2014 Jury

Barry Alexander
Sr. Marketing Manager
Maple Leaf Consumer Foods

Barry Alexander is a senior brand and product marketing manager with 10+ years of experience leading strategy and execution for a number of brands and industries including Sauces, Beverage Alcohol, and Sports Media. A champion of the belief that "growth is in the challenge of the standard", he has been the guide for new digital, social, and innovation approaches that have helped organizations develop stronger loyalty and deliver commercial growth. Currently, when Barry is not leading development, activation, and partnerships for the Schneiders Master Brand, he maintains a music collection of nearly 700 albums and is a proud volunteer/coach in the Ontario Basketball Rep Team system.

Michael Armstrong
Director - Great Value
Wal-Mart Canada Inc

Has spent the last five years helping to build and define Private Brands at Walmart Canada – having developed and launched brands such as Our Finest, Ventura and Blackweb to the Canadian marketplace.  Prior to Walmart he spent 2 years helping to develop the Shopper Marketing Department at Colgate Canada.  He began his marketing career at Unilever Canada – where he help a variety of Sales, Brand Development and Brand Building roles working on brands such as Knorr, Lipton, Bertolli, Ragu and Sunlight.  

Ashik Bhat
Sr. National Brand Activation Manager
Labatt Breweries of Canada

Ashik Bhat has worked for Labatt for the past 8 years in a variety of sales and marketing roles. He currently leads the trade activation team nationally for Labatt, which designs strategy and implements national programs in the retail and on trade across Labatt’s large portfolio. Labatt Breweries of Canada has been shaped by close to 170 years of brewing excellence and commitment to the communities where it operates, and is the largest brewer in Canada.

Julie Dunning
Senior Director
Hunter Straker

Julie currently leads Canada’s #1 beer brand, Budweiser, at Hunter Straker, Labatt Canada’s BTL AOR.  With exceptional experience both as a client and agency professional, Julie is a well-rounded and insightful, integrated marketer. Tier-one Retail and CPG businesses have given her a deep and disciplined understanding of Shopper Marketing, the IMC process and how to drive serious volume while bringing great ideas to life. Agency assignments have included McCain, Corby, Kraft, Unilever, Visa, Kellogg’s, Wrigley, Panasonic, Pepsi, Frito-Lay, Sears, Molson, and Telus. ??Client side roles have been in Customer and Promotional Marketing with The Coca-Cola Company and as the Director of Marketing at The Toronto International Film Festival Group.  As a judge of this year’s Promo Awards, Julie is looking for success and innovation that comes from the true collaboration of creative and commerce

Jan Ferguson
VP Client Leadership
The Mars Agency

With over 25 years of broad experience in promotional, shopper and consumer marketing, Jan has worked on both sides of the desk!  She understands what clients want and how to motivate her agency team to over-deliver those results. Understanding shopper behaviour and how strategic solutions can shape those behaviours is what continues to drive her passion for the job.

Andrew Gayle
Group Account Director
BOOM! Marketing

Andrew is a veteran when it comes to experiential marketing and has done everything from launching a human cannonball over a sound stage in the middle of the wilderness to planning a foam party at the top of Canada’s highest mountain peak. He loves what he does and you can often find him hunting for the next big brand challenge. He joined BOOM! Marketing, in 2011 and currently manages a large portion of BOOM!’s CPG portfolio after having spent a considerable amount of time working within the alcohol industry.  His current role is focused against brand strategy, overall client and team management and large scale event activation. Previous to BOOM! Andrew worked both at Redbull and Mosaic Sales Solutions alongside clients such as Labatt, Diageo and Rogers Communications. Working with a varied catalogue of unique brands over his career has allowed him to continuously hone and evolve his marketing skillset so that he can continue to thrive at doing what he loves.

Robyn George
Account Manager
Hunter Straker

As an Account Manager at Hunter Straker since September 2013, I demonstrate efficient management and mentorship of the junior account team as well as foster outstanding strategic client relationship with Labatt Canada. Understanding POP/POS merchandising materials inside and out is what sets me apart from the rest. I proactively contribute to the ‘big ideas’, and demonstrate thought leadership, strategic leadership, marketing initiatives and product innovations. I lead 360 marketing campaigns, providing creative stimulus and client insight. I work to challenge and support other agency personnel (e.g. strategy, creative, technology) to provide the right ideas that address the project. At every step, challenge or convention, I strive to ensure that I over deliver by proactively managing our process and always be one step ahead of our client at all times. Taking action and pride in understanding the clients business and consistently showing that Hunter Straker pushes the envelope on creativity!

Being in Trade and Retail Marketing for 6 years now, I have a strong passion for design and high quality market campaigns. Previously working on Big Brands such as Molson, Kraft Foods, Pepsi co., Energizer Personal Care, Canadian Tire and now Labatt has given me an extremely diverse outlook on the packaging, POP/POS materials, social campaigns, print production as well as concept development. Trade marketing is my passion and where I have chosen to continue my path. Starting my career at a display manufacture, I quickly realized my passion was in the “how and why” we got to the idea. My strategic hat is on at all times, and it's the day-to-day challenges in the market and with our competition that keeps me fresh and relevant.

Geoff Kosar
Marketing Director, Spirits
Diageo Canada

Geoff Kosar, Marketing Director, Spirits at Diageo Canada.  Diageo is the world's leading premium drinks business with an outstanding collection of beverage alcohol brands across spirits, beer and wine, including; Smirnoff, Ketel One, CIROC, Johnnie Walker, Crown Royal, Bushmills, Baileys, Captain Morgan, Tanqueray and Guinness.

Michel Lamarre
VP of Promotional & Experiential Marketing
Cossette

Michel is Cossette’s in-house expert when it comes to promotional, experiential and retail marketing. Immediately after graduating university with

a BA in Marketing, Michel began working in the promotions industry. Since 1998, he contributed his expertise to many projects and to several major successful promotional campaigns.

Michel joined the Cossette team in 1998. There are two sides to him: he is an experienced strategist but also brings a huge dose of creativity to the team. In fact, he is also Cossette’s resident brainstorming leader.  Michel is able to bring a truly informed strategic vision to various projects, from simple promotional

mandates to integrated communications campaigns.

He has worked for clients such as General Motors, Aeroplan, Canada Post, Home Depot, McDonald’s, Saputo, Metro, Molson, Dairy Farmers of Canada and

Coca-Cola Ltd. among many others.  He has been involved in dozens of brand activation campaigns that won awards both nationally and internationally.

Michel is an active board member of CAPMA (Canadian Agencies Practicing Marketing Activation) and has been a jury member at several awards shows.

Stephanie LeBlanc
Marketing Director
Saputo

In 2005, Stephanie started her career at Saputo Dairy Products Canada. As the Director of Marketing, she is now responsible for all fluid milk products in Canada and over the last 9 years, she has worked on a number of national and regional dairy brands such as Dairyland, Neilson, Saputo and Armstrong. More recently, Stephanie has been leading the development & implementation of Saputo's Consumer Engagement strategy.

Stephanie holds a BA in Psychology from l’Université de Moncton and an MBA from Dalhousie University. She is passionate about food, travel, running and tennis.

Troy McGuinness
VP Group Creative Director (AD)
TAXI

According to LinkedIn endorsements I am good at: BrandDevelopment, Concept Development, Experience Design, Logo Design, Website Design, Graphic Design, Outdoor Advertising, Interactive Advertising, Integrated Marketing, Art Direction, Creative Direction, Creative Strategy,Digital Strategy, Branding & Identity, Image Manipulation, Visual Communication, Typography, Brochures, and Television. When I am not doing things that get endorsed I am enjoying laughing with my wife and daughters.

Mike Palmer
VP, Creative Director
LAUNCH!

“Palmer” brings over 18 years of integrated creative solutions to LAUNCH! as VP/CD. With a strong expertise in digital, social and mobile marketing, he has delivered strategic design ideas that have elevated brands to new levels. Mike is the “new breed” of creative that can fully integrate digital into the traditional XM marketing-mix.

Mike has experience working with tier-1 brands such as BlackBerry, Ford and Toyota while CD at Maritz Canada. Previously, as CD of Digital and Mobile at BSTREET, Palmer lead the creative output for top-brands such as Coca-Cola Canada, Absolut Vodka, Polar Ice and Ferrero. 

Kelly Small
Creative Director
6Degrees / Real Interactive

Over 10 years of digital and integrated creative direction and design.

Dave Sylvestre
Executive Creative Director
6Degrees Integrated Communications

Dave is the Executive Creative Director at 6Degrees / Real Interactive.  In a career that spans 20 years he’s worked on brands as diverse as Nike, Jeep/Dodge/Chrysler, Armani, Tommy Hilfiger, Bank of America, TD Bank, Clorox and Sprint.

In 2004, as the Creative Director at UnpluggedTV he led the creative execution of “The Adventures of Seinfeld and Superman,” a pioneering branded entertainment project for American Express, starring Jerry Seinfeld & directed by Barry Levinson.

He has been a judge of the Clio, Web, Marketing and Applied Arts Awards and a keynote speaker at various events including SXSW Interactive, Canadian Marketing Association and DigiFest Vancouver.

Dave describes himself as a music and film nerd and bit of a foodie as well.

Christina Verdurmen
Sr. Marketing Communications Manager, Xbox
Xbox

Christina joined Microsoft in 2008, and is responsible for leading the Marketing Communications team for Xbox Canada. Her focus is on thought leadership, and developing fully integrated marketing strategies, built on insights and innovation. Christina has long had a passion for marketing. Previous to her work on Xbox, she was part of the agency world, holding positions at Publicis and Youthography. While there, she honed her marketing know-how by building 360 marketing initiatives, focused around experiential marketing,  for some of Canada’s top brands.

Gabriel Verkade
Senior Brand Manager
Ferrero Canada Ltd

Gabriel Verkade is a passionate brand marketer and landscape designer.

Currently, he is  Senior Brand Manager at Ferrero Canada for Ferrero Rocher, owner of Verkade Landscape Design and is also an instructor at George Brown College.

Although  completely different careers, brand marketing and landscape design both satisfy his insatiable desire to create, inspire and grow. In Brand Management, he excels at developing communication and campaign strategies, portfolio management and leading teams. His landscape design business creates bespoke designs that reflect the signature style of his discerning clientele.

Having started his career working on the Canadian launch of the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty, he learned early the power of tapping into fundamental human truths to develop innovative and compelling consumer propositions.  He continually strives to discover these insights to address business challenges across his different fields of work.

Leah Walker
Account Director
BOOM! Marketing

Leah started her career in the field of Experiential Marketing as a Brand Ambassador and quickly realized this was the industry for her. Leah joined BOOM! Marketing, one of Canada’s leading Experiential agencies in 2010 and since then, has risen the ranks to Account Director. Currently, she is responsible for a diverse portfolio of CPG brands and has helped to develop and execute numerous campaigns ranging in scope from traditional experiential, retail, sponsorships & new product launches. Leah loves a challenge and is always ready to meet it head on with a smile.

Lucy Williams
Director, Retail
LAUNCH!

Lucinda has over 15 years of experience in brand, retail and experiential marketing, working with high profile CPG and retail clients on integrated, experiential and shopper marketing campaigns.

Lucinda recently joined LAUNCH! to lead the Retail Client Service Team on integrated, retail & shopper marketing initiatives for Canada’s largest retailers.  From leading a large team to strategic direction and creative ideation, Lucinda is responsible for many aspects of client service, leadership and marketing as part of her current role.

Past experiences in Business Development, Retail and VP Experiential Marketing, allow Lucinda to approach client initiates from multiple angles.

Wendy Woods
Director Marketing Operations
Kellogg Canada Inc

Wendy has spent more than 20 years with Kellogg Canada in various roles within Sales and Marketing.  In her current role as  Director of Shopper, Media and Marketing Operations Wendy is able to leverage her passion for big ideas and strength in driving execution excellence across the path to purchase.    Wendy has previously held the roles of Director of Customer Marketing and Business Management as well as Director of Marketing Scale Promotions.