes Lions in June.
The Silver award was won by Sarah Morning, Associate Planning Director at London agency Dare, for her essay titled ‘Why we need to learn to manage emotions in the digital age’.
The Bronze award was won by Peter Buckley, Group Strategy Director at MEC in London, for his essay titled ‘Statics &Flows: the creation of brand fame in the digital age’.
All the awarded and commended essays will be published in the June issue of Admap and online at www.warc.com/admap from June 1st. Visit www.warc.com/admapprize2014 for more details.
Source: Admap media release
