North America
The judges
The Transform Awards is judged by a broad range of in-house industry experts in branding, marketing, and corporate communications.
Each year we invite the previous year's winners of the 'Grand prix' and 'Best overall visual identity' awards to join the panel, and these judges fill two agency slots.
We will also welcome audio branding experts to join the panel to review our audio branding category alone and 4-5 leading agency figures to judge the special recognition section alone.
Scoring is based on a points system and the judges submit these scores anonymously. The judges mark the entries against the criteria mentioned within the entry and information guide: challenge, strategy, creativity/innovation and results.
Our judging system is rigorous and fair. If a judge has entered a specific category they will be exempt from reviewing that category, to avoid a conflict of interest.
Winners are determined by the scores they receive and the entries that score high enough will be shortlisted, invited to attend the awards ceremony and awarded with a trophy. We also provide detailed feedback on agencies’ work after the awards evening, which proves useful for future entries.
If you are interested in the opportunity to judge and believe you have the necessary background, please email Olivia Connelly at oconnelly@transformmagazine.net with a short biography for consideration.
Below you can see our wonderful judging panel for 2023. Learn more about the judges by clicking on the headshots to read their biographies.
Viktor Angwald
Creative Director
Evolved by Nature
Viktor is the Creative Director at Evolved By Nature - a sustainable biotech company that replaces fossil fuel-derived forever chemicals with a sustainable alternative called Activated Silk(TM). Prior to Evolved By Nature he worked at a number of New York based advertising agencies such as Droga5, Wieden+Kennedy, Anomaly, Saatchi & Saatchi and Y&R. Viktor’s work has been recognized by almost every major award show in the world, including Cannes, Clios, One Show, ADC, D&AD, Effies, Webbys and many more. Last but not least Viktor is Swedish, which means he’s very uncomfortable writing about his own achievements in third person.
Juan Ascanio
Head of Brand Marketing
Concacaf
Juan is Head of Brand Marketing at the Confederation of North, Central America and The Caribbean Association Football (Concacaf) where he oversees the strategy of the portfolio of brands, and in-stadium fan experience programs.
Juan is passionate about the Concacaf’s “Football First” culture, as well as supporting all the efforts of the Confederation to make the brands strong and relevant to all football fans across the region.
Previously, Juan managed brands in CPG companies, including Kellogg’s for the Venezuelan market, and GP Batteries for LatAm. Another big passion of Juan is producing in-stadium infotainment programs and pre-game shows. In 2022, Juan was Lead Manager for the FIFA World Cup final Pre-match ceremony at Lusail Stadium in Qatar.
Kathy Baker
Director of Global Design Packaging and Visual Identity
Duracell
Kathy Baker is a highly experienced design professional with over 25 years of experience in the industry. Currently, she is the Director of Global Design Packaging and Visual Identity at Duracell Inc., and is responsible for design strategic vision, brand/visual identity, and packaging development.
She is a skilled collaborator and works seamlessly with global multi-functional partners including ID and brand agencies, R&D, research, marketing, sales, and more to ensure design objectives are met while balancing the needs of the business and partners.
She is experienced in managing internal and external design resources, overseeing initiative delivery, resource performance, career development, and design/artwork budgets.
David Benham
Brand Creative Manager
Reddit
David currently works as the Brand Creative Manager at Reddit. Reddit’s mission is to bring community and belonging to everyone around the world. David ensures the brand is represented consistently throughout all markets globally while also maintaining the integrity and authenticity of our users and platform. Overseeing out of home campaigns, user acquisition, social media, partnerships, NFTs, and on platform events.
He previously was Head of Design on the agency side at DEPT. Working with Spotify, Google, Twitch, Waze, and JetBlue. Before that, he was also part of the brand creative team at MTV as a Senior Art Director.
He is a Pratt Institute graduate for Communications Design: Advertising/Art Direction.
Mark Buzinkay
Head of Global Marketing
Identec Solutions
Mark's career has taken an untypicall path - working in accounting, consulting in HR and later diving into Information Management, before he started studying history, philosophy and sociology in his past time at the age of 28. Later he earned his MBA from Alaska Pacific University and his PhD from Leeds Met while kicking off his career in Digital Marketing.
Mark currently works as the Head of Global Marketing for Identec Solutions, leading the firm’s brand and marketing strategy, digital initiatives and social media activities. His multi-disciplinary approach enables him to participate in UI design initiatives, communication tech projects and change management activities within Identec Solutions.
Ivan Cayabyab
Executive Director, Head of Global Brand Management
Morgan Stanley
Ivan Cayabyab currently works as the Head of Global Brand Management for Morgan Stanley, leading the firm’s brand strategy, engagement and visual identity initiatives. He joined Morgan Stanley in 2015 from Yahoo, where he worked as a Senior Global Brand Manager, leading the rollout of a new logo and identity system. Prior to Yahoo, Ivan spent six years at GE Corporate, helping to grow GE’s image as one of the world’s most innovative B2B brands, and two years at Sterling Brands, where he managed a number of strategic and design projects for iconic brands such as Target, Disney, IBM and Ben & Jerry’s.
Trudi Cassin
Managing Partner & Owner
Brand Council
Trudi is Managing Partner and Owner of Brand Council, Australia’s leading, and first, purpose-led strategy firm. Trudi is a rare mix of strategy, creative thinking, and human insight.
Her role sees her guide Australian and international leaders and organisations through significant change, including development of their purpose and brand strategy, diagnostic research, Employee Value Proposition and culture change projects, along with brand architecture and implementation. Trudi and her business partner Peta Quirk have developed a unique Putting Purpose into Practice framework and are leading the market in developing measurement and implementation for purpose-led transformation. A natural mentor and leader, Trudi has an innate desire to give back to the community and loves supporting talent both inside and outside the organisation.
Kev Cheah
Partner, Chief Creative Officer
Brunswick Creative
Kev leads Brunswick Creative’s offering in the U.S. He manages and oversees an experienced team of designers, writers and art directors, producing transformative ideas for a multitude of clients across the U.S. and globally. A specialist in building brands and integrated campaigns, he truly believes in the multi-faceted power of creativity and storytelling to help brands address their most pressing issues. He balances a deep understanding of insight driven strategies with creative intuition and a dedication to craft, to drive meaningful change for business and society. He has created award-winning work with global brands such as BBC, Comcast, Facebook, GE, MasterCard, PepsiCo, Philips, The Armory Show and VISA.
Sophie Cheng
General Manager
FutureBrand
Sophie has 20 years working experience in consulting industries as an expert in both enterprise management consulting and brand consulting.
Driven by her passion for brands and following her heart, Sophie chose branding as the next step in her career in 2013. Since then, she has been working at FutureBrand, a leading international brand consulting company. Now Sophie leads FutureBrand China business as General Manger.
Sophie has led and create many successful China and international brands together with her team,eg. Nestle nesqino, Clinique, McDonald's, Lenovo, Budweiser, Didi, Geely, China Southern Airlines, JD Group, Ant Financial, Mobvista, Noah Wealth, etc.
Regina Davis
Brand Manager
Pizza Hut
Regina Davis is a Brand Manager at Pizza Hut US where she is responsible for owning the strategy and execution of promotional offers across the company’s national calendar windows, as well as lead the brand’s overall value-focused strategy. Her role requires her to analyse business performance, along with consumer needs and profitability in order to recommend best-in-class consumer-focused, brand building and profitable marketing campaign windows for the brand.
Prior to joining Pizza Hut, Regina worked for a variety of brands such as Dr Pepper Snapple (now Keurig Dr Pepper), PepsiCo/Frito Lay, JCPenney and Toyota. Her roles have included shopper marketing, brand management and marketing customer strategy. Some of her favourite career experiences to date have including repositioning iconic brands and innovating and launching new consumer products. She is passionate about brand strategy and considers herself a consumer obsessed marketer. Regina earned her BSS in Psychology from Southern Methodist University and her MBA from Texas A&M University – Commerce.
Vladimir Djurovic
CEO
Labbrand
Vladimir Djurovic is the founder and CEO of Labbrand Group. He established Labbrand in 2005, which has since evolved into Labbrand Group – a multinational consultancy boasting Labbrand (brand innovation), MADJOR (brand experience), and SpringPillar (cultural transformation), all with global footprints.
Fueled by a deep passion for branding, Vladimir possesses an innovative mind, a great instinct for trends, scientific branding methods, and precise branding issue diagnosis skills.
Vladimir has engaged with 8% of the Fortune 500 companies and clients across diverse sectors such as LVMH, Pernod Ricard, Hilton, Porsche, Oppo, L'Oréal, The Coca-Cola Company, Danone and more.
John Gambell
Senior Critic in Graphic Design
Yale University Printer
John Gambell is the Yale University Printer and Senior Critic in the Yale School of Art. He serves as the university’s visual brand manager and coordinates Yale’s most visible graphic design, wayfinding, and branding projects. Prior to 1998, Mr. Gambell operated a studio in New Haven, Connecticut, that designed print publications as well as websites, sign systems, and commercial packaging. His work has been recognized with awards from the American Association of Museums, American Association of University Presses, and others.
Anthony Gay
Managing Director of ReelWorld Europe / CEO of Reel2Media
ReelWorld
A sonic branding specialist responsible for helping shape the audio identity of Europe’s leading radio stations including Capital UK, NPO Radio 2 in the Netherlands, BBC Radio 1, Heart UK, Los 40 Spain, Norway’s NRK P1, RFM France and hundreds more.
Before working at ReelWorld he was a senior level award-winning UK radio programmer responsible for talent, music, and content across some of the country’s biggest stations.
As CEO of Reel2Media he works with media brands on their sonic identity. Ant is a believer in the power of sound and a cheerleader for all things audio.
Tom Gilbert
Group Executive Creative Director, Experience Design
Design Bridge and Partners
Tom’s creative career combines an incredible mix of roles; from product design, to teaching at Eton College, and working as both a Creative Strategist and Ethnographic Research for brands like Nokia and Electrolux. As a result, Tom’s approach is always practical-minded, solution-orientated, and above all, grounded in brand experience.
In 2017 he founded the Design Bridge and Partners’ Shanghai studio and creatively led them from 2 to over 50 people, winning multiple awards and industry accolades by working with international brands adapt to the Chinese market, and domestic brands evolving for the international market.
He is now Group ECD for Experience Design based in London, focusing on making ideas happen and ensuring design is the thread that unifies brands for our group clients, such as HSBC, Unilever, Carlsberg, Reckitt and Telefonica.
Conall Gribben
Head of Brand, Marketing & Communications
Liberty Latin America
Conall is a senior brand communications professional with experience from leading brands in the UK, US, Latin America and the Caribbean. At Liberty Latin America, he leads brand, marketing & communications across 17 business markets in the Caribbean, including the roll-out of the new Flow Business brand, and scaling the “InKnowvation” edutainment platform to provide digital support and coaching to the Caribbean entrepreneurial community. Conall launched and is Co-Chair of Liberty Latin America’s LGBTQ+ Employee Resource Group. Previously as culture and employer brand lead, he developed the company’s insight-led employee value proposition, fostering belonging among employees across Latin America and the Caribbean following extensive M&A activity. Conall is based in Miami, FL and is originally from Northern Ireland. Prior to relocating to the US in 2019, he was based in London and worked at telecoms companies Virgin Media, Openreach and BT in a variety of senior multi-disciplinary brand, communications, and corporate affairs roles, advising C-Suite leaders and engaging internal, external and stakeholder audiences.
Jennifer Harrington
Director of Marketing
Blue Note Entertainment Group
Jennifer Harrington is the Marketing Director for Blue Note New York (Blue Note Entertainment Group) and oversees the marketing strategy and brand experience for the jazz club, Blue Note Jazz Festival, and Blue Note Travel while ensuring brand cohesion among global live music & entertainment partnerships. Her passion for the music industry is working with independent music artists and brands.
Prior to working at Blue Note, Jennifer held roles in marketing and branding at Primephonic, a classical music streaming platform and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. Jennifer is based in New York City.
Danny Harmon
Creative Director
Bed, Bath and Beyond
Danny Harmon is a highly accomplished creative director with 20 years of experience in the retail industry. He has worked with some of the most recognizable brands, including Levi’s, Filson and currently Bed Bath & Beyond. He has developed innovative strategies for driving creativity within these companies and led successful marketing campaigns across multiple platforms. Danny is an inspiring leader who motivates his teams to create cutting-edge designs that embody the essence of each brand he works for. With his keen eye for detail and knack for staying ahead of trends, Danny continues to demonstrate why he is one of the top creative directors in retail today.
Daniel Jackson
Co-Founder
Sonicbrand
Daniel is one of the founders of the sonic branding industry, having started his career in the space in 1998. He is the author of Sonic Branding (2003) and Hit Brands (2014). He has completed over major 100 sonic branding projects and won numerous awards around the globe. He currently chairs Sonicbrand and advises Resister Music.
Amanda Kicera
Vice President of Club Branding
Major League Soccer
Amanda is Vice President of Club Branding at Major League Soccer (MLS) where she primarily supports the League’s 29 Clubs with brand development. From helping existing Clubs clarify their purpose to building new-to-world expansion brands and league extensions, Amanda is passionate about strengthening fan engagement and helping grow the world’s sport in North America. Previously, Amanda specialized in brand strategy at FutureBrand, working across a variety of sectors. She has built brands for a range of clients including American Airlines, Molson Coors, Pitney Bowes, AB InBev and Tupperware. Originally from Lancaster, PA, Amanda earned her BA in Business Administration from Drexel University with a concentration in Marketing.
Victoria Kurzweg
Brand Strategist
Microsoft
Victoria Kurzweg is a brand strategist at Microsoft with an eye towards how branding integrates with emerging technology. Her work focuses on cybersecurity, cloud computing and mixed reality, partnering with other disciplines to build multidimensional product brands as the role of immersive technology expands in our everyday lives.
Victoria came to Microsoft with wide-ranging expertise, including a number of companies that are pushing today’s technology forward. While at the brand consulting firm Siegel+Gale, she developed positioning and brand architecture strategies for Fortune 500 companies including Google, Visa, Hewlett Packard Enterprise and semiconductor producer Global Foundries.
A hands-on builder and creator, Victoria’s multi-disciplinary approach has also been influenced by her experience in web development, public affairs and journalism. She earned her master's in history of international relations from the London School of Economics and currently resides in Los Angeles.
Tiffiny Lai
Senior Manager, Brand & Design
Canadian Football League
Tiffiny is the Senior Manager of Brand and Design at the Canadian Football League. She leads the continued growth and strategy of the CFL Brand while implementing Brand Governance and Compliance processes leaguewide. Tiffiny leads the in-house creative design team and works collaboratively across 9 CFL teams to operationalize brand insights to transform shift leaguewide brand perceptions.
Prior to working at the CFL, Tiffiny worked with the National Basketball Association (NBA) and Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment (MLSE) across a handful of business verticals including: Licensing, Global Events, Marketing and Community Relations. This breadth of experience has fortified Tiffiny’s knowledge and insights within the Brand landscape along with establishing connections with Global Brands including: Nike, Mitchell and Ness, and New era.
Tiffiny is a strategic and creative minded professional who constantly seeks new ways to authentically transform Brands and Brand perceptions.
Sarah Mahoney
Senior Brand Manager
Target
Sarah currently works as a Senior Brand Manager on the Target Team where she thrives on opportunities to build incredible brands for our guests. Prior to Target, Sarah worked agency-side across a variety of clients including Jeep, Dove, and Samsung. Her background is in brand strategy where she drove the development of creative communications ranging from brand positioning and purpose to campaigns across TV, OOH, and digital. Sarah grew up in Excelsior, MN but lived and worked in Manhattan and Boston before relocating to Chicago in 2021.
Abby McInerney
Senior Creative Director
Audible
Abby McInerney is Senior Creative Director of Global Brand at Audible, an Amazon company. Here, she is responsible for brand development and management across 10 global marketplaces. Previously, she spent over a decade at Time Inc., where she led the corporate global brand and worked on best-in-class content brands such as TIME, Sports Illustrated, People, Fortune, InStyle, Food & Wine and Real Simple. Abby is one of the inaugural graduates of the School of Visual Arts Master’s in Branding Program where she held teaching assistant roles for the Unified Theory of Branding and the Origins of Consumer Markets, Brand Identities and Package Design classes. She splits her time between Audible’s NYC-area headquarters, and Rhode Island where she lives with her husband, two kids and two German Shepherds.
Brian Rapp
Creative director/Brand Manager
CountryMax Stores
Brian heads up an “in-house powerhouse” creative team at CountryMax Stores, a regional retailer specializing in pet supplies, wild bird, and lawn and garden segments. At CountryMax, Brian has guided brand positioning, including development of new audio and video assets, plus several private label product lines. They’re also evolving the company’s email and content marketing efforts and growing its social media following. Before joining CountryMax, Brian was a lifelong agency copywriter and creative director working on B2B accounts, including Xerox, Kodak, Excellus BlueCross BlueShield, and Mastercard. He says the pivot to retail has been a blast. Simpler value propositions. Faster sell cycles and genuine customer for the brand, the products, and the in-store experience.
Gerard Rizzo
Senior Design Strategist
Colgate Palmolive
Gerard is a native New Yorker who studied design at The Fashion Institute of Technology where he
specialized in Package Design and Branding. As a Creative Director, for over 20 years, he has
designed some of the world's most well-known brands for Coca-Cola, Kraft Heinz, Nestle, Pfizer
and Kimberly-Clark. Since 2019, Gerard is a Sr Design Strategist at Colgate Palmolive who collaborates with marketing, innovation, and insights teams to create strategic brand experiences for omni channel markets.
Mark Rollinson
Chairman
All About Brands
Mark is the Chairman of All About Brands. He studied at De Montfort University and
the Royal College of Art. Mark is a fellow of the Chartered Society of Designers and the Royal Society of Arts and has received numerous awards for his work throughout his career. Based in the UAE for the last 18 years he has overseen the creation and implementation of a number of high-profile brands both locally and globally including: ADNOC, Mubadala, ENEC, Manchester City FC, Melbourne City FC and the Abu Dhabi Special Olympics.
Jessica Rosin
Senior Manager, Brand Strategy
Capital One
Jessica Rosin is a Senior Brand Manager at Capital One, leading a dynamic portfolio of mass brand campaigns, social media & content marketing, corporate social responsibility, and marketing research for the Canadian line of business. Prior to working at Capital One, Jessica worked in a variety of marketing roles for different brands under Loblaw, including President's Choice and President's Choice Financial. Some of her fondest experiences in the industry have been seeing large-scale brand campaigns through from start to finish. There's nothing like the satisfaction of carving out a strong brand strategy, finding the right insight to build a campaign, going through creative development and production with agency partners, fine-tuning media planning, and seeing it all come to life in-market. However, winning the hearts & minds of consumers is the greatest reward of all.
Kathryn Sloane
Executive Managing Director, APAC MEA
SGK
Hailing from Melbourne, Kathryn has lived and worked in London, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Singapore and has built her career through growing companies and brands in APAC, Europe and the Middle East. She has a deep understanding of what it takes to succeed across emerging, developing and mature markets – and has a stunning track record in driving results for some of the world’s biggest brands.
With 25 years’ experience in business, brand & design strategy, and change management; Kathryn has partnered the likes of Accor, Amazon, Coca Cola, Diageo, Kenvue, Moet Hennessy, Mondelez, Nike and Procter & Gamble.
Today, Kathryn sits on SGK’s Executive Leadership team, responsible for leading the APAC MEA region. Prior to joining SGK, Kathryn worked with the likes of Design Bridge, Pearlfisher and the Interpublic Group (IPG). She began her career in Fashion Marketing.
SGK is a global packaging and brand experience company. From idea to implementation, SGK delivers packaging solutions and brand experiences that give brands the freedom to speak louder, scale faster and grow stronger. SGK has been simplifying marketing and amplifying brands for many of the world’s greatest brands for 75+ years.
Dennis Thomas
Senior Director, Global Branding
SAP
Dennis Thomas is Senior Director, Global Brand at SAP, managing all aspects of design and visual experience for the past 10 years. Prior to that he has spent over 25 years with Brand Identity agencies such as Siegel + Gale, Wolff-Olins, and The Brand Union. He brings brands to life through a process both strategically driven and simultaneously visually rich and innovative, assuring consistent expression and alignment across all touchpoints in all media.
He has designed and implemented programs for Caterpillar, Pfizer, American Express, DuPont, the Ford Foundation, HP, U.S. Air Force, American Express, Harley-Davidson, 3M, Dell and Caterpillar.
All things visual, particularly how images infiltrate and affect our experience and culture every day, continue to fascinate Dennis.
Reid Thompson
Head of Creative
Hulu
Reid Thompson leads GreenHouse the team “reimagining creativity in the streaming era” within Hulu Marketing. The team develops creative strategies, campaigns and visual identities across Brand, Originals and Branded Entertainment. As a center of excellence within Disney Streaming, the GreenHouse team provides creative support across The Walt Disney Company’s industry leading streaming platforms: Hulu, Disney+, ESPN+ and Star+
Prior to joining Hulu in 2017, Thompson served as Creative Director at Troika and led rebrands for some of the biggest names in entertainment including ABC, AMC, A&E, Awesomeness, The CW, FOX, Food Network, HGTV, KCRW, TURNER, and The Sundance Institute. Infusing strategy, art and cultural forces – with a smart design sensibility – Thompson believes in the power of creativity to transform businesses and build successful brand platforms.
Throughout his career, Thompson has been featured in and recognized for creative excellence by D&AD, AIGA, IDN, Communication Arts, PromaxBDA, HOW, and The Creative Review. He has been a speaker at Cannes Lions, Promax North America and South America and most recently a mentor in Promax’s Thrive program. Reid holds a BFA in Art History, Critical Studies and Painting from the University of Rochester and studied Architecture at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University.
Gilmar Wendt
Founder and Principal
GW + Co
Gilmar Wendt is a business design strategist who helps transform business by aligning brand, strategy and culture. He is principal of GW+Co, an award-winning creative consultancy based in London. Notable clients include Yale, PayPal and Zumbotel. Gilmar founded GW+Co in 2010 after an agency career leading integrated campaigns for FTSE100 companies, professional services firms and high-profile international brands. He brings an interdisciplinary approach, calling on designers, strategists, technologists, communicators and social scientists to work together based on his three guiding principles: change is collaborative; success comes in many small steps; and it’s sustainable when there’s something in it for everyone.
Mollie Wilkie
Senior Creative Director
Hasbro
A talented Creative Director with 20 years of brand experience leading highly effective teams to produce successful and disruptive integrated marketing campaigns for Fortune 500 companies, Mollie is the Sr. Creative Director on Nerf at Hasbro and former Creative Director for the NFL.
A fearless and inspiring storyteller, Mollie uses strategic thinking and a sophisticated design sense to innovate, challenge and motivate. Her fresh approaches deliver the best business results while maintaining brand value and integrity. Mollie believes a simple smile opens doors and smart design opens minds; a strong team changes thinking and a solid leader changes attitudes. She likes smart design, bad puns, and sexy type.
Alexander Wodrich
Managing Director
why do birds
Alexander Wodrich founded audio branding agency why do birds in 2010. Located in Berlin, the agency employs 25 people working in music production, brand consulting, software production, graphic and motion design. Its clients include such brands as Siemens, Hyundai, German Rail and Gore-Tex. why do birds is considered one of the most creative and awarded audio branding agencies worldwide. Alexander has a degree in business and has been a musician for most of his life.
Sponsors
ALIGN YOUR BUSINESS WITH THE GLOBAL CELEBRATION OF BRAND DEVELOPMENT
We have a number of sponsorship options available. For more information please email Andrew Thomas at athomas@transformmagazine.net or call the office on +44 (0)20 3950 5356.
Supporting Partners
INTERESTED IN BEING A SUPPORTING PARTNER OF THE TRANSFORM AWARDS?
We'd love to hear from you! Email Lauren Ditcher at lditcher@transformmagazine.net or call the office on +44 (0)20 3950 5356.