LONDON: Aaron Fetters, director of the Insights and Analytics Solutions Center at the Kellogg Company, is to chair the judges for the Warc Prize for Connection Strategy – and will be joined on the panel by senior client-side executives, plus media research and channel strategy experts.

"Marketers today are presented with seemingly infinite options of how and where to invest their advertising dollars," said Fetters.

"True cross-channel measurement and planning remains the major challenge when choosing how to invest your marketing budget."

The competition, which is free to enter and carries a $10,000 prize fund, will look at the strategy, analytics and measurement powering modern media investment. The focus is on new ways of connecting with consumers, and how those connections are being planned and measured by forward-thinking marketers.

Smart connection strategies could involve innovative cross-platform or cross-device thinking, channel insights that inform new ways to connect with consumers, exercises in communications architecture, and initiatives covering channel attribution and optimisation or paid/owned/earned strategies.

"I will be looking for great examples of thinking that transcend touchpoints such as television or online and demonstrate a true consumer experience," said Fetters.

"What insights informed the development of such an experience and what data and analysis was used to establish the roles various channels would play in bringing the experience to life? And of course, what were the results - not just impressions, engagement, time spent etc, but true business impact."

From the media-side, the judging panel will include Artie Bulgrin, svp/global research and analytics at ESPN, Neil Mortensen, director of audiences at ITV, and David F. Poltrack, chief research officer at CBS Corporation.

From the agency-side, the judges include Jed Meyer, global director/research and analytics at Annalect, part of Omnicom Media Group, and Robert Ray, managing director of PHD's Global Strategy Unit.

Other judges include representatives from Starcom MediaVest, UM, Data2Decisions and New York-based Water Cooler Group, with further additions to be announced in the coming weeks.
 
Details of all the judges named so far, and their biographies, are available on the Prize website, along with the entry kit, entry form and tips on writing a great strategy case study.

Warc will name Gold, Silver and Bronze winners for the highest-scoring cases in four geographic categories, and award a $5,000 Grand Prix to the best paper in the competition.

There will also be five $1,000 Special Awards covering the following areas: commercial impact, POE, attribution, context and low-budget.

Data sourced from Warc